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D’Alembert: Between Newtonian Science and the Cartesian Inheritance
Polytechnic School of Rio de Janeiro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 1 Polytechnic School of Rio de Janeiro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Advances in Historical Studies·Volume 06 (2017)·Pages 128–144·Published 5 December 2017·DOI10.4236/ahs.2017.64010
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Abstract
This paper is a tribute to the tercentenary of d’Alembert’s birth. It studies the way how d’Alembert (1717-1783), with his Cartesian education, assimilated and developed Newtonian science. His Cartesianism involved the conception of the intelligibility and rationality of the principles of knowledge. His discovery of Newtonian science determined the direction of his work, with the laws of dynamics and gravitational attraction, as well as the mathematical-physics approach to mechanical problems. However, d’Alembert’s work is not just a mere development of Newtonian physics, but a real conceptual reorganization of mechanics, using differential and integral calculus formulated by Newton (1642-1727) and Leibniz (1646-1716).
KeywordsHistory of MechanicHistory of MathematicsFrench EnlightenmentPhilosophy of Enlightenment
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