Naslov
Distinctive characteristics of Bošković's natural philosophy

Autori
Martinović, Ivica

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
International Conference for the tercentenary of the birth of Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich (Ragusa 1711 - Milano 1787): Conference Programme and Booklet of Abstracts / Bevilacqua, Fabio ; Contardini, Patrizia - Pavia : Universita di Pavia, 2011, 10-11

Skup
Boscovich 2011

Mjesto i datum
Pavia, Italija, 08.09.2011. - 10.09.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Ruđer Bošković; natural philosophy

Sažetak
Besides lecturing in mathematics and astronomy at the Collegium Romanum, that is, during his regular activities as a professor, Ruđer Bošković constructed an original theory of forces – the core of his natural philosophy. This he achieved through a series of treatises (dissertationes) from 1743 onwards, when he first questioned a problem from Euler’s Mechanica (1736), to his last writing – annotations to the third volume of Benedikt Stay’s epic Philosophia recentior on Newton’s and Bošković’s natural philosophy, published posthumously in 1792. Bošković’s philosophemes formulated and published during this long research may be classified into four groups. The results of Bošković’s reasoning on force and matter between 1743 and 1755 fall into the first group: 1. the theory of forces, with three distinctive characteristics: definition of force as determinatio, introduction of the potentially infinite repulsive force at the infinitely small distances, and the genesis of the curve of forces (curva Boscovichiana), with which the philosopher from Dubrovnik aimed to explain all the known physical phenomena ; 2. explanation of the structure of matter on the basis of his fundamental conclusion: extended body is composed of »the perfectly indivisible and unextended points, which are mutually separated by a certain interval and connected by certain forces that are at one time attractive and at another repulsive, depending on their mutual distances« (1755), with a clear distinction between »elementary« points of matter and particles of higher orders ; 3. doctrine on space and time as »real modes of existence« (reales modi existendi), but without clear ontic status. The second group of Bošković’s philosophemes rests upon his views of Newton’s natural philosophy: 4. views of inertia, with an intriguing philosophical evolution from 1747 to 1758 ; 5. disregard of Newton’s second law of motion ; 6. modification of Newton’s law of universal gravitation. The third group of Bošković’s distinctive views includes the applications of his theory of forces »to physics«, which he developed between 1745 and 1758: 7. the application of the theory of forces to the general properties of matter ; 8. the application of the theory of forces to the »principles of chemical operations«. The fourth group is concerned with Bošković’s views of the fundaments of special physics – from theory of heat and optics to electricity and magnetism, where he failed to submit or expound his own solutions: 9. thesis on the nature of fire ; 10. theses on the nature of taste and smell ; 11. thesis on the nature of light ; 12. theses on the nature of electricity and magnetism. With regard to the theses in group four, one can merely establish with whom Bošković shared his views or disagreed. These twelve philosophemes clearly determine Bošković’s role in the history of natural philosophy, and represent an excellent aid in recognizing and distinguishing Boscovichians, who, especially after the publication of Theoria philosophiae naturalis in 1758, emerged among the British scholars from London to Edinburgh, among university professors of Central Europe from Vienna to Tyrnau, and among the professors at philosophical schools in Croatia – from Zagreb and Čakovec to Ilok.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filozofija

POVEZANOST RADA