It is this method that Smith finds at its most striking in Newton: "But of all the attempts of the
Newtonian Philosophy, that which would appear to be the most above the reach of human reason and experience, is the attempt to compute the weights and densities of the Sun, and of the Several Planets.
A closer look at the pneumatological framework of Newtonian physics reveals that at the heart of the
Newtonian philosophy of nature stands the possibility of a direct, divine activity in creation, that is, at the least, a causal relationship between God's existence and the activity of the cosmos through a vital spirit.
Desaguliers was an ardent advocate of
Newtonian philosophy, and used it to disparage that of Descartes (1745, p.
(1) The
Newtonian philosophy encouraged "Arianism." The odor of heresy hung about Newton and his associates.
Depew and Weber themselves make a convincing case that Herschel's 'law of higgledy-piggledy' dismissal of The Origin was driven by a
Newtonian philosophy of science.
Rather, he says, "science in general and the
Newtonian philosophy in particular served to provide acceptable metaphors for discussion or argument." But Americans are fortunate that the nation's Founders went to school on such metaphors.