Data di Pubblicazione:
2020
Citazione:
On the invisibility and impact of Robert Hooke’s theory of gravitation / N. Guicciardini Corsi Salviati. - In: OPEN PHILOSOPHY. - ISSN 2543-8875. - 3:1(2020 Jul 01), pp. 266-282. [10.1515/opphil-2020-0131]
Abstract:
Robert Hooke’s theory of gravitation is a promising case study for probing the fruitfulness of
Menachem Fisch’s insistence on the centrality of trading zone mediators for rational change in the history of
science and mathematics. In 1679, Hooke proposed an innovative explanation of planetary motions to Newton’s
attention. Until the correspondence with Hooke, Newton had embraced planetary models, whereby planets
move around the Sun because of the action of an ether filling the interplanetary space. Hooke’s model, instead,
consisted in the idea that planets move in the void space under the influence of a gravitational attraction
directed toward the sun. There is no doubt that the correspondence with Hooke allowed Newton to conceive a
new explanation for planetary motions. This explanation was proposed by Hooke as a hypothesis that needed
mathematical development and experimental confirmation. Hooke formulated his new model in a mathematical
language which overlapped but not coincided with Newton’s who developed Hooke’s hypothetical model into
the theory of universal gravitation as published in the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687). The
nature of Hooke’s contributions to mathematized natural philosophy, however, was contested during his own
lifetime and gave rise to negative evaluations until the last century. Hooke has been often contrasted to Newton
as a practitioner rather than as a “scientist” and unfavorably compared to the eminent Lucasian Professor.
Hooke’s correspondence with Newton seems to me an example of the phenomenon, discussed by Fisch in his
philosophical works, of the invisibility in official historiography of “trading zone mediators,” namely, of those
actors that play a role, crucial but not easily recognized, in promoting rational scientific framework change.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Isaac Newton; gravitation; vortex theory; causal explanation; rational normative change; paradigm; scientific framework; intentionality; trading zone
Elenco autori:
N. Guicciardini Corsi Salviati
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