''Hypotheses non fingo'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "I frame no

hypotheses A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

", or "I contrive no hypotheses") is a phrase used by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

in an essay, "

General Scholium The "General Scholium" (''Scholium Generale'' in the original Latin) is an essay written by Isaac Newton, appended to his work of ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'', known as the ''Principia''. It was first published with the secon ...

", which was appended to the second (1713) edition of the '' Principia''.

Original remark

A 1999 translation of the ''Principia'' presents Newton's remark as follows:

Later commentary

The 19th-century philosopher of science

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved dist ...

qualified this statement, saying that, "it was by such a use of hypotheses, that both Newton himself and

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws o ...

, on whose discoveries those of Newton were based, made their discoveries". Whewell stated:

What is requisite is, that the hypothesis should be close to the facts, and not connected with them by other arbitrary and untried facts; and that the philosopher should be ready to resign it as soon as the facts refuse to confirm it.

Later,

Imre Lakatos Imre Lakatos (, ; hu, Lakatos Imre ; 9 November 1922 – 2 February 1974) was a Hungarian philosopher of mathematics and science, known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its "methodology of proofs and refutations" in its pr ...

asserted that such a resignation should not be too rushed.

References

Latin philosophical phrases Gravity Isaac Newton History of physics Philosophy of science Razors (philosophy) Epistemology {{science-philo-stub

Original remark

Later commentary

See also

References