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Foundations of Physics

You will find below a complete translation of Du Châtelet's Foundations of Physics (1740). Please use the following information for citation.

1. Chapters translated by the Notre Dame Du Châtelet group: trans. Katherine Brading et al., 2018, available at www.kbrading.org

2. Chapters translated by Isabelle Bour and Judith Zinsser are from Part III of their Emilie Du Châtelet: Selected Philosophical Writings, Chicago University Press, 2009. We are grateful to Chicago UP for allowing us to share these chapters here.

 

3. Chapter 9 translated by Lydia Patton is from her Philosophy, Science, and History: A Reader, Routledge, 2014. We are grateful to Routledge for allowing us to share this chapter here. 

Please send suggestions for improving the translation, and for footnotes, to Katherine Brading at katherine.brading@duke.edu

Preface. Trans. Bour and Zinsser. Available here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above).

Chapter 1. Of the Principles of Our Knowledge. Trans. Bour and Zinsser. Available
here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above).

Chapter 2. Of the Existence of God. Trans. Bour and Zinsser. Available
here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above).

Chapter 3. Of Essence, Attributes and Modes. Available
here.

Chapter 4. Of Hypotheses. Trans. Bour and Zinsser. Available
here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above).

Chapter 5. Of Space. Available 
here.

Chapter 6. Of Time. Trans. Bour and Zinsser. Available
here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above).

Chapter 7. Of the Elements of Matter. Partial translation by Bour and Zinsser available
here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above). Previously untranslated passages available here.

Chapter 8. Of the Nature of Bodies. Available 
here.

Chapter 9. Of the Divisibility of Matter. Trans. Patton. Available
here, with thanks to Routledge (see above).

Chapter 10. Of the Shape and Porosity of Bodies. Available here.

Chapter 11. Of Motion and Rest in General; and of Simple Motion. Partial translation by Bour and Zinsser available here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above). Previously untranslated passages available here

Chapter 12. Of Complex Motion. Available 
here.

Chapter 13. Of Heaviness. Available
here

Chapter 14. Of the Phenomena of Heaviness, continued. Available
here.

Chapter 15. Of Mr. Newton's Discoveries on Heaviness. Available
here.

Chapter 16. Of Newtonian Attraction. Available here.

Chapter 17. Of Rest, and of the Fall of Bodies along an Inclined Plane. Available 
here
.

Chapter 18. Of the Oscillation of Pendulums. Available here.

Chapter 19. Of the Motion of Projectiles. Available here.

Chapter 20. Of Dead Forces, or Pressing Forces, and the Equilibrium of Forces. Available
here.

Chapter 21. Of the Force of Bodies. Partial translation by
 Bour and Zinsser available here, with thanks to Chicago University Press (see above). Previously untranslated passages available here.

The following materials are found at the end of the 1740 text:

1. Glossary of terms.

2. Figures (from the BnF, see Gallica link below).

3. "Approbation".

These can be found in the French original, available online from the BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) via gallica.bnf.fr or via the ProjectVox website.

Contact information
Email: katherine.brading@duke.edu

Address: Department of Philosophy
201 West Duke Building
Campus Box 90743
Durham, NC 27708 U.S.A

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