Overview

This is the first volume compiling English translations of Leibniz's journal articles on natural philosophy, presenting a selection of 26 articles, only three of which have appeared before in English translation. It also includes in full Leibniz's public controversies with De Catelan, Papin, and Hartsoeker. The articles include work in optics, on the fracture strength of materials, and on motion in a resisting medium, and Leibniz's pioneering applications of his calculus to these issues by construing them as mini-max and inverse tangent problems. Other topics covered by the articles include: criticisms of the Cartesian estimate of motive force and Leibniz's proposal of a different way of estimating force to replace it; a proposed theory of celestial motions and gravitation, and derivation of the inverse square law; challenge problems concerning the isochronous curve and the catenary; a sample of work on gaming theory; and Leibniz's critique of atomism.

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9780192843531

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Richard T. W. Arthur is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University, Hamilton (Ontario), based in Toronto. He works in early modern natural philosophy and mathematics, and the foundations of physics, with special attention to the theory of time and the infinite. He holds degrees in physics (BA Oxford University, 1972) and philosophy (MA, McGill, 1976, PhD, Western Ontario, 1981). He has taught applied mathematics in Canada (UWO 1982-85), and philosophy in Nigeria (Calabar, 1981-82), the United States (Middlebury College, 1985-2002), Italy (Bologna 1998, Milan 2018), and Canada (McMaster, 2002-present). He is author of seven books and over 60 articles and book chapters. Translations by Jeffrey K. McDonough, Lea Schroeder, Samuel Levey, Richard T. W. Arthur, Richard Francks (with Roger Woolhouse), and Tzuchien Tho.

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