Seeking Truth: Roger North’s Notes on Newton and Correspondence with Samuel Clarke c. 1704–1713

Abstract

That early modern theories of natural knowledge had dramatic theological implications may seem obscure to the modern-day reader. Nonetheless, the reception of Newtonian physics at the turn of the 18th century reveals an interconnection between epistemology, the nature of reality, and early modern concepts of God and nature. And, in the case of a provincial English intellectual named Roger North, it reveals a growing apprehension regarding the Newtonian vision. Jamie Kassler's new edited volume of North's writings exposes the reader to the wider context of the contemporary response to Isaac Newton's ideas, from North's critical notes on his reading of Newton's natural philosophy to his correspondence with Samuel Clarke, one of Newton's close disciples, on matters of physics and theology.Roger North (1651-1734) is of historical interest both for his autobiography, Notes of Me, and for his scientific analysis of music in his comments on his brother Francis North's Philosophical Essay of Musick (1677). Of particular interest to the history of science, however, is Roger North's 'probabilistic' style of reasoning in natural philosophy, drawn from his training in common law and a combination of inductive and hypothetico-deductive method. North, the youngest son in a financially struggling aristocratic family, trained in Cambridge and then London as a lawyer and, after a number of familial tragedies (including the deaths of all of his older brothers), left his public appointments in London and became the lord of a manor in Rougham, Norfolk, permanently settling there in 1696. For the remainder of his days, North pursued the life of a provincial intellectual, remaining current with new ideas in natural philosophy and engaging in a program of self-critical reflection on the 'New Philosophy'. This was coupled with a number of correspondences that 'supplemented his method of critical reflection with a