Sorry, I forgot to put the subject. I've posted again so this goes into the right thread!
Louis wrote: >Allen, I won't bore you with quotes either. The two situations are hardly comparable: Documentary evidence that Darwin's motivation was his zeal for science is immediately available in recent literature and online writings. This is not the case for my question about Newton. >Before I get ready to head off to synagogue, >I'll just say that I gave you a few key >sources. Read Nicolson, Koyre, and Koestler >for starters. Of course, you can go to the >correspondence of Leibnitz, Newton, Hobbs, >Tindal, Clark, Hooke, Haley, Boyle, etc. I'm very familiar with Koestler's *The Sleepwalkers*, and just checked again. I see nothing in the few paragraphs on Newton's biblical exegesis that indicates he regarded this work as greater than his Principia. Are you saying that every one of the above references provides evidence from Newton himself that he so regarded his biblical exegesis? Maybe it's in there somewhere, but whereas I can provide immediate references to exactly the quotes from Darwin to which I alluded, the very vagueness and range of your references (and the fact that the one I know fails to support your contention) does not persuade me that they provide precisely what I requested. Paul Brandon wrote: >When Newton made the remark about 'standing on the >shoulders of giants' it was a sarcastic putdown to a rival >(Hooke, maybe -- Gleick gives the details), not a >statement to be taken literally. My recollection of the context of the remark is that the contention that it was a sarcastic putdown of Hooke is nothing more than an interpretation of Newtons's words -- though as these things go nowadays, a contention repeated rapidly becomes a 'fact'. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4957 or send a blank email to leave-4957-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
