The Modest Genius: Mathematics, Certainty, and the Creation of the Public Newton

IF 0.1 3区文学 0 LITERATURE

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LIFE Pub Date : 2023-09-01 DOI:10.1215/00982601-10690080

Alessio Mattana

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This essay examines the myth of Isaac Newton's modesty in eighteenth-century Britain. By analyzing both primary sources by and on Newton and scholarship on the concept of “modest witnessing,” this essay argues that a number of actors concerned with Newton's public relevance progressively divested his scientific ideas of mathematics with the goal of smoothing their dogmatic edges and making them more accessible to the polite public. This process, it will be claimed, resulted in creating the myth of the modest Newton, the genius who had discovered the secrets of nature and made them available for the public good.

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谦虚的天才:数学、确定性和公共牛顿的创造

这篇文章考察了十八世纪英国关于艾萨克·牛顿谦虚的神话。通过分析牛顿的原始资料和关于“适度见证”概念的学术研究，本文认为，许多关注牛顿的公众相关性的行动者逐渐放弃了他的科学数学思想，目的是平滑其教条的边缘，使它们更容易被礼貌的公众所接受。有人会说，这一过程造就了谦虚的牛顿的神话，这位天才发现了大自然的秘密，并将其用于公众利益。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LIFE LITERATURE-

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0.20

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期刊介绍： Committed to interdisciplinary exchange, Eighteenth-Century Life addresses all aspects of European and world culture during the long eighteenth century, 1660–1815. The most wide-ranging journal of eighteenth-century studies, it also encourages diverse methodologies—from close reading to cultural studies—and it always welcomes suggestions for review essays, special issues, and innovative approaches. Among Eighteenth-Century Life’s noteworthy regular features are its film forums, its review essays, its book-length special issues, and the longest and most eclectic lists of books received of any journal in the field.