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Natural Philosophy (natural + philosophy)
Selected AbstractsJohn Gay, Magnetism and the Spectacle of Natural Philosophy: Scriblerian Pins and NeedlesJOURNAL FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES, Issue 3 2007Gregory Lynall First page of article [source] Newton's Empiricism and MetaphysicsPHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010Mary Domski Commentators attempting to understand the empirical method that Isaac Newton applies in his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) are forced to grapple with the thorny issue of how to reconcile Newton's rejection of hypotheses with his appeal to absolute space. On the one hand, Newton claims that his experimental philosophy does not rely on claims that are assumed without empirical evidence, and on the other hand, Newton appeals to an absolute space that, by his own characterization, does not make any impressions on our senses. Howard Stein (1967, 2002) has offered an insightful strategy for reconciling this apparent contradiction and suggested a way to enhance our understanding of Newton's ,empiricism' such that absolute space can be preserved as a legitimate part of Newton's experimental project. Recently, Andrew Janiak (2008) has posed a worthy challenge to Stein's empirical reading of Newton and directed our attention to the metaphysical commitments that underlie the experimental philosophy of Newton's Principia. Although Stein and Janiak disagree on the degree to which Newton's empiricism influences his natural philosophy, both agree and clearly show that an adequate treatment of Newton's empiricism cannot be divorced from consideration of Newton's views on God and God's relationship to nature. [source] Epicureanism and the poetics of consumptionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 4 2010Dawn Wood Abstract Consumption, ,to use up, to destroy', is a dirty word. It conjures piles of rubbish; it suggests an extravagant attitude. We, each one of us hoping to be a unique, careful individual, can feel offended at being referred to as ,the consumer'. Yet, ,to consume' is not only a human activity, it is one of the fundamental processes of nature, a natural aspect of the creative process. In this paper, I will emphasize connections between the creative research process, poetics and consumerism. I suggest that research can be envisioned as a cycle of consumption and renewal. Our tools in such a natural philosophy are the contemplation of natural events, and the insights that a poetic understanding of language can give us. To this end, I draw on the ancient Epicurean philosophy, as demonstrated in De rerum natura, written by the Roman poet, Lucretius, in the first century BCE. Lucretius gave a scientific explanation of the universe, in poetry, to demonstrate that natural laws can be derived by reason, contemplation and by the use of the senses. Further, Lucretius' use of language, as a creative medium, modelled the actions of the universe. This insight provides a link between poetry, science and research, one which is still relevant to twenty-first-century scientific research generally. In this paper, I will suggest that it is also specifically relevant to the design and practice of consumer research. For instance, both research and creativity are aspects of that urge to move beyond subjectivity, towards knowledge that is whole and shared. In Epicureanism, subjective engagement provides access to that which is universal. We can conceive of consumerism, and of consumer research, in the same terms, as a striving for completion, and as a poetic, natural and reciprocal act, involving the transformation of the consumer, and that which is consumed. [source] Idolatry and the Polemics of World-Formation from Philo to AugustineJOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 2 2004Isaac Miller This article examines the association of idolatry with erroneous ideas about the natural world in the writings of late antique Jewish and Christian authors. It follows two polemical genres. The first is the hexaemeral commentaries composed by Philo of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea and Augustine, which positioned the hexaemeron against the background of natural philosophy and used various critiques of idolatry to revise or refute pagan natural philosophy. The second genre is that of heresiology initiated by Irenaeus of Lyon and adapted by Augustine to refute Gnostic and Manichaean cosmological myths and disregard for the creation account in Genesis. The article analyses a variety of ways in which the prohibitions against idolatry figured in methodological questions about how to conceptualize the natural world, how to locate the sources of conceptual error, and how to distinguish those errors from truth. [source] Francis bacon's behavioral psychologyJOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 3 2007Paul S. Macdonald Francis Bacon offers two accounts of the nature and function of the human mind: one is a medical-physical account of the composition and operation of spirits specific to human beings, the other is a behavioral account of the character and activities of individual persons. The medical-physical account is a run-of-the-mill version of the late Renaissance model of elemental constituents and humoral temperaments. The other, less well-known, behavioral account represents an unusual position in early modern philosophy. This theory espouses a form of behavioral psychology according to which (a) supposed mental properties are "hidden forms" best described in dispositional terms, (b) the true character of an individual can be discovered in his observable behavior, and (c) an "informed" understanding of these properties permits the prediction and control of human behavior. Both of Bacon's theories of human nature fall under his general notion of systematic science: his medical-physical theory of vital spirits is theoretical natural philosophy and his behavioral theory of disposition and expression is operative natural philosophy. Because natural philosophy as a whole is "the inquiry of causes and the production of effects," knowledge of human nature falls under the same two-part definition. It is an inquisition of forms that pertains to the patterns of minute motions in the vital spirits and the production of effects that pertains both to the way these hidden motions produce behavioral effects and to the way in which a skillful agent is able to produce desired effects in other persons' behavior. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Newton's Empiricism and MetaphysicsPHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010Mary Domski Commentators attempting to understand the empirical method that Isaac Newton applies in his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) are forced to grapple with the thorny issue of how to reconcile Newton's rejection of hypotheses with his appeal to absolute space. On the one hand, Newton claims that his experimental philosophy does not rely on claims that are assumed without empirical evidence, and on the other hand, Newton appeals to an absolute space that, by his own characterization, does not make any impressions on our senses. Howard Stein (1967, 2002) has offered an insightful strategy for reconciling this apparent contradiction and suggested a way to enhance our understanding of Newton's ,empiricism' such that absolute space can be preserved as a legitimate part of Newton's experimental project. Recently, Andrew Janiak (2008) has posed a worthy challenge to Stein's empirical reading of Newton and directed our attention to the metaphysical commitments that underlie the experimental philosophy of Newton's Principia. Although Stein and Janiak disagree on the degree to which Newton's empiricism influences his natural philosophy, both agree and clearly show that an adequate treatment of Newton's empiricism cannot be divorced from consideration of Newton's views on God and God's relationship to nature. [source] Margaret Cavendish on the Relation between God and WorldPHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2009Karen Detlefsen It has often been noted that Margaret Cavendish discusses God in her writings on natural philosophy far more than one might think she ought to given her explicit claim that a study of God belongs to theology which is to be kept strictly separate from studies in natural philosophy. In this article, I examine one way in which God enters substantially into her natural philosophy, namely the role he plays in her particular version of teleology. I conclude that, while Cavendish has some resources with which to partially alleviate this tension, she is nonetheless left with a significant difficulty. [source] ,CONCHAS LEGERE': SHELLS AS TROPHIES OF REPOSE IN NORTHERN EUROPEAN HUMANISMART HISTORY, Issue 3 20062Article first published online: 1 AUG 200, LEOPOLDINE VAN HOGENDORP PROSPERETTI This paper interprets Hendrick Goltzius's 1603 portrait of a Dutch shell collector as a powerful statement on the cultural and spiritual ambitions of leading citizens in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The focus is on the role of natural philosophy and natural theology in realizing the ideals of the humanist vocation. Within this context the Erasmian adage ,collecting of shells' proves to be a fitting slogan for the pursuit of fruitful repose as the indispensable foundation of a successful commonwealth. [source] Zwischen Naturphilosophie und Wissenschaftspolitik: Zum Profil der Isis oder Encyklopädischen Zeitschrift von Oken als naturwissenschaftliches Publikationsorgan in den Jahren 1817 bis 1822,BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE, Issue 1 2003Katrin Stiefel Abstract Isis oder Encyklopädische Zeitung, edited by the German natural philosopher Lorenz Oken (1779-1851), is supposed to be one of the most significant journals of natural sciences in the early 19th century. The following study, based on a quantitative analyses of all articles (1817-1822), investigates the profile of the natural sciences in this journal. The results are interpreted according to Oken's concept of the journal as well as his editorial notes. It is shown that the encyclopedically broadly designed journal focuses on the natural sciences as major part of it's content, presenting the descriptive history of natural sciences (Naturgeschichte) as main subject. The journal's research perspective follows the encyclopedical spread of issues and scientific subjects; a clear research profile of scientific disciplines can not be discerned. Although scientific subjects, issues and authors are heterogeneous, Oken preserves an inner coherence by a common perspective founded in natural philosophy: his strategy was therefore to interfere with the content of the articles by comments and footnotes. Finally it is shown that Oken's idea of encyclopedism and it's realisation in Isis comprises sciences as well as politics as two sides of the same coin: based on the philosophical understanding of the unity of nature Oken tries to educate the consciousness of his readers towards a socially and politically homogeneous nation. [source] The Melanchthon Circle's English EpicycleCENTAURUS, Issue 1 2006Katherine A. Tredwell Abstract. As persuasive signs of divine providence, astronomy and astrology held a special place in the natural philosophy of Philip Melanchthon. Both the highly predictable motions of celestial objects and the benefits they contributed to human life were held to demonstrate the existence of an intelligent and caring creator who was actively involved in the world. Melanchthon's influence on a small group of Lutheran astronomers has long been recognized. This article proposes the term mathematical Philippist to designate individuals outside the Lutheran confession, or of unknown religious affiliation, who adopted Melanchthon's providential view of the heavens. Two 16th-century English mathematicians, Leonard and Thomas Digges, qualify as mathematical Philippists on the basis of their familiarity with and approval of Melanchthon, despite circumstantial evidence that at least one (Thomas) had Calvinist sympathies in other areas of his life. The identification of a Philippist strand in English mathematics illustrates the shortcomings of any attempt to assess possible interactions of science and religion strictly along confessional lines. [source] Zur Pluralisierung im Luthertum des 17.BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE, Issue 3 2003Jahrhunderts und ihrer Bedeutung für die Deutungen von, Natur' Abstract Building on methodological considerations in cultural history and historical anthropology, the following contribution proceeds from the concept of ,nature' rather than from ,natural science', with the former understood here as the object of culturally determined projections, values and practices. This ,constructive', practice-oriented concept of nature exposes perceptions of and attitudes towards nature that, owing to the usual reduction of nature to natural science, would otherwise have remained hidden, but which may well be essential to its constitution. To a certain extent, the term ,nature' continues the terminological extension from ,natural science' to ,natural philosophy', but as a heuristic device it more strongly implies the significance of culturally mediated practices and dynamics. The essay raises the following questions: Which religious conceptions entered into which attitudes towards nature and which religious expectations and interpretive matrices were the motivating forces behind which studies of nature? The figures within seventeenth-century Lutheranism who shaped and promoted nature-oriented attitudes and practices were not the ,orthodox' scholars more strongly tied to academic and controversialist theology, but rather reform-oriented theologians critical of the church. In the context of the inner differentiation and pluralization of seventeenth-century Lutheranism, these reform-oriented groups not only inspired innovate theological projects but also assumed a leading role, along with liked-minded Christian laypersons, in interpreting and studying ,nature'. [source] | ||||||||||