La force accélératrice

The aim of this paper is to analyse, concentrating on the example of accelerative force, what constitutes a good definition according to d'Alembert. As the title of my paper suggests, a good definition is a contextual one. In choosing this expression, I mean to imply that the process of framing a definition is intimately bound up with the mathematical equation which serves to solve one or more scientific problems. What is at issue here is to solve the problem of defining the accelerative force, that is, to determine what ф stands for in the equation фdt = dv. This example is of particular interest in that it brings out the internalist character of d'Alembert's philosophy of science: his philosophical reflection arises out of his scientific practice and bears on this practice; this, in turn, ensures its relevance and effectiveness. D'Alembert solves step by step the scientific problems he encounters with the help both of the mathematical tools he has at his disposal and a philosophical conviction pre-eminent in his scientific practice, namely, that a rigorous theory of definition is the solution to scientific disputes wrongly considered as problems. Thus d'Alembert's theory of definition appears to be, on the one hand, an efficient manner of resolving scientific problems and, on the other, a criticism of overdetermined concepts (for example, the concept of force) and of statements used in a vague and uncertain way by scientists and philosophers alike — statements sometimes even transformed into axioms (such is the case of the expression « The effect is proportional to the cause » which d'Alembert criticizes in reflecting on the concept of accelerative force). Both these points are brought out here by analysing the definition of accelerative force given by d'Alembert in his Traité de Dynamique

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