Bernard Nieuwentijt

Bernard Nieuwentijt

Bernard Nieuwentijt (born August 10, 1654 in West-Graftdijk , † May 30, 1718 in Purmerend ) was a Dutch philosopher and mathematician.

Act

After studying medicine and law in Leiden (where he was expelled from the university) and Utrecht, he practiced as a doctor in Purmerend. He was also the mayor of his adopted home.

Nieuwentijt tried to attain the existence of the divine through teleological reasoning. He severely criticized rationalism and Spinozism with science-related methodological arguments. His ideas are based on the fact that natural laws have a contingent validity, that is, they are located between an ideal truth (which is always hypothetical or dependent on assumptions) and experience-dependent factual truths. He criticizes, among other things, the use of infinitely small quantities like Isaac Newton suggested and the introduction of higher differentials by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz .

The works Het regt gebruik der werelt beschouwingen ter overtuiginge von ongodisten en [...], Amsterdam 1714 (German: knowledge of wisdom, power and goodness of the divine being, from the right use of their considerations of all earthly things in this world , Frankfurt, 1732) and Gronden van zekerheid [...] Amsterdam, 1920 were very influential in the 18th century for the philosophy of the natural sciences and mathematics.

In 1695 he published the first elementary introduction to analysis (Analysis infinitorum), where he systematically dealt with authors such as Jan Hudde , John Wallis and Isaac Barrow , but who at that time did not seem to have known the work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . Soon afterwards a dispute arose with Leibniz and Johann I Bernoulli , in which he was defeated.

Works

• Considerationes circa analyzeos ad quantitates infinite parvae applicatae principiae, et calculi differentialis usum in resolvendis problematibus geometricis , Amsterdam 1694
• Analysis infinitorum seu curvilineorum proprietates ex polygonorum natura deductae , Amsterdam 1695
• Considerationes secundae circa calculi differentialis principia; et responsio ad virum nobilissimum GG Leibnitium , Amsterdam 1696
• Het regt gebruik der wereltbeschouwingen, ter overtuiginge van ongodisten en ongelovigen , Amsterdam 1715 (The book had several editions up to 1740 and was translated into English (The religious philosopher, or the right use of contemplating the works of the Creator, 1718), German and French translated)
• Gronden van zekerheid, of de regte betoogwyse der wiskundigen, so in het denkbeeldige as in het zakelijke. The neither legging van Spinosaas denkbeeldig samenstel en ter aanleiding van een sekere sakelyke wysbegeerte , Amsterdam 1720

literature

• Hans Freudenthal : Nieuwentijt and the teleological proof of God , Synthesis 9 (1955), pp. 454–464,
• Hans Freudenthal, Dictionary of Scientific Biography , 1974
• Rink Vermiej: Bernard Nieuwentijt and the Leibnizian calculus , in: Studia leibnitiana 21, 1989, pp. 69-86.
• Vermiej: Secularisering en natuurwetenschap in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw: Bernard Nieuwentijt , Amsterdam 1991
• Vermiej (editor): Bernard Nieuwentijt, Een zekere, zakelijke wijsbegeerte , Baarn 1988

Web links

• Bernard Nieuwentijt. Entry on biographies and literature at the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (DBNL)
• Bernard Nieuwentijt, 1654-1718. Biography in: Klaas van Berkel, Albert van Helden and Lodewijk Palm (eds.): A History of Science in The Netherlands. Brill, Leiden / Boston / Cologne 1999, pp. 543–545 (English, PDF)