This book contextualizes David Hume's philosophy of physical science, exploring both Hume's background in the history of early modern natural philosophy and its subsequent impact on the scientific tradition

Slavov, Matias

English

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    Preface The book at hand centers around David Hume’s (1711‒1776) natural philosophy and philosophy of physical science. It reaches both into Hume scholarship and the history of philosophy of physics ranging from Cartesian cosmology to special relativity. Hume’s Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Physical Science has two equally important ambitions. First, it deepens our understanding of Hume’s relation to natural philosophy. This aspect of his work has not received considerable attention in Hume studies. Hume is widely acknowledged as being the greatest philosopher to have ever written in English, and consequently today an ample number of scholars in the Americas, Europe, Australasia and Japan peruse his work and publish several academic articles and monographs on it yearly. Second, the book shall demonstrate that philosophy and physics have had (and arguably still have) overlapping domains of investigation. These overlapping domains pertain to the central matters of the book. It involves the topics of experimentalism, causation, laws of nature, metaphysics of forces, mathematics’ relation to nature and the concepts of space and time.   Table of Contents  Preface  Previous publications used in this book  List of figures  Special fonts Acknowledgements Introduction Method and viewpoint Chapter outlines 1 The Concept of Natural Philosophy Philosophy and physics Early modern natural philosophy 2 Science of Human Nature and Natural Philosophy Hume’s ambition: Science of human nature Hume’s education in natural philosophy Hume’s interest in and analyses of various natural philosophical issues Is Hume doing natural philosophy? Comparing metaphysics to natural philosophy 3 Experimentalism  Boyle on probability and the category of fact Newton’s experimentalism and criticism of hypotheses Hume’s experimentalism Matters of fact: experience, testimony, and probability 4 Laws of Nature, Causation, and the Ontology of Forces The notion of a law of nature Laws are causal Causation as discovered constant conjunction Mechanism and causal power in laws of nature 5 The Relation of Mathematics to Nature Hume’s doctrine of relations and his fork The application of mathematics Mixed mathematics instantiates epistemic virtues Is the book of nature written in the language of mathematics? 6 Space and Time  The absolutist argument Newton’s criticism of Descartes Hume on space as extension From the idea of time to a full-fledged relationist ontology 7 Hume’s Impact Special relativity Humeanism and NonHumeanism about laws of nature Causation and laws Physics and intelligibility Bibliography Index 

Hume's Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Physical Science

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Hume's Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Physical Science

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