In Zvi Biener & Eric Schliesser (eds.), Newton and Empiricism. Oxford University Press. pp. 223-261 (2014)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
Newton’s impact on Enlightenment natural philosophy has been studied at great length, in its experimental, methodological and ideological ramifications. One aspect that has received fairly little attention is the role Newtonian “analogies” played in the formulation of new conceptual schemes in physiology, medicine, and life science as a whole. So-called ‘medical Newtonians’ like Pitcairne and Keill have been studied; but they were engaged in a more literal project of directly transposing, or seeking to transpose, Newtonian laws into quantitative models of the body. I am interested here in something different: neither the metaphysical reading of Newton, nor direct empirical transpositions, but rather, a more heuristic, empiricist construction of Newtonian analogies. Figures such as Haller, Barthez, and Blumenbach constructed analogies between the method of celestial mechanics and the method of physiology. In celestial mechanics, they held, an unknown entity such as gravity is posited and used to mathematically link sets of determinate physical phenomena (e.g., the phases of the moon and tides). This process allows one to remain agnostic about the ontological status of the unknown entity, as long as the two linked sets of phenomena are represented adequately. Haller et. al. held that the Newtonian physician and physiologist can similarly posit an unknown called ‘life’ and use it to link various other phenomena, from digestion to sensation and the functioning of the glands. These phenomena consequently appear as interconnected, goal-oriented processes which do not exist either in an inanimate mechanism or in a corpse. In keeping with the empiricist roots of the analogy, however, no ontological claims are made about the nature of this vital principle, and no attempts are made to directly causally connect such a principle and observable phenomena. The role of the “Newtonian analogy” thus brings together diverse schools of thought, and cuts across a surprising variety of programs, models and practices in natural philosophy.
|
Keywords | Newtonianism vitalism biology |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Buy the book |
Find it on Amazon.com
|
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
No references found.
Citations of this work BETA
Models of Organic Organization in Montpellier Vitalism.Charles T. Wolfe - 2017 - Early Science and Medicine 22 (2-3):229-252.
Vitalism and the Resistance to Experimentation on Life in the Eighteenth Century.Charles T. Wolfe - 2013 - Journal of the History of Biology 46 (2):255-282.
Diverging views of epigenesis: the Wolff–Blumenbach debate.Andrea Gambarotto - 2017 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (2):12.
Vital Forces and Organization: Philosophy of Nature and Biology in Karl Friedrich Kielmeyer.Andrea Gambarotto - 2014 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 48:12-20.
The Human Vocation and the Question of the Earth: Karoline von Günderrode’s Philosophy of Nature.Dalia Nassar - 2022 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 104 (1):108-130.
View all 7 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
From Substantival to Functional Vitalism and Beyond: Animas, Organisms and Attitudes.Charles T. Wolfe - 2011 - Eidos: Revista de Filosofía de la Universidad Del Norte 14:212-235.
On Biological Analogs of Newtonian Paradigms.Thomas S. Hall - 1968 - Philosophy of Science 35 (1):6-27.
Vitalism Without Metaphysics? Medical Vitalism in the Enlightenment.Charles T. Wolfe - 2008 - Science in Context 21 (4):461-463.
Euler, Newton, and Foundations for Mechanics.Marius Stan - 2017 - In Chris Smeenk & Eric Schliesser (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Newton. Oxford University Press. pp. 1-22.
Newtonian Spacetime Structure in Light of the Equivalence Principle.Eleanor Knox - 2014 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 65 (4):863-880.
Inventive Life: Approaches to the New Vitalism.Mariam Fraser, Sarah Kember & Celia Lury (eds.) - 2006 - Sage Publications.
Newton and Darwin: Can This Marriage Be Saved?William M. Baum & Suzanne H. Mitchell - 2000 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (1):91-92.
Classical Field Theory and Analogy Between Newton's and Maxwell's Equations.Zbigniew Oziewicz - 1994 - Foundations of Physics 24 (10):1379-1402.
Vitalism and the Scientific Image: An Introduction.Sebastian Normandin & Charles T. Wolfe - 2013 - In Sebastian Normandin & Charles T. Wolfe (eds.), Vitalism and the scientific image, 1800-2010. Springer.
Structural Analogies Between Physical Systems.Peter Kroes - 1989 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (2):145-154.
The Reception of Newton's Gravitational Theory by Huygens, Varignon, and Maupertuis: How Normal Science May Be Revolutionary.Koffi Maglo - 2003 - Perspectives on Science 11 (2):135-169.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2014-09-24
Total views
644 ( #12,119 of 2,499,864 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
39 ( #22,169 of 2,499,864 )
2014-09-24
Total views
644 ( #12,119 of 2,499,864 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
39 ( #22,169 of 2,499,864 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads