{"id":365,"date":"2010-10-18T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T21:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/?p=365"},"modified":"2012-09-25T02:03:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T14:03:33","slug":"does-newton-feign-an-hypothesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/does-newton-feign-an-hypothesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Newton feign an hypothesis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kirsten Walsh writes…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Newton\u2019s famous pronouncement, Hypotheses non fingo,<\/em> first appeared in 1713<\/a>, but Newton\u2019s anti-hypothetical stance is present as early as 1672, in his first papers on optics<\/a>.\u00a0 In his first publication, he introduces his notion of certainty, and insists that his doctine of colours is a theory; not an hypothesis:<\/p>\n

    For what I shall tell concerning [colours] is not an Hypothesis but most rigid consequence\u2026 evinced by ye mediation of experiments concluding directly & without any suspicion of doubt.<\/em><\/ol>\n

    Despite these clear anti-hypothetical themes, a corpuscular hypothesis lies beneath Newton\u2019s theory of light and colours.\u00a0 What are we to make of this?\u00a0 Is Newton guilty of feigning an hypothesis? Is Wolff<\/a> correct when he says that Newton “indulges in hypotheses in those very areas in which they think he abstained from employing them<\/em>“?<\/p>\n

    To begin, what does Newton mean by Hypotheses non fingo<\/em>?\u00a0 \u2018Fingo<\/em>\u2019 has been variously translated as \u2018frame\u2019, \u2018make\u2019, \u2018imagine\u2019 and \u2018devise\u2019. Experts<\/a> argue that \u2018feign\u2019 is the most appropriate translation.\u00a0 While it has a variety of meanings, such as to form, to invent, to forge, or to suppose erroneously, the word \u2018feign\u2019 also carries the nuance of pretence, counterfeit, or sham.\u00a0 Thus, they argue that while Newton indeed conceived or framed hypotheses, he did not attach any special epistemic status to them.\u00a0 He maintained a clear demarcation between theories that were supported by experimental results and hypotheses that were merely unsupported speculations.<\/p>\n

    Now let\u2019s take a closer look at Newton\u2019s early optical papers.\u00a0 Newton claims that his doctrine of colours is a theory, not an hypothesis, for three reasons:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It is certainly true, because it is supported by (or deduced<\/em> from) experiment;<\/li>\n
    2. It concerns the physical properties<\/em> of light, rather than the nature of light; and<\/li>\n
    3. It has testable<\/em> consequences.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      These are the three key aspects of Newton\u2019s early methodology.\u00a0 He refers to them again and again throughout the debate that followed the publication of his first optical paper.<\/p>\n

      Newton explicates his corpuscularian view in his first optical paper and describes light rays as substantial bodies.\u00a0 But when his opponents accuse him of hypothesising, Newton argues that he is not guilty.\u00a0 Firstly he argues that this hypothesis is not necessary for his explanation of colours.\u00a0 Secondly he argues that he attaches no special epistemic merit to his hypothesis because:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. It is not<\/em> supported by experiment;<\/li>\n
      2. It concerns the nature<\/em> of light; and<\/li>\n
      3. It has no<\/em> testable consequences.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        While Newton never gives up his corpuscularian view, he attempts to explicate and promote his theory without referring to it.\u00a0 He argues that he doesn\u2019t need to provide any hypothesis on the nature of light \u2013 his theory on the properties of light is sufficient on its own.<\/p>\n

        I claim that Newton isn\u2019t guilty of violating his anti-hypothetical stance.\u00a0 He demonstrates that he can distinguish between theory and hypothesis, giving the former higher epistemic status than the latter.\u00a0 He does not pretend to have empirical support for his corpuscular hypothesis, nor does he try to \u2018prop it up\u2019 on other grounds.\u00a0 Perhaps he regrets having ever opened the proverbial can of worms, for the next time he explicates his theory of light and colours, he does so without any reference to the corpuscular hypothesis or the nature of light.<\/p>\n

        That Newton can tell the difference between good scientific explanations and speculations is further supported by his use of queries in these early optical papers, but more on this next time.\u00a0 To conclude,\u00a0 I think Newton is not guilty of feigning an hypothesis.\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Kirsten Walsh writes… Newton\u2019s famous pronouncement, Hypotheses non fingo, first appeared in 1713, but Newton\u2019s anti-hypothetical stance is present as early as 1672, in his first papers on optics.\u00a0 In his first publication, he introduces his notion of certainty, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[237,224,238],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas","tag-hypotheses-non-fingo","tag-newton","tag-queries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}