Early Newtonianism

Guerlac Henry Jacob M. C. , “Bentley, Newton and Providence (The Boyle Lecturers once more)”, Journal of the history of ideas, xxx (1969), 307–18.

Jacob J. R. , “The ideological origins of Robert Boyle's natural philosophy”, Journal of European studies, ii (1972), 1–21.

Jacob M. C. , “The Church and the formulation of the Newtonian world-view”, Journal of European studies, i (1971), 128–48, p. 130.

See in particular Hill Christopher , “Newton and his society”, in Palter Robert (ed.), The ‘Annus Mirabilis’ of Sir Isaac Newton, 1666–1966 (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), 26–47; Jacob M. C. , “John Toland and the Newtonian ideology”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, xxxii (1969), 321–4; and most briefly in Rattansi P. M. , “The social interpretation of science in the seventeenth century”, in Mathias Peter (ed.), Science and society, 1600–1900 (Cambridge, 1972), 1–32. There is the earlier, but often dismissed, Hessen B. , The social and economic roots of Newton's ‘Principia’ (Sydney, 1946). For all its failings, at least it was a beginning.

I do not wish to make light of the very real problems faced by historians engaged in discerning the subtleties and intricacies of Newton's thought. Neither will I accept the view that Newton stood aloof from the social and religious ideology that bears his name. For the latter view see Austin William H. , “Isaac Newton on science and religion”, Journal of the history of ideas, xxxi (1970), 540–2.

Drennon Herbert , “Newtonianism: Its method, theology and metaphysics”, Englische Studien, lxviii (1933–34), 397–409. Yet this is a useful and convenient summary.

This seems a fair representation of the view taken by Dahm John J. , “Science and apologetics in the early Boyle Lectures”, Church history, xxxix (1970), 172–86; and Cragg G. R. , From Puritanism to the Age of Reason (Cambridge, 1966), 107 ff.

Oakley Francis , “Christian theology and Newtonian science: The rise of the concept of Laws of Nature”, Church history, xxx (1961), 433–57, p. 449.

Schofield Robert E. , Mechanism and materialism. British natural philosophy in an Age of Reason (Princeton, 1970), 21. Cf. Heimann P. M. , “Newtonian natural philosophy and the scientific revolution”, History of science, xi (1973), 1–7, for a critique.

Stromberg Roland , Religious Liberalism in eighteenth century England (Oxford, 1954), ch. x.

Kearney Hugh , Science and change, 1500–1700 (London, 1971), 208.

Casini P. , L'universo-macchina. Origini della filosofia newtoniana (Bari, 1969), represents essentially a distillation and summary of current research. It is nevertheless quite useful. See also Trengove L. , “Newton's theological views”, Annals of science, xxii (1966), 277–94. I am citing here only items less commonly noted.

Buchdahl Gerd , The image of Newton and Locke in the Age of Reason (London, 1961), 5.

Wagner F. , “Church history and secular history as reflected by Newton and his time”, History and theory, viii (1969), 97–111.

Buchdahl G. , op. cit. (ref. 13), 26–7.

The hidden God; a study of tragic vision in the ‘Pensées’ of Pascal and the tragedies of Racine (London, 1964).

Marsak L. , “The idea of reason in seventeenth century France: An essay in interpretation”, Journal of world history, ii (1968–69), 407–16. See also Krailsheimmer A. J. , Studies in self-interest: Descartes to La Bruyère (Oxford, 1962).