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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 1: Epistemological and Conceptual Foundations

AGPhil 1.2: Vortrag

Montag, 14. März 2011, 14:30–15:00, BEY 154

Newton’s and Leibniz’s transformation of statics into dynamics - the role of ancient science — •Dieter Suisky — Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, e-mail: dsuisky@physik.hu-berlin.de

An important common feature in the work of Newton and Leibniz is the pronounced opposition to Descartes. Though both scholars started with a direct reference to their predecessor, both changed later their minds and criticized the shortcomings of Descartes’ theory. Newton rejected the theory of vortices and the Cartesian innovation in the analytical representation of geometrical relations. Leibniz replaced the Cartesian measure of the quantity of motion or of dead forces with the measure related to living forces. It will be argued that this turn away from the Cartesian theory was performed essentially by means of a reinterpretation of ancient sources. Newton recovered Euclid ("(Newton) had considered the elements of Euclid with that attention, which so excellent a writer deserves." [Pemberton]). Leibniz recovered the achievements of the Peripatetics (Specimen, 1695).

The different outcomes are interpreted in terms of that different reference to ancient legacy. Favouring geometric methods, Newton underestimated the promising power of the analytical approach whereas Leibniz underestimated the heuristic role of the idea of the vacuum.

In the 18th century, this reference to ancient sources had been continued. Euler (Mechanica, 1736) and Du Châtelet (Institutions, 1740) emphasized the decisive role of Archimedes’ model of the lever.