Using one’s talents in honor of God

Lambert ten Kate (1674-1731) and Isaac Newton’s natural philosophy

Bibliographic Data

ID11658257
AuthorsSteffen Ducheyne (0000-0003-2694-3819, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume34
Issue1
Pages25-50
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889722000059
PMID36050811
OpenAlexW4294145337
LanguageEN
References cited26

Argument Lambert ten Kate (1674-1731), the scholar of language, religious writer, art theoretician and collector, and natural philosophy enthusiast, was part of an informal network of Amsterdam-based mathematics and natural philosophy enthusiasts who played a pivotal role in the early diffusion of Newton’s natural philosophical ideas in the Dutch Republic. Because Ten Kate contributed to several areas of research, it is worth asking whether connections can be found between his different scholarly activities and, more specifically, whether his oeuvre as a whole was shaped by his religious views, as has been suggested. In this essay, I shall argue that his oeuvre was indeed shaped by his religious beliefs, which reflect elements typical of Dutch doperdom , but also reflect a more general Christian orientation that transcends confessional divides. More particularly, I aim to show that, if we want to understand why Ten Kate was drawn to the natural philosophy of his day, and especially to Isaac Newton’s (1642-1727), and why he sought to promote it, we also need to pay attention to this broader Christian orientation in his thought. Along the way, I shall add nuance to earlier characterizations of how ten Kate mobilized Isaac Newton’s natural philosophy according to his own agenda

Argument (complex analysis · Confessional · Epistemology · Natural (archaeology · Natural Philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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