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Why Philosophy of Physics? (aeon.co)
3 points by prossercj 58 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment


“the greatest scientist of all time is undoubtedly Sir Isaac Newton”

Newton routinely explained natural phenomena with supernatural causes, like God. In fact he overruled his mathematics with his supernatural explanations. A well-known example is his rationalization of chaotic behavior in his calculations of orbital motions with “the hand of God.” For this reason alone I would downgrade Newton’s scientific status and say that he was a prominent researcher in the 17th century but definitely not “undoubtably the greatest scientist of all time”. Today, we would not call someone who explains natural phenomena with supernatural causes a scientist.




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