Abstract
The foregoing arguments apply not only to mathematics but also to the sciences. Here I review the innovative mathematical representations of time in the work of Galileo, Descartes and Newton, and then turn to the debate over whether time is absolute (to be defined analytically) or relative (to be defined referentially) between Newton and his mouthpiece Clarke, and Leibniz. The detailed examination of Leibniz’s treatment of time is also a re-consideration of the methodology of this book, since it was inspired by Leibniz. How shall we think about the ways in which the two kinds of discourse that record empirical compilation and theoretical analysis may be combined in science? Leibniz calls on the Principle of Sufficient Reason to regulate a science that must be both empirical and rationalist, aiming to correlate precise empirical description with the abstract conception of science more geometrico. He encourages us to work out our sciences through successive stages, moving back and forth between concrete taxonomy and abstract systematization.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Augustine of Hippo. (1961). Confessions. R. S. Pine-Coffin (Tr.). New York: Viking Penguin.
Aiton, E. (1985). Leibniz: A biography. Bristol: Adam Hilger.
Belaval, Y. (1960). Leibniz critique de Descartes. Paris: Gallimard.
Bertoloni Meli, D. (1993). Equivalence and priority, Newton versus Leibniz. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Corfield, P. (2007). Time and the shape of history. New Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press.
Davillé, L. (1909). Leibniz historien. Essai sur l’activité et la méthode historique de Leibniz. Paris: Félix Alcan.
De Gandt, F. (1995). Force and geometry in Newton’s Principia. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Descartes, R. (1964–1974). Oeuvres de Descartes. C. Adam and P. Tannery (Eds.) 11 Volumes. Paris: Vrin.
Duchesneau, F. (1993). Leibniz et la méthode de la science. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Galilei, G. (1914/1954). Dialogues concerning two new sciences. H. Crew & A. de Salvio (Tr.). New York: Dover.
Garber, D. (2009). Leibniz: body, substance, monad. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldenbaum, U. (2012). “Peter Denies”—The impact of Leibniz’s conception of time on his conception of history. Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 56(1), 79–88.
Granger, G.-G. (1981). Philosophie et mathématique leibniziennes. In Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 86, 1–37.
Grosholz, E. (2007). Representation and productive ambiguity in mathematics and the sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grosholz, E. (2011a). Reference and analysis: The representation of time in Galileo, Newton, and Leibniz. Journal of the History of Ideas, 72/3, 333–350.
Grosholz, E. (2011b). Space and time. In D. Clarke & C. Wilson (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy in early modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 51–70.
Koyré, A. (1939). Etudes galiléennes. Paris: Hermann.
Leibniz, G. W. (1961). Opuscules et fragments inédit de Leibniz. L. Couturat (Ed.) Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
Leibniz, G. W. (1962). Mathematischen Schriften. C. I. Gerhardt (Ed.), 7 Volumes. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
Leibniz, G. W. (1978). Philosophischen Schriften. C. I. Gerhardt (Ed.), 7 Volumes. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
Leibniz, G. W. (2008). Protogaea. C. Cohen & A. Wakefield (Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Meinecke, F. (1936). Die Entstehung des Historismus. Munich: R. Oldenbourg.
Newton, I. (1934). Mathematical principles of natural philosophy and his system of the world. In A. Motte (Tr.) and F. Cajori (Ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Newton, I. (1962). De gravitatione et aequipondio fluidorum. In Unpublished scientific papers of Isaac Newton. A. R. Hall and M. B. Hall (Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 89–156.
Newton, I. (1972). The Principia, mathematical principles of natural philosophy [3rd Edition, 1726.] I. B. Cohen and A. Whitman (Tr.) 2 Volumes. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sorel, A. (1885–1904). L’Europe et la révolution française. 8 vols. Paris: Plon, Nourrit et Cie.
Troeltsch, E. (1934). The ideas of natural law and humanity in world politics. In O. Gierke (Ed.) E. Barker (Tr.) Natural law and the theory of society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: Appendix I.
Van Fraassen, B. (1989/2003). Laws and symmetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grosholz, E.R. (2016). The Representation of Time in the 17th Century. In: Starry Reckoning: Reference and Analysis in Mathematics and Cosmology. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46690-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46690-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46689-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46690-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)