In this monograph, Steffen Ducheyne provides a historically detailed and
systematically rich explication of Newton's methodology. Throughout the
pages of this book, it will be shown that Newton developed a complex
natural-philosophical methodology which encompasses procedures to
minimize inductive risk during the process of theory formation and
which, thereby, surpasses a standard hypothetico-deductive
methodological setting. Accordingly, it will be highlighted that the
so-called 'Newtonian Revolution' was not restricted to the empirical and
theoretical dimensions of science, but applied equally to the
methodological dimension of science. Furthermore, it will be documented
that Newton's methodology was far from static and that it developed
alongside with his scientific work. Attention will be paid not only to
the successes of Newton's innovative methodology, but equally to its
tensions and limitations. Based on a thorough study of Newton's extant
manuscripts, this monograph will address and contextualize, inter alia,
Newton's causal realism, his views on action at a distance and space and
time, the status of efficient causation in the /Principia/, the
different phases of his methodology, his treatment of force and the
constituents of the physico-mathematical models in the context of Book I
of the /Principia/, the analytic part of the argument for universal
gravitation, the meaning and significance of his regulae philosophandi,
the methodological differences between his mechanical and optical work,
and, finally, the interplay between Newton's theology and his natural
philosophy.
