Isaac Newton, philosopher

Andrew Janiak, Department of Philosophy, Duke University
Chair: Ian Stewart (King's College)
Public Lecture: Thursday 24 October 2013

[@MakeAllThingsBeautiful]

I love Isaac Newton, all the more so as I learn how apparently difficult to like he was, he believed in One God, Jehovah and recognised with humility divine wisdom, that incredible, often undiscovered forces and qualities were at work, he was like a child on the beach discovering a stone of great beauty and appreciating that quality, whether it be optics or the effect of gravity, but recognised that the beach was full of precious stones as well as the ocean, which really glorify his God. He probably realised early on that 'scientists' and 'philosophers' were people who would waste his time, he wasn't forceful or even trying to make a name for himself, the audience for his incredible passions? Of 1700 works of Newton, very, very few published in his lifetime, so who was his audience? Most of his work has only been made available in the last 15 years, since around 2005? From what I can see and I have only skimmed the surface is that he enjoyed searching for and finding his God in the scriptures and in science. Everyone wants to own Isaac Newton but noone can put him the boxes they want, I don't think he would care if some idiot said he wasn't a scientist, he would just discreetly chuckle to himself. None of the religions can really 'own' Isaac because virtually all the churches of christendom have adopted false teachings, like the trinity, which Isaac in a very thorough way proved to be the case in classic detailed fashion. I have found Isaac Newton's '2 Notable Corruptions of Scripture' it is addressed 'to a friend' maybe it is you? www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/diplomatic/THEM00261

[@craigcampbell7638]

Very interesting thought. Thank you for it.

[@louiswilliamson5937]

Intriguing talk but the audio needs work. I am hard of hearing as it is, so the audio quality is very abysmal.

[@bryan3dguitar]

Right audio channel only.

[@jjason6911]

mine is left only lol

[@alice7m3g]

Sorry, English is not my 1st language. Which one is the "1st person to be called scientist", in the minute 9.17? Thank you!

[@louiswilliamson5937]

Mary Sommerville

[@gary8022]

Of course Newton was a great scientist - he set the scientific method for all Science in general. He discovered light and its fundamental make up for the first time - just because he didn't fully understand it does not make him less of a scientist. Much of his work was pioneering and he motivated the scientific minds of the future into asking the right questions which led to our current understanding of light. I am sure we will change our views on light in the future but this does not make all the past scientists since newton including Einstein philosophical also.

[@Katovanroey]

It's funny that you use light as the example in stead of his way more methodized ('scientific') elaboration on universal gravitation. It's curious to know that Newton's theory on the heterogeneity of white light didn't meet his own criteria for proper natural-philosophical research as he put them in his Principia. And even though we all agree Newton contributed greatly to our scientific method as we know and use it today, it is still wrong to call him a scientist. Science did not exist in the 17th century, only natural philosophy; so it's not like we started calling him a philosopher after we found out he was wrong or something. So just like Newton will never be a scientist, Einstein will never be a philosopher (in this particular sense). It's all about looking at things in their specific, temporal context. :)

[@krapster2000]

need better audio!!!!

[@Osama30061989]

He is right. There is no textbook of philosophy. This is why I quit studying philosophy.