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(1981) Science and hypothesis, Dordrecht, Springer.
The clock metaphor and hypotheses
the impact of Descartes on English methodological thought, 1650–1670
Larry Laudan
pp. 27-58
My tasks in this chapter are two-fold: to trace the influence of Descartes on 17th-century philosophy of science in Britain; and to document the fortunes of the method of hypothesis in Britain in the period immediately before Isaac Newton banished hypotheses from natural philosophy. These two tasks are not unrelated. Indeed, if what follows is anywhere near the mark, the two tasks collapse into one, for insofar as British thinkers of the period from 1650 to 1670 see any promise in the hypothetical method, it is because Descartes, by argument and example, enabled them to see it.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-015-7288-0_4
Full citation:
Laudan, L. (1981). The clock metaphor and hypotheses: the impact of Descartes on English methodological thought, 1650–1670, in Science and hypothesis, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 27-58.
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