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Atom and Individual in the Age of Newton

On the Genesis of the Mechanistic World View

  • Book
  • © 1986

Overview

Authors:
  1. Gideon Freudenthal

    1. Tel Aviv University, Israel

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 88)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Introduction

    1. Introduction

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 1-9

  3. Element and System in Classical Mechanics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
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    2. Newton’s Justification of the Theory of Absolute Space

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 13-28

    3. Leibniz’s Foundations of Dynamics

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 29-43

    4. The Discussion Between Leibniz and Newton on the Concept of Science

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 44-71

  4. Element and System in Modern Philosophy

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 73-76
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    2. The Concept of Element in 17th Century Natural Philosophy

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 77-84

    3. The Concept of Element in the Systematic Philosophy of Hobbes

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 85-91

    4. The Concept of Element in 18th Century Social Philosophy

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 92-97

    5. The Relationship Between Natural and Social Philosophy in the Work of Newton, Rousseau, and Smith

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 98-103

  5. On the Social History of the Bourgeois Concept of the Individual

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-107
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    2. England Before the Revolution

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 108-114

    3. The Antifeudal Social Philosophy of Hobbes

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 115-137

    4. The Rise of Civil Society in England

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 138-152

    5. Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 153-160

    6. Civil Society and the Analytic-Synthetic Method

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 161-168

  6. Atom and Individual

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-172
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    2. The Bourgeois Individual and the Essential Properties of a Particle in Newton’s Thought

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 173-188

    3. Element and System in the Philosophy of Leibniz

      • Gideon Freudenthal
      Pages 189-204
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Keywords

About this book

In this stimulating investigation, Gideon Freudenthal has linked social history with the history of science by formulating an interesting proposal: that the supposed influence of social theory may be seen as actual through its co­ herence with the process of formation of physical concepts. The reinterpre­ tation of the development of science in the seventeenth century, now widely influential, receives at Freudenthal's hand its most persuasive statement, most significantly because of his attention to the theoretical form which is charac­ teristic. of classical Newtonian mechanics. He pursues the sources of the parallels that may be noted between that mechanics and the dominant philosophical systems and social theories of the time; and in a fascinating development Freudenthal shows how a quite precise method - as he descriptively labels it, the 'analytic-synthetic method' - which underlay the Newtonian form of theoretical argument, was due to certain interpretive premisses concerning particle mechanics. If he is right, these depend upon a particular stage of con­ ceptual achievement in the theories of both society and nature; further, that the conceptual was generalized philosophically; but, strikingly, Freudenthal shows that this concept-formation itself was linked to the specific social relations of the times of Newton and Hobbes.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Tel Aviv University, Israel

    Gideon Freudenthal

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Atom and Individual in the Age of Newton

  • Book Subtitle: On the Genesis of the Mechanistic World View

  • Authors: Gideon Freudenthal

  • Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4500-5

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company 1986

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-1905-8Published: 31 March 1986

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8505-2Published: 13 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4500-5Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0068-0346

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 288

  • Additional Information: Originally published in German

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science, History, general

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