Abstract
Many names have been given to the eighteenth century: first and foremost the “Enlightenment,” but also the “Century of Light,” the “Age of Reason,” and even the “Age of Newton.” In view of the complex nature of the century, it is not surprising that such grand titles — and, more importantly, the unity of doctrine they imply — have been increasingly challenged. Which Enlightenment? What Reason? Whose Light? are just a few of the questions being posed by a new breed of historians determined to rid the eighteenth century of its traditionally one-dimensional interpretation. Certainly their probing has radically altered our perception of the period, giving it a depth and complexity missing a generation ago.
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Notes
For some recent re-evaluations of “Newtonianism” see Yehuda Elkana, “Newtonianism in the Eighteenth Century,” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, XXII (1971), 297–306
R.W. Home, “‘Newtonianism’ and the Theory of the Magnet,” History of Science, XV (1977), 252–66
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Robert E. Schofield, “An Evolutionary Taxonomy of Eighteenth-Century Newtonianism,” in Studies in 18 Century Culture, VII (1978), 175–92
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a See also L.L. Laudan, “Thomas Reid and the Newtonian Turn of British Methodological Thought,” in The Methodological Heritage of Newton eds. Robert E. Butts and John W. Davis (Toronto, 1971), p. 105.
See in general, Gerd Buchdahl, The Image of Newton and Locke in the Age of Reason (London and New York, 1961).
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Idem, Visionary Physics (Chicago and London, 1974).
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C.B. Wilde, “Hutchinsonianism, Natural Philosophy and Religious Controversy in Eighteenth Century Britain,” History of Science, XVIII (1980), 1–24
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Albert J. Kuhn, “Glory or Gravity: Hutchinson vs. Newton,” Journal of the History of Ideas, XXII (1961), 303–22.
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Feingold, M. (1988). Partnership in Glory: Newton and Locke Through the Enlightenment and Beyond. In: Scheurer, P.B., Debrock, G. (eds) Newton’s Scientific and Philosophical Legacy. Archives Internationales D’Histoire des Idées / International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 123. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2809-1_21
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