Equivalence and Priority: Newton versus Leibniz: Including Leibniz's Unpublished Manuscripts on the Principia (Oxford Science Publications) - Hardcover

Bertoloni Meli, Domenico

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198539452 ISBN 13: 9780198539452

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Leibniz's dispute with Newton over the physico-mathematical theories expounded in the Principia Mathematica (1687) have long been identified as a crucial episode in the history of science. Bertolini Meli here examines several hitherto unpublished manuscripts in Leibniz's hand illustrating his first reading of and reaction to Newton's Principia. Six of the most important manuscripts are here presented for the first time. Contrary to Leibniz's own claims, this new evidence shows that he had studied Newton's masterpiece before publishing An Essay on the Causes of Celestial Motions. This article, representing his response to Newton, also included in English translation. Meli analyzes the important implications of this episode on a variety of themes ranging from priority claims to the mathematization of nature in the 17th century. Besides providing a careful study of Leibniz's style and strategy, the author examines how our perception of Newton's achievement is affected and the reception of the rival theories by the mathematical community around 1700. This unique work will interest all historians of science and philosophy.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Domenico Bertoloni Meli, 315 Sheffield Drive, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, U.S.A. Email: dbmeli@indiana.edu

Review

"With the publication of Domenico Bertoloni Meli's remarkable analysis of Leibniz's earliest thoughts on the Principia, historians can concentrate more precisely on the development of techniques underlying Leibniz's published work on orbital mechanics after 1689. . . . exhilarating material. The accompanying explanations to the (Latin) notes and essays in the appendix are concise and clear, and the author should be congratulated." --The Times Higher Education Supplement

"Bertoloni's book provides a very detailed and deep analysis of Leibniz's calculus and dynamics by focusing on a consistent and important set of previously unknown manuscripts..." --Medical Book Review

"The general purpose of this important book is 'to examine the competing world systems put forward by Newton and Leibniz in the late 1680's and their reception up to the beginning of the eighteenth century.' In particular the author documents the formation of Leibniz's ideas, using a series of previously unknown manuscripts which are published and analysed for the first time." --Mathematical Reviews

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0198539452
• ISBN 13: 9780198539452
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 328