Andrew Janiak 
Newton 

Newton is an evocative intellectual history of the life and
ideas of Isaac Newton the natural philosopher, covering his
influential thoughts about philosophical problems, our knowledge of
nature, and even the nature of the divine.

* Offers a comprehensive and highly accessible introduction to
the life and ideas of Isaac Newton, emphasizing his influential
contributions to the field of philosophy

* Covers the principal philosophical topics that captivated
Newton’s mind, from our knowledge of nature to the nature of
the divine

* Includes the most recent and innovative research regarding
Newton’s views on theology and philosophy

* Emphasizes the philosophical importance of Newton’s work
to the history of philosophy and his engagement with the ideas of
both historic and contemporary figures such as Galileo and
Descartes, Leibniz and Locke

Table of Content

Acknowledgments viii

Preface ix

1 Life and times 1

1.1 Background and childhood 4

1.2 Early years in cambridge 5

1.3 Mature years in cambridge and london 8

1.4 Final years 11

2 Was newton a scientist? 17

3 Making philosophy experimental: boyle and hobbes and hooke and
newton 37

3.1 Boyle’s debate with hobbes 41

3.2 Hooke’s debate with newton 49

4 Newton’s struggle with descartes 63

4.1 Setting the historical stage 63

4.2 Descartes’s metaphysical foundation for natural
philosophy 64

4.3 Newton’s new natural philosophy: from de gravitatione
to the principia 69

4.4 Newton’s new metaphysics: de gravitatione as
foundational text 78

5 Making philosophy mathematical 89

5.1 Applying mathematics to nature 89

5.2 Applying mathematics to nature: the cartesian legacy 96

5.3 Newton’s program in natural philosophy 100

5.4 Newton’s mathematical treatment of force 104

6 Newton’s struggle with leibniz 117

6.1 Newton versus leibniz, 1693-1712 118

6.2 The leibniz-clarke correspondence, 1715-1716
129

7 Newton’s god 139

7.1 Newton’s unique approach to theology and natural
philosophy 151

7.2 Newton’s philosophical god 161

7.3 The god of the philosophers and the god of the bible 167

Bibliography 177

Index 192

About the author

Andrew Janiak is the Creed C. Black Associate Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, where he directs the graduate program in history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine. He is the author of Newton as Philosopher (2008), the co-editor of Interpreting Newton: Critical Essays (with Eric Schliesser, 2012), and the editor of Newton: Philosophical Writings (2014, second edition). He is associate editor of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.