Optical reflection and mechanical rebound
The shift from analogy to axiomatization in the seventeenth century. Part 1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8395568 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Russell E Smith (CITIC Group (China), corresponding author), Russell Smith (0000-0001-6650-0276) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2008-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0007087407000362 |
| OpenAlex | W2109590773 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
This paper aims to show that the seventeenth-century conception of mechanics as the science of particles in motion founded on universal laws of motion owes much to the employment of a new conceptual resource – the physics of motion developed within optics. The optical analysis of reflection was dynamically interpreted through the mechanical analogy of rebound. The kinematical and dynamical principles so employed became directly applicable to natural phenomena after the eventual transformation of light's ontological status from that of an Aristotelian ‘quality’ to a corpuscular phenomenon, engendered by the rise of atomism during the first half of the seventeenth century. The mechanization of light led to a conceptual shift from the analogical employment of dynamical principles in the physical interpretation of reflection to the mechanical generalization of optical principles – the direct application of kinematical and dynamical principles of reflection to mechanical collisions. This first part of the paper traces out the first conceptual shift from Aristotle's original analogy of reflection as rebound to its full concretization. A second part will trace out the second conceptual shift, from the full concretization of this analogy to the axiomatization of already generalized kinematical and dynamical principles of reflection into laws of nature and of motion
Analogy · Classical mechanics · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Mechanics · Motion (physics · Phenomenon · Physics · Reflection (computer programming · Theoretical physics · Computer Science · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.09 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2015 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |