Abstract
Since Huygens it has been said that six of Descartes’ rules of impact are wrong. This seems to be completely clear and we might close the files on that case. What happened here is obviously considered as the simple replacement of error by truth. Contrary to this unanimous opinion, however, we should regard this case as a particularly characteristic example of the intricate structure of processes in the history of science.
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Notes
Descartes, Principia Philosophiae, Pars secunda, XLVII, Oeuvres, Bd. VIII.
op. cit., XLIX.
op. cit., LH. There we read: Nec ista egent probatione, quia per se sunt manifesta.
op. cit., Pars prima, LVII.
op. cit., LVII.
op. cit., Pars secunda, XXV.
op. cit., XXIX.
op. cit., XXXVI.
op. cit., Pars tertia, I.
quoted from Mouy, Le Development de la Physique Cartésienne, Paris 1934, p. 193.
Hübner, K., ‘On the Question of Relativism and Progress in Science’, Man and World 7 (1974), No. 4, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague. Concerning the terms ‘judicial and normative principles’. Cf. also my article: ‘Duhems historistische Wissenschaftstheorie und ihre Weiterentwicklung’, in 9. Deutscher Kongress für Philosophie, Meisenheim 1969, and in Philosophia Naturalis 13 (1971).
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© 1976 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland
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Hüubner, K. (1976). Descartes’ Rules of Impact and Their Criticism. In: Cohen, R.S., Feyerabend, P.K., Wartofsky, M.W. (eds) Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1451-9_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1451-9_19
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