Marius Stan's and my book, Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason (OUP) is out! We offer a new telling of the relationships between philosophy, physics and mechanics in the 18th century, dispelling old myths and opening up new avenues of research.
"This is a book about philosophy, physics, and mechanics in the 18th century, and the struggle for a theory of bodies. Bodies are everywhere, or so it seems: from pebbles to planets, tigers to tables, pine trees to people; animate and inanimate, natural and artificial, they populate the world, acting and interacting with one another. And they are the subject-matter of Newton’s laws of motion. At the beginning of the 18th century, physics was that branch of philosophy tasked with the study of body in general. With such an account in hand, the special areas of philosophy (whether natural, moral, or political) that presuppose special kinds of bodies (such as plants, animals, and human beings) could proceed assured of the viability of their objects and the unity of their shared enquiries. For all had “bodies” in common. So: What is a body? And how can we know? This is the Problem of Bodies, and the quest for a solution animated natural philosophy throughout the age of reason."
Our book begins with Malebranche and his followers, along with early 18th century Newtonians and Leibnizians, all of whom wrestled with the problem of bodies. We follow a century of effort through Du Châtelet, Boscovich and Kant alongside Euler, d'Alembert, Lagrange and others. We argue for the central importance of the problem to Enlightenment natural philosophy, and for its implications well beyond that sphere.
Almost a decade after Marius and I first began talking about this project, and with seven years in the writing, we hope it spurs new research on the 18th century.