Reading Natural Philosophy

Professor Howard Stein has made contributions on a wide range of topics in the history and philosophy of science, with an emphasis on physics. Stein has published papers on early physicists and philosophers such as Isaac Newton as well as papers on later science, especially relativity theory, quantum mechanics and the foundations of mathematics. This volume contains 13 essays exploring the work of Howard Stein, and topics include: Plato's conception of exact science; the structure of argumentation in Newton's "Principia"; imagery in the work of Descartes and Newton; patterns of reasoning in Maxwell; Mach's conception of space, time and motion; Einstein's conception of geometry; conceptual and technical issues in the foundations of relativity theory; general issues in epistemology; and the structralist conception of mathematics. It also includes a comprehensive bibliography of Howard Stein's writings.