GF Colloquium: Aaron Wells (University of Paderborn)

On Wednesday 17 May there will be a GF Colloquium with Aaron Wells (University of Paderborn) on ‘Du Châtelet on Newton’s Rules for Reasoning’.

Abstract:

This talk examines Du Châtelet’s scientific methodology through the lens of her discussions of Newton’s Rules for Reasoning in Natural Philosophy. I first show that her early manuscript writings on these Rules draw stronger conclusions from them than Newton himself would endorse, though later stages of manuscript revision are already more cautious. Then, I argue that her famous published account of hypotheses continues to invoke close analogues of Rules 3 and 4, despite various developments in her position. Specifically, hypotheses must be responsive to all available experimental evidence, but can thereafter be assumed as true until contrary experiments show otherwise. Du Châtelet’s rationalist principles of intelligibility, such as the principle of sufficient reason, can be seen as complementing rather than replacing the Rules.

If you would like to attend drinks and/or dinner after the talk (own expense), please send an email to Maaike Korpershoek.