Émilie du Châtelet
Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (French pronunciation: [emili dy ʃɑtlɛ] ; 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French natural philosopher and mathematician from the early 1730s until her death due to complications during childbirth in 1749.
Émilie du Châtelet
17 December 1706
10 September 1749 (aged 42)
Writer, philosopher
Magnum opus, "Foundations of Physics" (1740,1742); translation of Newton's Principia into French, natural philosophy which combines Newtonian physics with Leibnizian metaphysics, and advocacy of Newtonian physics
Voltaire (1733–1749)
- Françoise Gabriel Pauline
- Louis Marie Florent
- Victor-Esprit
- Stanislas-Adélaïde du Châtelet
Her most recognized achievement is her translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's 1687 book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica containing basic laws of physics. The translation, published posthumously in 1756, is still considered the standard French translation.
Her commentary includes a contribution to Newtonian mechanics—the postulate of an additional conservation law for total energy, of which kinetic energy of motion is one element. This led her to conceptualize energy, and to derive its quantitative relationships to the mass and velocity of an object.
Her philosophical magnum opus, Institutions de Physique (Paris, 1740, first edition; Foundations of Physics), circulated widely, generated heated debates, and was republished and translated into several other languages within two years of its original publication.
She participated in the famous vis viva debate, concerning the best way to measure the force of a body and the best means of thinking about conservation principles. Posthumously, her ideas were heavily represented in the most famous text of the French Enlightenment, the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, first published shortly after du Châtelet's death.
Numerous biographies, books and plays have been written about her life and work in the two centuries since her death. In the early 21st century, her life and ideas have generated renewed interest.
Contribution to philosophy[edit]
In addition to producing famous translations of works by authors such as Bernard Mandeville and Isaac Newton, du Châtelet wrote a number of significant philosophical essays, letters and books that were well known in her time.
Because of her well-known collaboration and romantic involvement with Voltaire, which spanned much of her adult life, for generations du Châtelet has been known as mistress and collaborator to her much better known intellectual companion. Despite her notable achievements and intelligence, her accomplishments have often been subsumed under his and, as a result, even today she is often mentioned only within the context of Voltaire's life and work during the period of the early French Enlightenment. In her own right, she was a strong and influential philosopher, with the ideals of her works spread from the ideals of individual empowerment to issues of the social contract.
Recently, however, professional philosophers and historians have transformed the reputation of du Châtelet. Historical evidence indicates that her work had a very significant influence on the philosophical and scientific conversations of the 1730s and 1740s – in fact, she was famous and respected by the greatest thinkers of her time.[1] Francesco Algarotti styled the dialogue of Il Newtonianismo per le dame based on conversations he observed between Du Châtelet and Voltaire in Cirey.[2]
Du Châtelet corresponded with renowned mathematicians such as Johann II Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler, early developers of calculus. She was also tutored by Bernoulli's prodigy students, Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and Alexis Claude Clairaut. Frederick the Great of Prussia, who re-founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, was her great admirer, and corresponded with both Voltaire and du Châtelet regularly. He introduced du Châtelet to Leibniz's philosophy by sending her the works of Christian Wolff, and du Châtelet sent him a copy of her Institutions.
Her works were published and republished in Paris, London, and Amsterdam; they were translated into German and Italian; and, they were discussed in the most important scholarly journals of the era, including the Memoires des Trévoux, the Journal des Sçavans, the Göttingische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen, and others. Perhaps most intriguingly, many of her ideas were represented in various sections of the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert, and some of the articles in the Encyclopédie are a direct copy of her work (this is an active area of current academic research - the latest research can be found at Project Vox, a Duke University research initiative).
Scientific research and publications[edit]
Criticizing Locke and the debate on thinking matter[edit]
In her writings, du Châtelet criticized John Locke's philosophy. She emphasizes the necessity of the verification of knowledge through experience: "Locke's idea of the possibility of thinking matter is […] abstruse."[25] Her critique on Locke originated in her commentary on Bernard de Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees. She resolutely favored universal principles which precondition human knowledge and action, and maintained that this kind of law is innate. Du Châtelet claimed the necessity of a universal presupposition, because if there is no such beginning, all our knowledge is relative. In that way, Du Châtelet rejected Locke's aversion to innate ideas and prior principles. She also reversed Locke's negation of the principle of contradiction, which would constitute the basis of her methodic reflections in the Institutions. On the contrary, she affirmed her arguments in favor of the necessity of prior and universal principles. "Two and two could then make as well 4 as 6 if prior principles did not exist."
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis' and Julien Offray de La Mettrie's references to du Châtelet's deliberations on motion, free will, thinking matter, numbers, and the way to do metaphysics are a sign of the importance of her reflections. She rebuts the claim to finding truth by using mathematical laws, and argues against Maupertuis.[26]
Illusions and happiness[edit]
In Discours sur le bonheur, Émilie Du Châtelet argues that illusions are an instrument for happiness.[40] To be happy, “one must have freed oneself of prejudice, one must be virtuous, healthy, have tastes and passions, and be susceptible to illusions...”.[38] She mentions many things one needs for happiness, but emphasizes the necessity of illusions and that one should not dismiss all illusions. One should not abandon all illusions because they can bestow positivity and hope, which can ameliorate one's well-being. But Du Châtelet also warns against trusting all illusions, because many illusions are harmful to oneself.[40] They may cause negativity through a false reality, which can cause disappointment or even limit one’s abilities. This lack of self-awareness from so many illusions may cause one to be self-deceived. She suggests a balance of trusting and rejecting illusions for happiness, so as not to become self-deceived.[40]
In Foundation of Physics, Émilie Du Châtelet discusses avoiding error by applying two principles – the principle of contradiction and the principle of sufficient reason.[40] Du Châtelet presumed that all knowledge is developed from more fundamental knowledge that relies on infallible knowledge. She states that this infallible fundamental knowledge is most reliable because it is self-explanatory and exists with a small number of conclusions. Her logic and principles are used for an arguably less-flawed understanding of physics, metaphysics, and morals.[40]
The principle of contradiction essentially claims that the thing implying a contradiction is impossible. So, if one does not use the principle of contradiction, one will have errors including the failure to reject a contradiction-causing element. To get from the possible or impossible to the actual or real, the principle of sufficient reason was revised by Du Châtelet from Leibniz's concept and integrated into science. The principle of sufficient reason suggests that every true thing has a reason for being so, and things without a reason do not exist. In essence, every effect has a cause, so the element in question must have a reasonable cause to be so.[40]
In application, Émilie Du Châtelet proposed that being happy and immoral are mutually exclusive. According to Du Châtelet, this principle is embedded within the hearts of all individuals, and even wicked individuals have an undeniable consciousness of this contradiction that is grueling.[38] It suggests one cannot be living a happy life while living immorally. So, her suggested happiness requires illusions with a virtuous life. These illusions are naturally given like passions and tastes, and cannot be created. Du Châtelet recommended we maintain the illusions we receive and work to not dismantle the trustworthy illusions, because we cannot get them back.[38] In other words, true happiness is a blending of illusions and morality. If one merely attempts to be moral, one will not obtain the happiness one deeply seeks. If one just strives for the illusions, one will not get the happiness that is genuinely desired. One needs to endeavor in both illusions and happiness to get the sincerest happiness.[38]
Other contributions[edit]
Development of financial derivatives[edit]
Du Châtelet lost the considerable sum for the time of 84,000 francs—some of it borrowed—in one evening at the table at the Court of Fontainebleau, to card cheats.[7][41] To raise the money to pay back her debts, she devised an ingenious financing arrangement similar to modern derivatives, whereby she paid tax collectors a fairly low sum for the right to their future earnings (they were allowed to keep a portion of the taxes they collected for the King), and promised to pay the court gamblers part of these future earnings.[7]
Biblical scholarship[edit]
Du Châtelet wrote a critical analysis of the entire Bible. A synthesis of her remarks on the Book of Genesis was published in English in 1967 by Ira O. Wade of Princeton in his book Voltaire and Madame du Châtelet: An Essay on Intellectual Activity at Cirey and a book of her complete notes was published in 2011, in the original French, edited and annotated by Bertram Eugene Schwarzbach.
Translation of the Fable of the Bees, and other works[edit]
Du Châtelet translated The Fable of the Bees in a free adaptation. She also wrote works on optics, rational linguistics, and the nature of free will.
Support of women's education[edit]
In her first independent work, the preface to her translation of the Fable of the Bees, du Châtelet argued strongly for women's education, particularly a strong secondary education as was available for young men in the French collèges. By denying women a good education, she argued, society prevents women from becoming eminent in the arts and sciences.[42]
Scientific
Other
