Understanding (in) Newton’s Argument for Universal Gravitation

@article{Ducheyne2005UnderstandingN,
  title={Understanding (in) Newton’s Argument for Universal Gravitation},
  author={Steffen Ducheyne},
  journal={Journal for General Philosophy of Science},
  year={2005},
  volume={40},
  pages={227-258}
}
  • S. Ducheyne
  • Published 19 December 2009
  • Physics
  • Journal for General Philosophy of Science
In this essay, I attempt to assess Henk de Regt and Dennis Dieks recent pragmatic and contextual account of scientific understanding on the basis of an important historical case-study: understanding in Newton’s theory of universal gravitation and Huygens’ reception of universal gravitation. It will be shown that de Regt and Dieks’ Criterion for the Intelligibility of a Theory (CIT), which stipulates that the appropriate combination of scientists’ skills and intelligibility-enhancing theoretical… 
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