The Newton Project

[Claverhouse]

Western Science, which has brought us most of the machinery of joy we have about us, and medicine, engineering etc., plus some bad stuff, had it's entire origin with 11th century monks and the christian universities they then established --- based upon their reading of the Greeks, so it's not too odd that nearly every scientist up to, and including most of, the 19th century, was a devout God-botherer intent not only on discovering physical truths, but doing so partly to establish their own private particular understanding of an aspect of the christian revelation.


One of the most devout was the raving mighty mind of Isaac Newton, who combined greatness with being a fairly unpleasant fellow and a creepy obsessive puritanism that was the envy of Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards. Having neither an interest in science nor religion it's wasted upon me, but those INTPs who like either may care to glance over The Newton Project, an online resource from Sussex University of everything the old bugger wrote. And a few related authors.

So far they have nearly 4 million words down, which indicates that whatever else was missing from the lives of the 17th century, ink was plentiful.



Claverhouse

 

[Da Blob]

Yes, there were some interesting characters roaming Europe during the past few centuries. I almost see it as a mistake to 'modernize' their images and not to mention in history books their eccentric quirks and obsessions. I believe Newton was heavily involved in Alchemy amongst other things...

In particular, Nietzche, the man, has been a particular target of this 'intellectual sanitation'. The man really was a bigoted maniac.