Papers by Hylarie KOCHIRAS
The Oxford Handbook of Newton, 2021
This chapter focuses on Newton's ideas about matter and bodies in connection with traditional que... more This chapter focuses on Newton's ideas about matter and bodies in connection with traditional questions about nature and structure, also examining an important crossover into his quantitative approach. It begins with his early proclivity for ontologically prior parts and atomism itself, then considering their effect upon his ideas about natural kinds; his composition theory; and his explanatory shift from the aether to forces. His most metaphysical account of body, articulated in De gravitatione and belonging to a broader account of substance, is then examined. Rather than employing a substratum, the account reduces bodies solely to powers and attributes, which themselves establish material dimensionality. The penultimate section examines a crossover of some matter-theoretic ideas into the Principia's very different theoretical context, where they threaten his argument for universal gravitation. It shows that his unjustified assumption of matter's inertial homogeneity derives from his old atomist commitments.
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199930418.001
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When Newton articulated the concept of absolute time in his treatise, Philosophae Naturalis Princ... more When Newton articulated the concept of absolute time in his treatise, Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), along with its correlate, absolute space, he did not present it as anything controversial. Whereas his references to attraction are accompanied by the self- protective caveats that typically signal an expectation of censure, the Scholium following Principia’s definitions is free of such remarks, instead elaborating his ideas as clarifications of concepts that, in some manner, we already possess. This is not surprising. The germ of the concept emerged naturally from astronomers’ findings, and variants of it had already been formulated by other seventeenth century thinkers. Thus the novelty of Newton’s absolute time lay mainly in the use to which he put it.
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Philosophy of Science, 80 (October 2013) pp. 557–578., Oct 2013
How does Newton approach the challenge of mechanizing gravity and, more broadly, natural philosop... more How does Newton approach the challenge of mechanizing gravity and, more broadly, natural philosophy? By adopting the simple machine tradition’s mathematical approach to a system’s covarying parameters of change, he retains natural philosophy’s traditional goal while specifying it in a novel way as the search for impressed forces. He accordingly understands the physical world as a divinely created machine possessing intrinsically mathematical features and mathematical methods as capable of identifying its real fea- tures. The gravitational force’s physical cause remains an outstanding problem, however, as evidenced by Newton’s onetime reference to active principles as the “genuine prin- ciples of the mechanical philosophy.”
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HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science , Oct 2013
Although Newton carefully eschews questions about gravity’s causal basis in the published Princip... more Although Newton carefully eschews questions about gravity’s causal basis in the published Principia, the original version of his masterwork’s third book contains some intriguing causal language. “These forces”, he writes, “arise from the universal nature of matter”. Such remarks seem to assert knowledge of gravity’s cause, even that matter is capable of robust and distant action. Some commentators defend that interpretation of the text – a text whose proper interpretation is important, since Newton’s reasons for suppressing it strongly suggest that he continued to endorse its ideas. This article argues that the surface appearance of Newton’s causal language is deceptive. What, then, does Newton intend with his causal language if not a full causal hypothesis? His remarks actually indicate a way of considering the force mathematically, something he contrasts to the structure of the force as it really is, in nature. In explaining that, he identifies a notable disjunction between the physical force itself and mathematical ways of considering it; and the text’s signifiance therefore lies in its view of the force’s structure and in the questions raised about the relationship between mathematical representations and the physical world.
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Religious Studies
This article interprets Newton’s De gravitatione as presenting a reductive account of substance, ... more This article interprets Newton’s De gravitatione as presenting a reductive account of substance, on which divine and created substances are identified with their characteristic attributes, which are present in space. God is identical to the divine power to create, and mind to its characteristic power. Even bodies lack parts outside parts, for they are not constructed from regions of actual space, as some commentators suppose, but rather consist in powers alone, maintained in certain configurations by the divine will. This interpretation thus specifies Newton’s meaning when he writes that bodies subsist ‘through God alone’; yet bodies do qualify as substances, and divine providence does not extend so far as occasionalism.
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We argue that Isaac Newton really is best understood as being in the tradition of the Mechanical ... more We argue that Isaac Newton really is best understood as being in the tradition of the Mechanical Philosophy and, further, that Newton saw himself as being in this tradition. But the tradition as Newton understands it is not that of Robert Boyle and many others, for whom the Mechanical Philosophy was defined by contact action and a corpuscularean theory of matter. Instead, as we argue in this paper, Newton interpreted and extended the Mechanical Philosophy's slogan “matter and motion” in reference to the long and distinguished tradition of mixed mathematics and the study of simple machines.
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Intellectual History Review, Jan 1, 2012
This paper examines connections between concepts of space and extension on the one hand and immat... more This paper examines connections between concepts of space and extension on the one hand and immaterial spirits on the other, specifically the immanentist concept of spirits as present in rerum natura. Those holding an immanentist concept, such as Thomas Aquinas, typically understood spirits non-dimensionally as present by essence and power; and that concept was historically linked to holenmerism, the doctrine that the spirit is whole in every part. Yet as Aristotelian ideas about extension were challenged and an actual, infinite, dimensional space readmitted, a dimensionalist concept of spirit became possible—that asserted by the mature Henry More, as he repudiated holenmerism. Despite More’s intentions, his dimensionalist concept opens the door to materialism, for supposing that spirits have parts outside parts implies that those parts could in principle be mapped onto the parts of divisible bodies. The specter of materialism broadens our interest in More’s unconventional ideas, for the question of whether other early modern thinkers, including Isaac Newton, followed More becomes a question of whether they too unwittingly helped usher in materialism. This paper shows that More’s attack upon holenmerism fails. He illegitimately injects his dimensionalist concept of spirit into the doctrine, failing to recognize it as a consequence of the non-dimensionalist concept of spirit, which in itself secures indivisibility. The interpretive consequence for Newton is that there is no prima facie reason to suppose that the charitable interpretation takes him to deny holenmerism.
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Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Jan 1, 2011
This paper considers Newton’s position on gravity’s cause, both conceptually and historically. Wi... more This paper considers Newton’s position on gravity’s cause, both conceptually and historically. With respect to the historical question, I argue that while Newton entertained various hypotheses about gravity’s cause, he never endorsed any of them, and in particular, his lack of confidence in the hypothesis of robust and unmediated distant action by matter is explained by an inclination toward certain metaphysical principles. The conceptual problem about gravity’s cause, which I identified earlier along with a deeper problem about individuating substances, is that a decisive conclusion is impossible unless certain speculative aspects of his empiricism are abandoned. In this paper, I situate those conceptual problems in Newton’s natural philosophy. They arise from ideas that push empiricism to potentially self-defeating limits, revealing the danger of allowing immaterial spirits any place in natural philosophy, especially spatially extended spirits supposed capable of co-occupying place with material bodies. Yet because their source ideas are speculative, Newton’s method ensures that these problems pose no threat to his rational mechanics or the profitable core of his empiricism. They are easily avoided by avoiding their source ideas, and when science emerges from natural philosophy, it does so with an ontology unencumbered by immaterial spirits.
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Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Jan 1, 2009
A striking feature of Newton’s thought is the very broad reach of his empiricism, potentially ext... more A striking feature of Newton’s thought is the very broad reach of his empiricism, potentially extending even to immaterial substances, including God, minds, and should one exist, a non-perceiving immaterial medium. Yet Newton is also drawn to certain metaphysical principles—most notably the principle that matter cannot act where it is not—and this second, rationalist feature of his thought is most pronounced in his struggle to discover ‘gravity’s cause’. The causal problem remains vexing, for he neither invokes primary causation, nor accepts action at a distance by locating active powers in matter. To the extent that he is drawn to metaphysical principles, then, the causal problem is that of discovering some non-perceiving immaterial medium. Yet Newton’s thought has a third striking feature, one with roots in the other two: he allows that substances of different kinds might simultaneously occupy the very same region of space. I elicit the implications of these three features. For Newton to insist upon all three would transform the causal question about gravity into an insoluble problem about apportioning active powers. More seriously, it would undermine his means of individuating substances, provoking what I call ‘Newton’s Substance Counting Problem’.
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This article examines questions connected with the two features of Locke's intellectual landscape... more This article examines questions connected with the two features of Locke's intellectual landscape that are most salient for understanding his philosophy of science: (1) the profound shift underway in disciplinary boundaries, in methodological approaches to understanding the natural world, and in conceptions of induction and scientific knowledge; and (2) the dominant scientific theory of his day, the corpuscular hypothesis. Following the introduction, section 2 addresses questions connected to changing conceptions of scientific knowledge. What does Locke take science (scientia) and scientific knowledge to be generally, why does he think that scientia in natural philosophy is beyond the reach of human beings, and what characterizes the conception of human knowledge in natural philosophy that he develops? Section 3 addresses the question provoked by Locke's apparently conflicting treatments of the corpuscular hypothesis. Does he accept or defend the corpuscular hypothesis? If not, what is its role in his thought, and what explains its close connection to key theses of the Essay? Since a scholarly debate has arisen about the status of the corpuscular hypothesis for Locke, Section 3 reviews some main positions in that debate. Section 4 considers the relationship between Locke's thought and that of a figure instrumental to the changing conceptions of scientific knowledge, Isaac Newton.
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Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, Jan 1, 2006
Is it ever permissible to publish a patient’s confidences without permission? I investigate this ... more Is it ever permissible to publish a patient’s confidences without permission? I investigate this question for the field of psychoanalysis. Whereas most medical fields adopted a 1995 recommendation for consent requirements, psychoanalysis continues to defend the traditional practice of nonconsensual publication. Both the hermeneutic and the scientific branches of the field justify the practice, arguing that it provides data needed to help future patients, and both branches advance generalizations and causal claims. However the hermeneutic branch embraces methods tending to undermine the reliability of such claims, while the scientific branch aims to improve the field’s empirical base – in their words, to advance psychoanalysis as a science. The scientific branch therefore has the stronger claim to the traditional practice, and it their claim that I consider. An immediate concern arises. We seem unable to answer the applied ethical question without first determining which ethical theory is correct; for defenders of the practice appeal variously to therapeutic privilege, principlism, and utilitarianism, while opponents wage autonomy-based arguments. The concern turns out to be unfounded, however, because all of these ethical approaches fail to justify the traditional practice. The more promising defenses fail partly because even the scientific branch of the field lacks empirically sound methods for establishing its causal claims and generalizations, often appealing to authority instead. I conclude that it is currently unethical for analysts to continue publishing their patients’ confidences without permission, and I suggest that the field help future patients by attending to its methodological problems.
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Principia: an international journal of epistemology, Jan 1, 2010
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Drafts by Hylarie KOCHIRAS
This article is the penultimate version (thus uncorrected preprint) of my forthcoming article in ... more This article is the penultimate version (thus uncorrected preprint) of my forthcoming article in the volume celebrating the tricentennial of Newton’s General Scholium. It appears in the Working Paper series of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, at: http://www.fmsh.fr/fr/diffusion-des-savoirs/28103
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The article pursues two objectives through a close reading of Newton’s 1713 General Scholium. First, it examines his relationship to the canonical mechanical philosophy, including his response to criticism of his own theory that that canonical philosophy’s require- ments motivated. Second, it presents an interpretation of Newton’s own mechanical philosophy, glimpsed in draft material for the General Scholium: he takes the natural world to be a machine operating by causal prin- ciples that arise only within systems and that require mathematical methods because they fundamentally involve interdependent and thus co-varying quantities. Newton’s realism about impressed forces links the two objectives examined.
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Le Scholium General de Newton et la philosophie méchanique
Résumé
Une lecture attentive du Scholium General de Newton permet de préciser deux points. En premier lieu, il est possible de préciser le rapport de Newton avec la philosophie mécanique canonique, y compris la réponse qu’il a donnée à ceux qui critiquaient sa théorie. En deuxième lieu, il est possible de comprendre ce qu’était la philosophie mécanique de Newton lui-même. D’après un manuscrit du Scholium Generale, il considérait que le monde naturel était une machine fonctionnant grâce à des principes causaux qui se présentent uniquement dans des systèmes et qui exigent des méthodes mathématiques car ils concernent des quantités interdépendantes et co-variantes. Le lien entre ces deux points est un réalisme quant aux forces imprimées.
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Papers by Hylarie KOCHIRAS
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199930418.001
Drafts by Hylarie KOCHIRAS
_____________________________________________________________
The article pursues two objectives through a close reading of Newton’s 1713 General Scholium. First, it examines his relationship to the canonical mechanical philosophy, including his response to criticism of his own theory that that canonical philosophy’s require- ments motivated. Second, it presents an interpretation of Newton’s own mechanical philosophy, glimpsed in draft material for the General Scholium: he takes the natural world to be a machine operating by causal prin- ciples that arise only within systems and that require mathematical methods because they fundamentally involve interdependent and thus co-varying quantities. Newton’s realism about impressed forces links the two objectives examined.
_____________________________________________________________
Le Scholium General de Newton et la philosophie méchanique
Résumé
Une lecture attentive du Scholium General de Newton permet de préciser deux points. En premier lieu, il est possible de préciser le rapport de Newton avec la philosophie mécanique canonique, y compris la réponse qu’il a donnée à ceux qui critiquaient sa théorie. En deuxième lieu, il est possible de comprendre ce qu’était la philosophie mécanique de Newton lui-même. D’après un manuscrit du Scholium Generale, il considérait que le monde naturel était une machine fonctionnant grâce à des principes causaux qui se présentent uniquement dans des systèmes et qui exigent des méthodes mathématiques car ils concernent des quantités interdépendantes et co-variantes. Le lien entre ces deux points est un réalisme quant aux forces imprimées.
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199930418.001
_____________________________________________________________
The article pursues two objectives through a close reading of Newton’s 1713 General Scholium. First, it examines his relationship to the canonical mechanical philosophy, including his response to criticism of his own theory that that canonical philosophy’s require- ments motivated. Second, it presents an interpretation of Newton’s own mechanical philosophy, glimpsed in draft material for the General Scholium: he takes the natural world to be a machine operating by causal prin- ciples that arise only within systems and that require mathematical methods because they fundamentally involve interdependent and thus co-varying quantities. Newton’s realism about impressed forces links the two objectives examined.
_____________________________________________________________
Le Scholium General de Newton et la philosophie méchanique
Résumé
Une lecture attentive du Scholium General de Newton permet de préciser deux points. En premier lieu, il est possible de préciser le rapport de Newton avec la philosophie mécanique canonique, y compris la réponse qu’il a donnée à ceux qui critiquaient sa théorie. En deuxième lieu, il est possible de comprendre ce qu’était la philosophie mécanique de Newton lui-même. D’après un manuscrit du Scholium Generale, il considérait que le monde naturel était une machine fonctionnant grâce à des principes causaux qui se présentent uniquement dans des systèmes et qui exigent des méthodes mathématiques car ils concernent des quantités interdépendantes et co-variantes. Le lien entre ces deux points est un réalisme quant aux forces imprimées.