Facing the Limits of "Deductions from Phenomena:" The Quest for a Mathematical-Demonstrative Optics
speaker: Steffen Ducheyne (Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Ghent University)abstract: In my presentation, I shall develop the claim made by the late I. Bernard Cohen, Casper Hakfoort and Alan E. Shapiro according to which Newton's methodological ideal of 'deducing causes from phenomena,' was not equally attainable in the study of optical phenomena. If their suggestion is correct, then in The Opticks, the apex of Newton's optical researches, which contained a set of interrelated optical theories, Newton failed to rigidly deduce these very theories in the sense he had done in the Principia. By contrasting Newton's methodology in the Principia to the method by which theoretical and causal conclusions were established in The Opticks, I shall be able to pinpoint why Newton was less successful to accommodate optical phenomena according to his own methodological desiderata of deducing causes from phenomena. After having commented briefly upon Newton's methodology in the Principia, I will review the sorts of trouble which Newton ran into when trying to methodize optics in a Principia-Style fashion. My focal point will be Newton's arguments for the thesis that white light consists of rays differently refrangible. Special attention will be paid to Newton's presumed application of Rule II of the regulae philosophandi in establishing that part of his optical theory.
timetable:
Tue 14 Sep, 16:30 - 18:00, Sala Conferenze Centro De Giorgi
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