Émilie du Châtelet · Science
Du Châtelet’s <em>Institutions de physique</em> (1740) - written to teach her son, and in truth an original attempt to give Newtonian mechanics the metaphysical foundation Newton refused: Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason under Newton’s laws, and the argument that physics cannot stand without philosophy.
You learned that du Châtelet’s Institutions tried to unite Newton’s mechanics with Leibnizian metaphysics, making the principle of sufficient reason a foundation of physics, and argued that physics needs philosophy. Explain the principle of sufficient reason and why she thought physics could not do without…
Leads to Voltaire.
Begin this lesson →epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.