Review article

Boskovich’s explication of the principle of continuity

Marija Knežević

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to present Bošković’s understanding and explication of the principle of continuity in the context of his natural philosophy. Before that, in shorter lines and for better understanding, the article presents Bošković’s biographical data contextualized within a specific time. The principle of continuity is formulated as a request that change or transition from one state to another goes through all intermediate states, therefore it implies the absence of leap in any kind of change. This principle does not stand separately in Bošković’s natural philosophy but has a meaning of basis for further concluding, in fact it stands as a foundation for derivation of the theory of forces. From this it is evident that the validity of the mentioned theory is based on the validity of the principle from which it is derived, which is why Bošković proves the principle inductively and metaphysically. After the presentation of this double proving, the article emphasizes the unity of conceptual and empirical achieved by mentioned proving, what is very significant for Bošković’s work.

Keywords

Ruđer Bošković; the principle of continuity; collision; theory of forces

Hrčak ID:

190112

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/190112

Publication date:

14.10.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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