Maupertuis et le mathématisme philosophique

One of the greatest philosophical controversies of the eighteenth century was the competition organized in 1746 by the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Although the specific object of the competition was the theory of monads, this particular question nevertheless referred to a deeper and more radical opposition between the two contending parties, Newtonians and Wolffians. In this contribution, we will first focus on the reasons for Newtonian opposition to Wolff’s philosophy. In this context, particular attention will be paid to the positions of Euler and Maupertuis. We will then proceed to a comparison between the positions of Wolff and Maupertuis on the crucial question of the relationship between mathematical and philosophical method. Our analysis will attempt to show the existence, in Maupertuis’s thought, of an effort to apply the mathematical method to disciplines other than mathematics itself, which will allow us to determine his opposition to Wolffian philosophy. Finally, we will clarify the affinities and divergences between Wolff and Maupertuis, trying to show that the real reasons for their opposition should be sought in their respective epistemologies and metaphysics

Maupertuis et la science de la musique

Historians have constantly neglected Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis’s (1698-1759) irst academic work, On the Shape of the Musical Instruments (1724). This is all the more surprising if we consider the issues it raises from both an his- torical and a theoretical point of view. In order to solve such issues, in this paper we will give a thorough analysis of the main stages of Maupertuis’s intellectual apprenticeship, and of the possible sources of some of his doctrines as well. We are well aware that such an operation will yield nothing absolutely certain. In the worst case, however, we will have sketched an historical-philosophical framework within which the Breton savant took his irst steps: a pre-history of Maupertuis’s scientiic activity, which remains still largely unknown.Le premier mémoire académique de Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), intitulé Sur la forme des instruments de musique (1724), a été souvent négligé par les historiens. Cela est d’autant plus étonnant si l’on consi- dère les dificultés évidentes qu’il pose d’un point de vue à la fois historique et théorique. Pour essayer de résoudre ces problèmes d’interprétation, dans la présente contribution nous avons approfondi les étapes principales de la première formation intellectuelle de Maupertuis, aussi bien que les sources possibles de quelques-unes de ses doctrines. Nous sommes bien conscients que cette opération ne nous livrera rien d’absolument certain. Dans le pire des cas, toutefois, nous aurons esquissé un cadre historico-philosophique à l’intérieur duquel le savant malouin a débuté sa carrière : une préhistoire de l’activité savante de Maupertuis qui, à ce jour, reste encore largement inexplorée

Les preuves de l’existence de Dieu chez Samuel Formey

The perpetual secretary of the Berlin Academy Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey is best known as a populariser of Christian Wolff’s doctrines. As of Formey’s activity in the Berlin Academy, scholars have mostly emphasized his role in the controversy over monads with Leonhard Euler, while overlooking other interesting contributions Formey presented in the “speculative philosophy” class of the Academy. In this paper, I analyse two articles Formey published in 1747 on the Mémoires de l’Académie de Berlin, namely the Preuves de l’existence de Dieu, ramenées aux notions communes and the Examen de la preuve qu’on tire des fins de la nature, pour établir l’existence de Dieu. In these texts, Formey presents some of Wolff’s methodological and metaphysical ideas, in an implicit dialogue with other members of the Academy – in particular, with the president Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis – who were also interested in metaphysics and the philosophical method. Formey reworks the Wolffian arguments as to make them more accessible, in order to promote an open confrontation over core philosophical questions. Far from adopting a controversial tone, Formey’s attitude is rather conciliatory: any disagreement, as he thinks, can be easily settled once the true method for philosophizing is made available to everybody

Maupertuis’s Principle of Least Action: Epistemology and Metaphysics

The paper deals with Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis’s (1698-1759) writings on the principle of least action (PLA). I discuss Maupertuis’s philosophical interpretation of the PLA by analysing three of his papers (1740, 1744, 1746), in order to assess the overall consistency of his argument. As I shall argue, Maupertuis presents the PLA as a universal principle of nature, this being at odds with the empiricist inspiration of his epistemology. Maupertuis’s attempt to introduce conceptual elements borrowed from the Leibnizian tradition into a Newtonian-inspired framework creates in fact a tension that is difficult to overcome

I principi epistemologici della botanica di Guy de La Brosse

This paper investigates some core aspects of Guy de La Brosse’s (1586-1641) botanical work. In the first section, the focus is on the epistemological principles of La Brosse’s botany by analyzing the first and second book of the treatise De la nature, vertu et utilité des plantes (1628). In the second section, the author discusses the role of Paracelsus’s chemistry in La Brosse’s work, with a particular attention to the third book of the De la nature. The final section deals with La Brosse’s interest in the visualization of plants. Here, the author provides the transcription and first Italian translation of a short manuscript related to Abraham Bosse’s engravings for La Brosse’s unfinished book Icones posthumae

Philosophy and Mathematics at the Turn of the 18th Century: New Perspectives – Philosophie et mathématiques au tournant du XVIIIe siècle: perspectives nouvelles

The essays gathered in this issue of the journal Noctua focus on the various relationships that were established between philosophy and mathematics from Galileo and Descartes to Kant, passing by Newton

STEPS TO A LOCALIZATION OF A STUDENT CENTRED IS AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH

In this exploratory paper we propose a particular interpretation of what “localization” and “centring” could represent within a n-fold approach, aimed to question the reality to raise analytic and methodological issues. This concern a discussion on a project of localization of an information system addressed to student\u27s needs. Our subject of analysis is the student of Trento University (Italy) that stands for the pivoting point of the comprehension and knowledge of the situated context we study. Adopting a scenario-based design we try to give the researchers and designers a useful tool embodying the questions and problems of a complex reality such student\u27s life is

Maupertuis et ses critiques : textes et controverses

Whereas historians have sometimes acknowledged the momentous contribution the Enlightenment provided to the cultural and scientific development of the modern world, more often they have criticized its speculative shallowness, and its overconfidence in the results of the scientific inquiry. The figure of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), holding a central place in our study, suffered the same fate as many other Enlightenment thinkers: mentioned in some historical narratives as a leading scientist and experimenter, most notably for the decisive contribution he gave to the circulation of Newtonian theories in France, he is relegated to the background in histories of modern philosophy and epistemology. One of the main objectives of the present research is to advance an interpretation of Maupertuis’ works which insists on the speculative depth of his doctrines, in order to display the preeminent place epistemological and metaphysical stakes occupy therein. The critical analysis of Maupertuis’ texts, however, is not the only important aspect of our study: we aim indeed at creating a wider narrative, which might contribute to clarify Maupertuis’ place within the intellectual network of the early 18th-century Republic of Letters. In this sense, we attribute a special importance to the study of Maupertuis’ controversies with other scientists and philosophers. The two controversies on which we concentrate are the controversy over the shape of the Earth, which took place at the Paris Academy of Sciences between 1733 and 1740, and the controversy over monads and Christian Wolff’s philosophy, taking place at the Berlin Academy of Sciences between 1746 and 1750. The interest of studying Maupertuis’ controversies is twofold. Firstly, it is an aspect of Maupertuis’ life and work commentators have overlooked: although there are a few essays dealing with Maupertuis’ controversies, which are for the most part focused on the question of shape of the Earth, monographs hitherto published do not discuss this aspect in detail. Secondly, Maupertuis’ controversies are an interesting case study to understand how scientific and philosophical controversies concretely work. We do not intend to claim that our study of Maupertuis’ controversies might function as a universally valid model for the study of each and every controversy in the history of science and philosophy. However, since historians studying controversies privilege case studies drawn from the 17th century, it seems useful to discuss an episode from another century, which belongs therefore to a different intellectual and social context. In this way, we will provide new elements of reflection on the nature of philosophical and scientific disagreement, which might integrate the existing literature on the subject. Ultimately, our study is not only a work on Maupertuis’ thought, but a survey that, through the analysis of Maupertuis’ texts and controversies, reconstructs the network of relations and exchanges which constitute the early 18th-century Republic of Letters. The work of Maupertuis functions therefore as a prism through which we observe the main lines of development of science and philosophy of his time.Si la pensée des lumières a parfois été célébrée par l’historiographie pour sa contribution significative au développement culturel et scientifique de la modernité, elle a le plus souvent été critiquée pour sa superficialité spéculative, ainsi que pour sa confiance aveugle dans les résultats des enquêtes scientifiques. La figure de Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), à laquelle notre travail est consacré, rentre de plein droit dans ce cadre interprétatif : mentionné dans quelques récits historiques comme scientifique de premier plan, notamment pour sa contribution décisive à la diffusion des théories newtoniennes en France, il est relégué au second plan dans les travaux d’histoire de la philosophie et de l’épistémologie. L’un des objectifs principaux de notre travail est précisément de proposer une relecture de l’œuvre de Maupertuis qui emphatise l’intérêt spéculatif de ses doctrines, afin de montrer la place éminente qu’il occupe dans l’histoire de la pensée moderne. Nous nous pencherons ainsi sur quelques textes importants de Maupertuis, en soulignant le rôle capital qu’y jouent les questions épistémologiques et métaphysiques. L’analyse critique de la pensée scientifique et philosophique de Maupertuis n’est pourtant pas le seul aspect significatif de notre recherche : notre ambition est de proposer un récit plus vaste que la simple étude des travaux de Maupertuis, qui puisse contextualiser son œuvre dans les dynamiques de la République des Lettres au début du XVIIIe siècle. En ce sens, nous attribuons une importance toute particulière à l’étude des controverses de Maupertuis avec d’autres savants et philosophes. Il sera notamment question de deux controverses. La première, qui concerne la forme de la Terre, éclate au sein de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris entre 1733 et 1740. La deuxième, qui porte sur les monades et la philosophie wolffienne, a pour cadre l’Académie de Berlin entre 1746 et 1750. L’intérêt du travail sur les controverses de Maupertuis est double. Tout d’abord, il s’agit d’un aspect de la vie et de l’œuvre du savant que les commentateurs ont peu étudié : certes, il existe quelques études particulières sur les controverses maupertuisiennes, notamment de celle qui porte sur la figure de la Terre, mais la question n’est jamais thématisée de manière systématique dans les monographies publiées jusqu’ici. Ensuite, les controverses de Maupertuis nous paraissent intéressantes comme étude de cas pour comprendre le fonctionnement concret des controverses scientifiques et philosophiques. Nous ne prétendons évidemment pas présenter les conclusions que nous allons tirer de l’examen de ces controverses en tant que normes universelles pour l’étude de toute controverse scientifique ou philosophique du passé. Toutefois, comme les historiens travaillant sur les controverses privilégient souvent les scientifiques et les philosophes du XVIIe siècle, il nous semble intéressant de présenter une étude de cas provenant du XVIIIe siècle, qui appartient à un contexte intellectuel et social profondément différent de celui du siècle précédent. Nous pourrons ainsi apporter de nouveaux éléments de réflexion sur la nature du désaccord scientifique et philosophique, qui puissent intégrer et compléter les travaux existants. Ce que nous présentons ici, en définitive, n’est pas seulement une étude sur Maupertuis, mais un travail qui, à travers l’analyse de sa pensée et des controverses qu'elle a suscitées, vise à la reconstruction des rapports et des échanges qui constituent le réseau de la République des Lettres au début du XVIIIe siècle. L’œuvre de Maupertuis est ainsi envisagée comme un prisme, à travers lequel nous observons les lignes principales de développement de la science et de la philosophie de son époque

Systematic Thought and the Early French Enlightenment

The Enlightenment critique of the esprit de système and its tendency towards eclecticism have often been interpreted as symptoms of speculative shallowness. The article analyses the origins of this prejudice, with special reference to the early French Enlightenment (1700-1750). It then attempts to counter such a preconception by providing a relevant counterexample. The case study presented is that of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, usually considered a typical instance of the anti-systematic proto-positivist philosophe. In discussing his philosophy, epistemological and cosmological issues in particular are emphasized, showing how Maupertuis' thoroughly empiricist theory of knowledge led him to apply mathematics to all domains of human knowledge in order to reduce their uncertainty. It is concluded that Maupertuis is the author of a rich and interesting work, which brings some novelty to the philosophical scene of his own times, if not to the whole history of modern philosophy