Welcome to the homepage of Dr Steffen Ducheyne
, Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research
Foundation – Flanders (FWO). On 1st March
2006 I took my PhD (entitled: “Virtuosi at Work: Historical-philosophical Essays on Causality and
Methodology in the Natural Philosophy of Galileo, Huygens and Newton” ) at Ghent University
(Faculty of Arts and Philosophy > Department of Philosophy and Moral
Sciences > Centre
for Logic and Philosophy of Science). Starting from October 2006, my three-year
post-doctoral project entitled “Scientific and Philosophical Methodologies in a
Post-Newtonian World”, where I focus on J.S. Mill and W. Whewell primarily, is
funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). I am also associated with
the Centre for
History of Science and the Centre for History of Philosophy.
Contact Information:
Dr. Steffen Ducheyne
Centre for Logic and Philosophy
of Science
Blandijnberg 2, room 2.26
B-9000 Ghent, BELGIUM
Phone: ++32 (0) 9 264 39 79; Fax: ++32 (0) 9 264 41 87
§ 1. Professional Interests:
§ 1.1. History of Science:
† Newton’s philosophia naturalis and its
eighteenth-century legacy
†
“The”
“Scientific Revolution” (historiography and conceptual issues)
† History of
scientific methodology
† Whewell
§ 1.2. Philosophy
of Science:
† Scientific methodology
† Induction
† Representation and models in
science
§ 1.3.
Early Modern Philosophy:
† Early modern philosophy
(especially Bacon, Hume, Reid, Kant, etc.)
† Origins and evolution of
empiricism
† History of the
philosophy of science
† Philosophy of induction
(Bacon, Hume, Newton,
Reid, Whewell, Mill, etc.)
§ 1.4.
Miscellanea:
† Paul Otlet (1868-1944),
the Belgian pioneer of information science
§ 2. Selected Representative Publications:
Note that the full version of papers marked with a “*”
can be found by going to http://logica.ugent.be/centrum/writings/pubs.php
and then selecting my name. Other papers can be requested by simply
e-mailing me.
§ 2.1.
Articles:
† Ducheyne, Steffen {2005}.
“Newton’s
Notion and Practice of Unification*”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Part A, 36 (1), pp.
61-78.
† {2005}.
“Mathematical Models in Newton’s
Principia: A New View of the Newtonian Style*”, International Studies in the Philosophy of
Science, 19(1), pp. 1-19.
† {2005}.
“Newton’s
Training in the Aristotelian Textbook Tradition: From Effects to Causes and
Back*”, History of Science, 43(3), pp. 217-237.
† {2005}. “Michele Camerota's New Biography of Galileo: Three
Essay Reviews, Review Essay III”, Early Science and Medicine, 10(4), pp. 560-565. [Review I by M. Finocchiaro;
review II by P. Palmieri.]
† {2005}. “Paul Otlet’s Theory of Knowledge and
Linguistic Objectivism”, Knowledge
Organization, 32
(3): pp. 110-116.
† {2006}. “Lessons from Galileo: The Pragmatic Model of Shared Characteristics of
Scientific Representation”, Philosophia Naturalis,
43(1), pp. 214-234.
† {2006}. “Newton's
Onto-theology versus Descartes' and Leibniz': Or on the Relevance of
Unificatory Tendencies in the Secularization-process”, Theology and Science, 4(1), pp. 71-85.
† {2006}. “Reid’s Adaptation and
Radicalization of Newton’s Natural Philosophy as an Anticipation of
Positivism”, History of European Ideas,
32, pp. 173-189.
† {2006}. “On Optical and Mechanical
Models: Newton's
Failure to Construct a Satisfactory Theory of the Phenomena of Light and
Colour”, Logique et Analyse, 194, pp.
199-223.
† {2006}. “Galileo's
Interventionist Notion of "Cause"”, Journal of the History of Ideas, 67(3), pp. 443-464.
† {2006}. “J.B.
Van Helmont and the Question of Experimental Modernism*”, Physis:
Rivista Internazionale di Storia della Scienza, vol. XLII, 2005, pp.
305-332. [appeared 2007]
† {2006}. “The Argument(s) for Universal Gravitation*”, Foundations of Science, 11(4),
pp. 419-447.
† {2006}. “Ascribing Contemporary Scientific Concepts to
Past Thinkers, Towards a Frame-work for Handling Matters More Precisely”,
Scientia Poetica, Jahrbuch für Geschichte der
Literatur und der Wissenschaften,
Band 10, pp. 274-290]
† {2006}, The General Scholium: Some notes on Newton’s published and
unpublished endeavours*, Lias: Sources and Documents Relating to the Early Modern
History of Ideas, vol.33(2), pp. 223-274.
† {2007}. “Johannes Baptista Van Helmonts experimentele praktijk:
Een poging tot karakterisering”, Gewina, Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis der
Geneeskunde, Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Techniek, 31(1), pp. 11-25.
† {2007}. “Whewell over Noodzakelijkheid: Een systematische
studie en propedeuse tot haar historische ontwikkeling”, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 70 (2) (June), pp. 239-266 [in Dutch].
† {July 2007}. “Huygens’s Understanding of Trajectories: Via media between Galileo and Newton”, Historia
Scientiarum, International Journal of the History of Science Society of Japan,
vol. 17(2).
† & Erik Weber {2007},
“The
Concept of Causation in Newton's
Mechanical and Optical Work*”, Logic and Logical Philosophy vol. 16, pp. 265-288.
† Steffen Ducheyne {2007}, “Algunas notas Metodológicas sobre los
Experimentos de J.B. Van Helmont*”, Azogue, Revista electrónica
dedicada al estudio histórico crítico de la alquimia, vol. 5, pp. 75-82.
† {2007}. ““Ignorance is Bliss”:
On Bernard Nieuwentijt's Doctrina Ignorantia and His Contribution Our
Understanding of Scientific Idealisation”, Rivista
di storia della filosofia, vol. 62(4), pp. 699-710.
† {2008}. Entry “J.B. Van Helmont”
in: Angela Pilchak (ed.), New Dictionary of Scientific
Biography (Detroit
e.a., Thomson Gale: 2008), volume III, pp. 277-281].
† {2008}. “J.B. Van Helmont’s De Tempore as an
Influence on Isaac Newton’s Doctrine of Absolute Time”, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. 90(2), 2008, pp.
216-228.
† {2008}. “A Prelimary study of
the Appropriation of Van Helmont’s Œuvre in Britain in Chymistry, Medicine and
Natural Philosophy”, Ambix, vol. 55(2), 2008, pp. 122-135.
† {2008}. “Galileo
and Huygens on Free Fall: Mathematical and Methodological Differences”, Dynamis, vol. 28, 2008, pp. 243-274.
† {2008}. “Towards an Ontology for Scientific Models”, Metaphysica: International Journal for Ontology and Metaphysics vol. 9(1), 2008, pp.
119-127.
† {2008}. “J.S. Mill’s Canons of Induction; From true
causes to provisional ones*”, History and Philosophy of Logic, vol. 29(4), 2008, pp. 361-376.
† {2008}. “Whewell's Metaphorical Usage of Light”, Semiotica, Journal of the International Association for Semiotic
Studies, vol. 172(1), pp. 269-278.
† {2008}. “Some Worries for J.D. Norton’s Material
Theory of Induction*”, Philosophia
Naturalis, vol. 45(1), 2008.
† {forthcoming 2009}. ““To treat of the World”:
Paul Otlet's Epistemology and Ontology and the Circle of Knowledge”, Journal of Documentation, vol. 65(2).
† {forthcoming 2009}. “Kant and Whewell on
bridging principles between metaphysics and science*”, Kant
Studien, vol. 100(1). [NEW]
† {forthcoming, 2009/10}. “Whewell, Necessity and the
Inductive Sciences”, South African Journal of
Philosophy. [NEW]
† {forthcoming, 2009}. “Fundamental Questions and
Some New Answers on Philosophical, Contextual and Scientific Whewell: Some Reflections
on Recent Whewell Scholarship and the Progress made therein”, Perspectives on Science. [NEW]
† {forthcoming, 2009}. “Newtonianism in Locke,
Hume, and Reid: or, How far can one stretch a label?”, Enlightenment and Dissent - Special Issue on Isaac Newton and
Eighteenth-Century Thought, Stephen D. Snobelen (ed.), vol. 25, 2009. [NEW]
† {2009}. “Anti-trintarianism in Newton’s General Scholium to the Principia”, European Journal of Science and Theology, vol. 5(1), 2009,
pp. 29-39. [NEW]
† {2009}. “The Flow of Influence: From Newton to Locke … and Back”, Rivista di storia della filosofia, vol. 64(2), 2009, pp.
265-288. [NEW]
† {2009}. “Newton's
Theology and the Flow of Influence”, in: S. Ducheyne (ed.), Future
Perspectives on Newton
Scholarship and the Newtonian Legacy ... (KVAB, Brussel), 2009, pp.
35-47. [NEW]
† {2009}. “Isaac Newton’s ‘Of the Church’: Manuscript
Description and Analysis of Bodmer Ms. in Geneva”,
European Journal of Science and Theology, vol. 5(2),
2009, pp. 25-35. [NEW]
† {in press}. Whewells “Tidal Researches: Scientific
Practise and Philosophical Methodology*”,
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Part A.
[NEW]
§ 2.2. Reviews in:
Philosophy of Science (1), Annals of Science (4), Ambix (2), Isis (2), Algemeen Nederland Tijdschrift
voor Wijsbegeerte (1), Early Science
and Medicine (1), Knowledge
organization (1), British Journal for
the History of Philosophy (1), Eighteenth-Century
Studies (3), Archives internationales
d’histoire des sciences (1).
§ 2.3.
Editorship:
†
(appeared in 2007), “The Challenges for Early Modern Philosophy”, Philosophica 76, 2005, pp. 135. Full
text of this issue is available here.
†
(to appear early 2009), “Future
Perspectives on Newton Scholarship and the
Newtonian Legacy in Eighteenth-century Science and Philosophy Europe”,
Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten.
This is a collection of papers presented at a contact-forum funded by the Royal Academy
on 28 September 2007. Click here for the corresponding piece which appeared in the
newspaper De Standaard (in Dutch).
§ 2.4.
Organization of Conferences:
† See 2.3,
† 2.
† "Induction: Historical and Contemporary Approaches"
(8th-10/11th July 2008, Ghent)
[website]. A conference report
appeared in The
Reasoner, vol. 2(10), 2008, pp. 8-9.
§ 3. Informatie voor Studenten (in Dutch)
† Thesisonderwerpen
†
Alle cursusmateriaal bij
Wetenschapsgeschiendenis, potentiële examenvragen, de slides van de colleges,
de vragen bij “Kennis ontrafeld” zijn beschikbaar op Minerva.
†
Spreekuur: altijd op afspraak via e-mail of
09/264.39.79.
