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678Metaphysical Foundations of Neoclassical MechanicsIn Michela Massimi & Angela Breitenbach (eds.), Kant and the Laws of Nature, Cambridge University Press. pp. 214-234. 2017.I examine here if Kant’s metaphysics of matter can support any late-modern versions of classical mechanics. I argue that in principle it can, by two different routes. I assess the interpretive costs of each approach, and recommend the most promising strategy: a mass-point approach.
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625Unity for Kant’s Natural PhilosophyPhilosophy of Science 81 (3): 423-443. 2014.I uncover here a conflict in Kant’s natural philosophy. His matter theory and laws of mechanics are in tension. Kant’s laws are fit for particles but are too narrow to handle continuous bodies, which his doctrine of matter demands. To fix this defect, Kant ultimately must ground the Torque Law; that is, the impressed torque equals the change in angular momentum. But that grounding requires a premise—the symmetry of the stress tensor—that Kant denies himself. I argue that his problem would not ar…Read more
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1275Absolute Space and the Riddle of Rotation: Kant’s Response to NewtonOxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 7 257-308. 2016.Newton had a fivefold argument that true motion must be motion in absolute space, not relative to matter. Like Newton, Kant holds that bodies have true motions. Unlike him, though, Kant takes all motion to be relative to matter, not to space itself. Thus, he must respond to Newton’s argument above. I reconstruct here Kant’s answer in detail. I prove that Kant addresses just one part of Newton’s case, namely, his “argument from the effects” of rotation. And, to show that rotation is relative to m…Read more
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2017Huygens on Inertial Structure and RelativityPhilosophy of Science 83 (2): 277-298. 2016.I explain and assess here Huygens’ concept of relative motion. I show that it allows him to ground most of the Law of Inertia, and also to explain rotation. Thereby his concept obviates the need for Newton’s absolute space. Thus his account is a powerful foundation for mechanics, though not without some tension.
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477Kant's Philosophy of Mechanics in 1758In Oliver Thorndike (ed.), Rethinking Kant, vol. III, Cambridge Scholars Press. pp. 158-179. 2011.
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1253Newton's Concepts of Force among the LeibniziansIn Mordechai Feingold (ed.), The Reception of Isaac Newton in Europe, Cambridge University Press. pp. 244-289. 2017.I argue that the key dynamical concepts and laws of Newton's Principia never gained a solid foothold in Germany before Kant in the 1750s. I explain this absence as due to Leibniz. Thus I make a case for a robust Leibnizian legacy for Enlightenment science, and I solve what Jonathan Israel called “a meaningful historical problem on its own,” viz. the slow and hesitant reception of Newton in pre-Kantian Germany.
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
General Philosophy of Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
19th Century Philosophy |
Philosophy of Physical Science |
History of Physics |
PhilPapers Editorships
Kant: Science, Logic, and Mathematics, Misc |
Kant's Scientific Work |
Christian Wolff |