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1Review of" Galileo observed: Science and the politics of belief" (review)Annals of Science 64 (3): 430-431. 2007.
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15Eric Jorink and Ad Maas, eds. Newton and the Netherlands: How Isaac Newton Was Fashioned in the Dutch Republic. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2013. Pp. 256. €39.50 (review)Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 4 (1): 189-192. 2014.
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107Newton on Action at a DistanceJournal of the History of Philosophy 52 (4): 675-701. 2014.Reasoning without experience is very slippery. A man may puzzle me by arguents [sic] … but I’le beleive my ey experience ↓my eyes.↓ernan mcmullin once remarked that, although the “avowedly tentative form” of the Queries “marks them off from the rest of Newton’s published work,” they are “the most significant source, perhaps, for the most general categories of matter and action that informed his research.”2 The Queries (or Quaestiones), which Newton inserted at the very end of the third book of t…Read more
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140Whewell’s tidal researches: scientific practice and philosophical methodologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41 (1): 26-40. 2010.Primarily between 1833 and 1840, William Whewell attempted to accomplish what natural philosophers and scientists since at least Galileo had failed to do: to provide a systematic and broad-ranged study of the tides and to attempt to establish a general scientific theory of tidal phenomena. I document the close interaction between Whewell’s philosophy of science and his scientific practice as a tidologist. I claim that the intertwinement between Whewell’s methodology and his tidology is more fund…Read more
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9Mathématiques et connaissance du monde réel avant Galilée. Series : Histoire des savoirs (review)Annals of Science 70 (4): 574-575. 2013.No abstract
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77J. B. Van helmont's de tempore as an influence on Isaac Newton's doctrine of absolute timeArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 90 (2): 216-228. 2008.Here, I shall argue that Van Helmont needs to be added to the list of sources on which Newton drew when formulating his doctrine of absolute time. This by no means implies that Van Helmont is the factual source of Newton's views on absolute time (I have found no clear-cut evidence in support of this claim). It is by no means my aim to debunk the importance of the other sources, but rather to broaden them. Different authors help to explain different aspects of Newton's conception of absolute time…Read more
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39The flow of Influence: from Newton to Locke.. and BackRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 64 (2): 245-268. 2009.The Flow of Influence: From Newton to Locke - and Back- In this essay, the affinity between Locke’s empiricism and Newton’s natural philosophy is scrutinized. Parallels are distinguished from influences. I argue, pace G.A.J. Rogers, that Newton’s doctrine of absolute space and time influenced Locke’s Essay concerning Human Understanding from the second edition onwards. I also show that Newton used Lockean terminology in his criticism of Cartesianism. It is further argued that Locke’s endorsement…Read more
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Seculariserende tendensen in Newtons onto-theologieAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 98 (1). 2006.
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13Petrus van Musschenbroek and Newton’s ‘vera stabilisque Philosophandi methodus’Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 38 (4): 279-304. 2015.
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37Constraining (mathematical) imagination by experience: Nieuwentijt and van Musschenbroek on the abuses of mathematicsSynthese 196 (9): 3595-3613. 2019.Like many of their contemporaries Bernard Nieuwentijt and Pieter van Musschenbroek were baffled by the heterodox conclusions which Baruch Spinoza drew in the Ethics. As the full title of the Ethics—Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata—indicates, these conclusions were purportedly demonstrated in a geometrical order, i.e. by means of pure mathematics. First, I highlight how Nieuwentijt tried to immunize Spinoza’s worrisome conclusions by insisting on the distinction between pure and mixed mathema…Read more
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17'Newtonian'elements in locke, hume, and reid, or: how far can one stretch a label?Enlightenment and Dissent 25 62-105. 2009.
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9Whewell's metaphorical usage of light and the ultimate reality underlying itSemiotica 2008 (172): 269-278. 2008.In this article, I seek to study Whewell as writer of philosophical doctrines by focusing on his frequent usage of the metaphor of light, which symbolized (human) knowledge. It is my primary claim that Whewell choose to visually illustrate his doctrine of Fundamental Ideas, which are the bearers of ultimate reality and meaning in Whewell's epistemology, by means some key metaphors that made reference to light.
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18An editorial history of Newton’s regulae philosophandiEstudios de Filosofía (Universidad de Antioquia) 51. 2015.
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55Lessons from Galileo: The pragmatic model of shared characteristics of scientific representationPhilosophia Naturalis 42 (2): 213-234. 2005.In this paper I will defend a new account of scientific representation. I will begin by looking at the benefits and drawbacks of two recent accounts on scientific representation: Hughes’ DDI account and Suárez’ inferential account. Next I use some of Galileo’s models in the Discorsi as a heuristic tool for a better account of scientific representation. Next I will present my model. The main idea of my account, which I refer to as the pragmatic model of shared characteristics (PMSC), is that a mo…Read more
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25The Secret History of Hermes: Hermeticism from Ancient Times to Modern TimesAnnals of Science 66 (2): 294-295. 2009.
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7Review of The Body of the Artisan (author: Pamela H. Smith) (review)British Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 (3): 361-363. 2005.
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25Newton's training in the Aristotelian textbook tradition: from effects to causes and backHistory of Science 43 (3): 217-237. 2005.
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137Towards an Ontology of Scientific ModelsMetaphysica 9 (1): 119-127. 2008.Scientific models occupy centre stage in scientific practice. Correspondingly, in recent literature in the philosophy of science, scientific models have been a focus of research. However, little attention has been paid so far to the ontology of scientific models. In this essay, I attempt to clarify the issues involved in formulating an informatively rich ontology of scientific models. Although no full-blown theory—containing all ontological issues involved—is provided, I make several distinction…Read more
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41Bacons idea and Newtons practice of inductionPhilosophica 76 (2). 2005.In this essay, I provide a Baconian reading of Newtons Principia. I argue that Newton scientific practice was influenced by Bacons methodised idea of induction. My focus will be on Newtons argument of universal gravitation.
Areas of Specialization
General Philosophy of Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
General Philosophy of Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |