Schmit Christophe
CNRS - Observatoire de Paris.
Early Sci Med. 2014;19(6):505-48. doi: 10.1163/15733823-00196p01.
This article investigates the reception of Galileo and Descartes' principles of statics in the works of some French scientists in the second half of seventeenth century, tracing their importance for the genesis of a concept of force. Through an examination of the link between statics and dynamics--especially concerning the phenomena of collision and the motion of falling bodies--it will be shown, first, that these principles of statics actually contributed to the genesis of dynamics; secondly, that the authors examined in this article managed to unify the various fields of mechanics by building a common axiomatic basis, and, thirdly, that there exists a conceptual identity between actions in engines and actions in dynamic phenomena. The evidence brought fourth in this articles challenges the view according to which statics, and more particularly the law of the lever, was an obstacle for the development of dynamics, and particularly for the conceptualization of force.
本文考察了17世纪下半叶一些法国科学家的著作中对伽利略和笛卡尔静力学原理的接受情况，追溯了这些原理对力概念形成的重要性。通过研究静力学与动力学之间的联系——尤其是关于碰撞现象和落体运动——将表明，首先，这些静力学原理实际上促成了动力学的形成；其次，本文所考察的作者们通过建立一个共同的公理基础成功地统一了力学的各个领域；第三，发动机中的作用与动力学现象中的作用之间存在概念上的一致性。本文提出的证据挑战了这样一种观点，即静力学，尤其是杠杆定律，是动力学发展的障碍，尤其是对力的概念化的障碍。
