Back to Search
Start Over
Beyond Descartes: Noël Regnault and Eighteenth-Century French Cartesianism.
- Source :
-
Perspectives on Science . Mar/Apr2024, Vol. 32 Issue 2, p230-261. 32p. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- This paper proposes new ways of characterizing eighteenth-century French Cartesianism. Besides two widely-accepted elements—the belief in "strict mechanism" and the idea that to demonstrate in physics does not involve mathematics, but reference to mechanical models—I add two more, hitherto neglected, features. First, a strong emphasis on experimentalism, namely the view that experiments are crucial to natural-philosophical practice. Second, an epistemological thesis that I call "conjecturalism," which consists in doubting that natural philosophy would attain an ultimate truth on the nature of things. To explore these facets of Cartesianism, I focus on the works of the Jesuit Noël Regnault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *PHILOSOPHY of nature
*MECHANICAL models
*CARTESIANISM (Philosophy)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10636145
- Volume :
- 32
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Perspectives on Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 175869210
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00623