Phil 460: Midterm Study Guide
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Re-read Shapin (1996), The Scientific Revolution, chapter 1, pp.20-30 (the section titled “The Challenge to a Human-Centered Universe”).
Re-read Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy, in particular (a) sections 1-3 of Part 1, and (b) sections 3-4, 10-16, 20 and §§23-25 of Part 2.
Read pp.19-22, 64-66, and 70-71 from Boyle (2018), The Well-Ordered Universe.
Re-read pp.22-24 and pp.40-46 from Shapin and Schaffer (1985) Leviathan and the Air-Pump.
Re-read pp.138-144 of Smith (2002), “The Methodology of the Principia ”.
Take a look at the “Scholium” after the first 8 definitions in Book 1 of Newton’s Principia.
Re-read Nick Huggett’s commentary on the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence (pp.159-167).
Take a look at Du Châtelet’s chapter “On Hypotheses” from her book Foundations of Physics, particularly pp.147-148.
- What are the four different “elements” according to Aristotelian philosophy? (pp.22-23) What are their “natural motions”? (pp.28-29)
- In very basic outline, what are Ptolemy’s and Copernicus’ models of the cosmos? (pp.20-25)
- What were some of Galileo's observations through his telescope, and what was the significance of those observations? (pp.25-26)
Re-read Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy, in particular (a) sections 1-3 of Part 1, and (b) sections 3-4, 10-16, 20 and §§23-25 of Part 2.
- What is Descartes’ basic strategy for getting rid of “preconceived opinions” so that we can get closer to a “knowledge of truth”? (Part 1, §§1-2)
- What does Descartes regard as the one essential property of bodies? (Part 2, §§3-4)
- Why does Descartes regard both a metaphysical vacuum and metaphysical atoms as impossible? (Part 2, §11, §16 and §20)
- What, according to Descartes, does “all the variety in matter, all the diversity of its forms” come down to? (Part 2, §4, §11, and in particular §23)
- What is Descartes’ distinction between (i) motion “in the ordinary sense of the term” and (ii) motion “in the strict sense of the term”? (Part 2, §§24-25)
Read pp.19-22, 64-66, and 70-71 from Boyle (2018), The Well-Ordered Universe.
- Deborah Boyle offers three different perspectives from which to understand Cavendish’s non-atomistic account of the world. In basic terms, what are these three perspectives? (pp.19-20)
- What are the three “degrees” of matter according to Cavendish? (pp.64-65)
- What is Cavendish’s hypothetical explanation for the variety of different kinds of things in the universe? (pp.70-71) Are Cavendish and Descartes’ accounts similar in this regard?
Re-read pp.22-24 and pp.40-46 from Shapin and Schaffer (1985) Leviathan and the Air-Pump.
- Explain why Robert Boyle seems to be a clear example of an empiricist (rather than a rationalist) (pp.22-24)
- Explain the basic outline of Boyle’s “void-in-the-void” experiment. (pp.40-43, and maybe just look it up online) What was Boyle’s own evaluation of the significance of this experiment? (p.45)
Re-read pp.138-144 of Smith (2002), “The Methodology of the Principia ”.
- What was the basic principle of the prevailing “mechanical philosophy” of Newton’s time? (p.139)
- What does it mean to treat forces mathematically rather than physically? (pp.140-144) According to George Smith, what characterizes Newton’s “if-then” reasoning vs. the “when-then” reading of Galileo and Huygens?
- Use the above to help answer the question: what does Newton mean when he says he does not “feign hypotheses”? (quoted by Smith on p.139)
Take a look at the “Scholium” after the first 8 definitions in Book 1 of Newton’s Principia.
- What is Newton’s distinction between (i) “absolute space” (ii) “relative space” (p.64)
- What is Newton’s distinction between (i) absolute motion and (ii) relative motion? (p.65) How does Newton’s conception of motion compare and contrast with Descartes’?
Re-read Nick Huggett’s commentary on the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence (pp.159-167).
- Why does Leibniz count as a rationalist? What’s the role of the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” (PSR) for Leibniz? (pp.159-160)
- What’s Leibniz’s relationalist account of space (and time)? (pp.160-161; and see near the bottom of p.146 for Leibniz’s own words) How does it compare with Newton’s account of space (and time)?
- What are Leibniz’s static shift and kinematic shift arguments against the notion of absolute space? (pp.161-163) Why might we call this kind of argument an “indirect proof” or reductio argument?
- What is the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles (PII)? (p.164) Why does the PII follow from the PSR? What’s an empiricist argument for the PII on its own terms?
Take a look at Du Châtelet’s chapter “On Hypotheses” from her book Foundations of Physics, particularly pp.147-148.
- Why does Du Châtelet say that both the Cartesians and the Newtonians have gone astray in their attitude towards the use of hypotheses in physics (or science more generally)?