Newton and Empiricism;

This volume explores the nature and extent of Newton’s purported empiricism as well as his relationship to a variety of both later and earlier empiricisms and empiricists (Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Hume, s’ Gravesande, Mandeville, Pitcairne, Haller, Diderot, and others). Among the many significant contributions of the volume are: a detailed engagement with Newton’s optical writings and his use of experiment in optical contexts; a careful contextualization of Newton’s empirical methods and the science about causes against earlier and later natural philosophical methods; a critical analysis of the ways in which Locke and Hume responded to Newton in regards to the nature of space, time, the structure of the sciences, and the limits of human inquiry; and an examination of the strength and nature of the evidence provided by the Principia and its development in subsequent astronomical research.