Abstract
A key theme in the historiographical work of Machamer has been the ways that motion is made intelligible through explanatory means of natural motion and models of the simple machines such as the lever and pendulum. One way of spelling out the explanatory value of these strategies is through the concept of equilibrium. Natural motion and simple machines allow the simplification of complex problems in terms of self-evident, intelligible equilibrium conditions. This chapter connects the theme of equilibrium and natural motion across Machamer’s work on mechanisms and mechanical explanation, on Aristotle, Galileo, Descartes and Newton, and on the pendulum and mental models. Just as equilibrium can be found within science, it also becomes a model of intelligibility for doing history and philosophy of science: a normative but objective representation of the important properties of science.
All things are not possible at all times [Machamer (1975), 381].
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Notes
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[Lagrange (1788)]. D’Alembert earlier had remarked that he (d’Alembert) had “reduced dynamics to statics”, through what we now know as d’Alembert’s principle. But d’Alembert’s approach was a methodology for solving problems in dynamics by imagining equilibrium as a counterfactual. [Alembert (1743/1921)]
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Machamer seems to endorse the distinction between mechanisms and machines. Regarding Galileo’s use of the balance model he remarks “What made the model all the more satisfying was that the balance was an actual machine, which clearly instantiated the geometrical representations that he used to solve his problems.” [Machamer and Woody (1994), 219]
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Hepburn, B. (2017). Equilibrium, Natural Motion, and Models of Explanation. In: Adams, M., Biener, Z., Feest, U., Sullivan, J. (eds) Eppur si muove: Doing History and Philosophy of Science with Peter Machamer. The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 81. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52768-0_4
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