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Department of

History and Philosophy of Science

Newton's Regulae Philosophandi


Introduction

Regulae Structural Changes

Rule I

Rule II

Rule III

Rule IV

Latin


Rule I reached its final form in the Second Edition, where it was also transformated from an Hypothesis to a Rule. The Rule later became known as the "vera causa" principle. The final version reads:

 

The revisions:
 

English

Principia (1687)

Hypoth. I. No more causes of natural things should be admitted than are both true and sufficient to explain their phenomena.

For Nature is simple and does not indulge in the luxury of superfluous causes.

 

1690s Revisions

Ei1: A middle sentence is added:
Rule I. As the philosophers say: Nature does nothing in vain, and more causes are in vain when fewer suffice.

Principia (1713)

Rule I. No more causes of natural things should be admitted than are both true and sufficient to explain their phenomena.

As the philosophers say: Nature does nothing in vain, and more causes are in vain when fewer suffice. For Nature is simple and does not indulge in the luxury of superfluous causes.

1710s Revisions

No change

Principia (1727)

No change.



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