A history of natural philosophy: from the ancient world to the nineteenth century

For a long time writers on international law took it for granted that the subject of their studies was a relatively recent product of modern civilization, and that the ancient world did not know any system of international law. If we go back to the literature of the nineteenth century, we can find a certain feeling of pride among internationalists that international law was one of the best fruits of our civilization and that it was a system which distinguished us from the ancient barbarians. Some of these writers paid special attention to this question of origins and endeavored to explain why the ancient world never could have had any international law.

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Statistics as Social Science

The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820–1900 ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691208428.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 17-40

Author(s):

Theodore M. Porter

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Great Britain ◽

Social Science ◽

Systematic Study ◽

State Policy ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

The State ◽

Statistical Thinking ◽

History Of

This chapter discusses statistics as social science. The systematic study of social numbers in the spirit of natural philosophy was pioneered during the 1660s, and was known for about a century and a half as political arithmetic. Its purpose, when not confined to the calculation of insurance or annuity rates, was the promotion of sound, well-informed state policy. Political arithmetic was, according to William Petty, the application of Baconian principles to the art of government. Implicit in the use by political arithmeticians of social numbers was the belief that the wealth and strength of the state depended strongly on the number and character of its subjects. Political arithmetic was supplanted by statistics in France and Great Britain around the beginning of the nineteenth century. The shift in terminology was accompanied by a subtle mutation of concepts that can be seen as one of the most important in the history of statistical thinking.

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Natural Philosophy and the Sciences: Challenging Science’s Tunnel Vision

Philosophies ◽

10.3390/philosophies3040033 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 33 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Arran Gare

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Scientific Method ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Dialectical Thinking ◽

Tunnel Vision ◽

History Of ◽

Natural Philosophers

Prior to the nineteenth century, those who are now regarded as scientists were referred to as natural philosophers. With empiricism, science was claimed to be a superior form of knowledge to philosophy, and natural philosophy was marginalized. This claim for science was challenged by defenders of natural philosophy, and this debate has continued up to the present. The vast majority of mainstream scientists are comfortable in the belief that through applying the scientific method, knowledge will continue to accumulate, and that claims to knowledge outside science apart from practical affairs should not be taken seriously. This is referred to as scientism. It is incumbent on those who defend natural philosophy against scientism not only to expose the illusions and incoherence of scientism, but to show that natural philosophers can make justifiable claims to advancing knowledge. By focusing on a recent characterization and defense of natural philosophy along with a reconstruction of the history of natural philosophy, showing the nature and role of Schelling’s conception of dialectical thinking, I will attempt to identify natural philosophy as a coherent tradition of thought and defend it as something different from science and as essential to it, and essential to the broader culture and to civilization.

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