We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Mathematizing Metaphysics: The Case of the Principle of Least Action.
- Authors
Veldman, Michael
- Abstract
Standard narratives about physical teleology say its death was a fait accompli of the Scientific Revolution, but the principle of least action (PLA) has been taken to instantiate teleology's survival into Enlightenment physics. Other scholars claim this PLA-based teleological metaphysics fell to general philosophical attacks on final causes. None of these narratives fully captures the philosophical interest of its demise. It illustrates a metaphysics being refuted because it could not be coherently modeled in mathematics, hence directly through mathematization and not by philosophical argument or empirical test.
- Subjects
METAPHYSICS; TELEOLOGY; SCIENTIFIC Revolution; ENLIGHTENMENT
- Publication
Philosophy of Science, 2024, Vol 91, Issue 2, p351
- ISSN
0031-8248
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/psa.2023.120