Descartes and the Emergence of Laws of Nature: A Chart to the Current Debate
Abstract
Descartes is widely recognized as a key figure in the emergence and consolidation of laws of nature in 17th century natural philosophy. In this article, after outlining the Aristotle-inspired scholastic ontology, we examine Descartes’ formulation of the laws of nature in both The World and the Principles. We argue that, although it faced a critical reception in Boyle’s experimental tradition, the cartesian nomic rationalism successfully draw a chart for some of the issues that continue to occupy a central place in current debates about laws of nature.
References
Aquino, Tomás de (SCG [1945]). «Summa Contra Gentiles». En: Basic Writings, editado por Anton Pegis, 2 volúmenes. New York: Random House.
Aquino, Tomás de (ST [1945]). «Summa Theologica». En: Basic Writings, editado por Anton Pegis, 2 volúmenes. New York: Random House.
Armstrong, David (1983). What is a Law of Nature? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berenstain, Nora and Ladyman, James. (2012). «Ontic Structural Realism and Modality». En: Structural Realism: Structure, Object, and Causality, editado por Elaine M. Landry and Dean P. Rickles. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.149- 168.
Bird, Alexander (2007). Nature’s Metaphysics. Laws ad Properties. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boyle, Robert (1772 [1690]). «Christian Virtuoso». En: The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, volumen V. Londres: J. y F. Rivington, pp. 508-540.
Boyle, Robert (1996 [1686]). A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cartwright, Nancy (1983). How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cartwright, Nancy (1999). The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chalmers, Alan (1999). «Making Sense of the Laws of Physics». En: Causation and Laws of Nature, editado por Howard Sankey. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 3-16.
Copérnico, Nicolas (1996 [1543]). On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres. Amherst, U.S.A.: Prometheus Books.
Darrigol, Olivier (2014). Physics and Necessity. Rationalist Pursuits from the Cartesian Past to the Quantum Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Daston, Lorraine y Stolleis, Michael (2008). «Introduction: Nature, Law and Natural Law in Early Modern Europe». En: Natural Law and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Europe: Jurisprudence, Theology, Moral and Natural Philosophy, editado por Lorraine Daston y Michael Stolleis. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, pp. 1-12.
Descartes, Rene (CSM). The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, volúmenes I-III. Traducción y edición por John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff y Dugald Murdoch, 1984-1991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dorato, Mauro (2005). The Software of the Universe. An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Laws of Nature. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Ellis, Brian (2001). Scientific Essentialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
French, Steven (2014). The Structure of the World: Metaphysics & Representation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Galilei, Galileo (2001 [1632]). Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. New York: The Modern Library.
Garber, Daniel (1992) Descartes’ Metaphysical Physics. Chicago y Londres: Chicago University Press.
Hattab, Helen (2018). «Early Modern Roots of the Philosophical Concept of a Law of Nature». En: Laws of Nature, editado por Walter Ott y Lydia Patton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 18-41.
Koyré, Alexandre (1978). Galileo Studies. Atlantic Highlands, N.J: Humanities Press.
Lange, Marc. (2000). Natural Laws in Scientific Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Koyré, Alexandre (2009). Laws and Lawmakers: Science, Metaphysics, and the Laws of Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Koyré, Alexandre (2017). Because without Cause. Non-Causal Explanations in Science and Mathematics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, David (1986). Philosophical Papers, Volume II. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, David (1994). «Humean Supervenience Debugged». Mind, 103 (412): pp. 473-490.
Maudlin, Tim. (2007). The Metaphysics within Physics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Milton, John R. (1998). «Laws of Nature». En: The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, editado por Daniel Garber y Michael Ayers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 680-701.
Mumford, Stephen (2004). Laws in Nature. London and New York: Routledge.
Newton, Isaac (1999). The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Edición y traducción de I. Bernard Cohen y Anne Whitman, con la asistencia de Julia Budenz. California: The University of California Press.
Ott, Walter (2009). Causation and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Psillos, Stathis (2018). «Laws and Powers in the Frame of Nature». En: Laws of Nature, editado por Walter Ott y Lydia Patton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 80-107.
Roux, Sophie (2011). «Le Lois de la Nature à l’âge Classique: la Question Terminologique». Revue de Synthèse, 4: pp. 531-576.
Ruby, Jane (1986). «The Origins of Science Law». Journal of the History of Ideas, 47 (3): pp. 341-359.
Sartenaer, Olivier; Guay, Alexandre; and Humphreys, Paul. (2021). «What Price Changing Laws of Nature». European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11 (12): pp. 11-19.
Soto, Cristian (2021). «Humeanismo y Leyes de la Naturaleza: Alcance y Límites». Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso, 17: pp. 145-167.
Soto, Cristian y Rodríguez, Pascal (2019). «Capacidades y leyes fenomenológicas: el disposicionalismo experimental». Revista de Filosofía, 76: pp. 185-201.
Steinle, Friedrich (2002). «Negotiating Experiment, Reason, and Theology: The Concept of Law of Nature in the Early Royal Society». En: Wissensideale und Wissenkulturen in der frühen Neuzeit, editado por Wolfgang Detel y Claus Zittel. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, pp. 197-2012.
Torretti, Roberto (1999). The Philosophy of Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Van Fraassen, Bas (1989). Laws and Symmetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Weber, Max (2008). Max Weber’s Complete Writings on Academic and Political Vocations. New York: Algora Publishing.
Wooton, David (2015). The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
Copyright (c) 2023 © Disputatio
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
