"The Main Business of Natural Philosophy"

This monograph provides a historically detailed and philosophical study of Newton's scientific methodology. The text illustrates how Newton carefully distinguished between the physico-mathematical treatment and the physical treatment of force, and that the former should always precede the latter.

Based on a thorough study of Newton's extant manuscripts, this monograph will address and contextualize, inter alia, Newton's causal realism, his views on action at a distance and space and time, the status of efficient causation in the /Principia/, the different phases of his methodology, his treatment of force and the constituents of the physico-mathematical models in the context of Book I of the /Principia/, the analytic part of the argument for universal gravitation, the meaning and significance of his regulae philosophandi, the methodological differences between his mechanical and optical work, and, finally, the interplay between Newton's theology and his natural philosophy.

List of Figures,- Introduction,- Part I: Newton's Causal Methodology,- 1 Newton and the Causes: Something Borrowed and Something New,- Part II: Newton's Methodology, or: How to Deduce Causes by Their Effects,- 2 Uncovering the Methodology of the Principia (I): The Phase of Model Construction,- 3 Uncovering the Methodology of the Principia (II): The Phase of Model Application and Theory Formation,- 4 Facing the Limits of Deductions from Phenomena: Newton's Quest for a Mathematical-Demonstrative Optics,- 5 Uncovering the Methodology of the Principia (III): A Brief Chronology of Newton's Methodological Itinerary,- Part III: Newton's Theology,- 6 "To Treat of God from Phenomena",- 7 Conclusion,- References,- Index.