Emilie du Châtelet, 1706--1749: transformer of metaphysics and scientist (Q517910)

The French scientist and writer Emilie du Châtelet (1701--1749) was an outstanding mathematician, physicist and philosopher. She wrote several books and papers, among others about Newtonian physics. In the paper under review, her life and work are described, with a focus on her work on the philosophy of science. She thought about the free will and how it is compatible with the laws of physics. Knowledge, to her, is something that is constructed, starting with hypotheses that can be rejected but never fully proved by experiments. The author writes: ``Du Châtelet is a truly enlightened philosopher who subjects philosophy and science to the radical requirement of unprejudiced and undogmatic reasoning, stating that science is a reflection of historic development. She invented a critical metaphysics of science that articulated for the very first time and in a radical manner that knowledge is a constructive contribution of the scientists to making the world understandable.''