First published Sat Apr 5, 2003; most recent substantive revision Wed Aug 22, 2018. -/- Samuel Clarke (1675–1729) was the most influential British philosopher in the generation between Locke and Berkeley. His philosophical interests were mostly in metaphysics, theology, and ethics.

This essay offers a critical introduction to the intellectual issues involved in the Kitzmiller case relating to intelligent design, and to Steve Fuller’s involvement in it. It offers a brief appraisal of the intelligent design movement stemming from the work of Phillip E. Johnson, and of Steve Fuller’s case for intelligent design in a rather different sense.

In this chapter I investigate the prospects of integrated history and philosophy of science, by examining how philosophical issues raised by “hidden entities”, entities that are not accessible to unmediated observation, can enrich the historical investigation of their careers. Conversely, I suggest that the history of those entities has important lessons to teach to the philosophy of science. Hidden entities have played a crucial role in the development of the natural sciences. Despite their centrality to past scientific practice, however, several (...) of them (e.g., phlogiston, caloric, and the ether) turned out to be fictitious. For this reason, they have figured prominently in recent debates on scientific realism. The issues I explore in this paper are entangled with those debates. I argue that our understanding of hidden entities and their role in experimental practice can be enhanced by adopting an integrated historical-cum-philosophical approach. On the one hand, philosophical reflection on the reality of those entities has a lot to gain by examining historically how they were ntroduced and investigated. On the other hand, the historical reconstruction of the careers of those entities may profit from philosophical reflection on their existence. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that inconsistencies in scientific theories may arise from the type of causality relation they—tacitly or explicitly—embody. All these seemingly different causality relations can be subsumed under a general strategy developed to defeat the paradoxes which inevitably occur in our experience of the real. With respect to this, scientific theories are just a subclass of the larger class of metaphysical theories, construed as theories that attempt to explain a (part of) the world consistently. All metaphysical theories (...) share a common structural backbone specificially designed to defeat paradoxes, their often wildly diverging ontological claims notwithstanding. This common structure shapes the procedures which govern the invention of ideas in the context of such theories, by codifying some onto-logical a priori assumptions regarding the consistency of reality into its bare conceptual framework. Causality plays a key rôle here, because it implies conservation of identity, itself a far from simple notion. It imposes strong demands on the universalising power of the theories concerned. These demands are often met by the introduction of a metalevel which encompasses the notions of ‘system’ and ‘lawful behaviour’. In classical mechanics, the division between universal and particular leaves its traces in the separate treatment of cinematics and dynamics. The fundamental backbone’s specific gestalt thus functions as a theory’s individual signature and paves the way to a comparative historical approach towards their study. An important part of my paper therefore explores the strong connections between paradoxes as they appear and are dealt with in ancient philosophy and their re-appearance in early modern natural philosophy and science. This analysis is applied to the mechanical theories of Newton and Leibniz, with some surprising results. (shrink)

Este artículo discute la cercana relación entre la teología y la filosofía natural de Newton. Tomando como punto de inscripción el ejemplo de la Óptica, se refutarán estas lecturas de Newton. Primero, se examinará la evidencia que muestra que Newton contempló una declaración explícita de filosofía natural para la primera edición de la Óptica. Luego se discutirá el material teológico-natural añadido a la Optice de 1706. Al hacerlo, se señalarán ejemplos de su relación con las afirmaciones hechas en el Escolio (...) General de los Principia, se demostrará cómo éste está iluminado por las afirmaciones más explícitas hechas en un borrador a la Cuestión 23 (31), y se explorarán conexiones entre las declaraciones públicas de las Cuestiones y material más explícito sobre teología natural en los manuscritos privados de Newton. Luego se mostrará que, así como en el Escolio General, el material añadido a las ediciones posteriores de la Óptica también incluye claves sobre su teología antitrinitaria herética. Finalmente, se sugerirán formas en que los compromisos de Newton con la teología natural, y un poderoso Dios unitario del dominio, ayudaron a sustentar su filosofía natural. En suma, este artículo sostiene que la teología natural de Newton y su teología herética se relacionan con la filosofía natural de la Óptica de maneras que son mucho más fundamentales que un delgado barniz de retórica. Este artículo se basa no sólo en un análisis de los textos publicados, sino también de los borradores relacionados con la Óptica y otros paralelos textuales en los escritos inéditos de Newton. Estos manuscritos privados ayudarán a abrir una ventana en el sentido que buscaban los textos públicos de Newton. (shrink)

Una de las principales razones para el éxito de la filosofía natural de Newton fue el papel que ésta tuvo al desarrollar una teología natural valiosa. Además, Newton mismo publicó las implicaciones teológicas de su propia filosofía natural. Aunque en la primera edición de los Principia no hay ninguna señal de Dios, para la segunda edición (1713) Newton introdujo un "Escolio General" en el que explícitamente discutía la relación entre Dios y su Creación. La obsesión de Newton por la interpretación (...) de las Escrituras durante algún tiempo fue desestimada como embarazosa. Sin embargo, su importancia para una comprensión adecuada de Newton ahora se reconoce y estimula mucha actividad nueva entre los especialistas. El significado de este trabajo permite ver en la actualidad el núcleo de la pregunta de Richard H. Popkin: “¿por qué uno de los más grandes teólogos anti-Trinitarios se dedicó a escribir obras de filosofía natural, como los Principia Mathematica? (shrink)

The industrial revolution and the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were two of the most important events in the whole of human history and the question of how these two relate to each other must therefore form one of the most vital of all inquiries in the history of science. As the industrial revolution began in England- and largely provincial England- the question of how scientific knowledge came to be disseminated to these regions forms a crucial part (...) of such an enquiry. Using Derby as a case study, this paper examines how Newtonian philosophy came to be spread, how and why science became a cultural activity as part of the Habermasean public sphere, and how scientific theory related to early industrial and technologicalventures in an English provincial town. The richness of Derby's scientific culture is revealed by the careers of John Whitehurst FRS, John Arden, Thomas Simpson FRS, Benjamin Parker and George Sorocold and the importance of science in the curriculum of the local Dissenting academy. (shrink)