Isaac Newton — "For it is the property of true philosophy to deduce the causes of all natural ef…"
For it is the property of true philosophy to deduce the causes of all natural effects from the simplest possible principles.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Isaac Newton
"Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion."
"I was like a boy playing on the seashore."
"We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances."
"I keep the subject constantly before me and wait till the first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light."
"What is it that induces a man to be a philosopher? It is not the love of truth, but the love of fame, or the love of novelty, or the love of power."
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
True science works by finding the fewest, simplest underlying principles that explain the widest range of natural events. Rather than inventing elaborate explanations for each phenomenon separately, good philosophy hunts for minimal root causes whose consequences ripple outward to account for everything. Complexity in nature is an illusion hiding deeper simplicity. The goal is parsimony: one unified framework, not a patchwork of ad hoc stories.
Relevance to Isaac Newton
Newton lived this principle: his three laws of motion and one law of universal gravitation unified falling apples, ocean tides, orbiting planets, and pendulum swings into a single mathematical system. His Principia Mathematica (1687) achieved exactly what the quote describes — deriving an enormous range of natural effects from a compact set of axioms. He viewed God's creation as inherently orderly, believing simplicity in principle reflected divine rational design.
The era
The 17th century was fracturing Aristotle's authority. Natural philosophers debated competing frameworks — Descartes' mechanical vortices, alchemical traditions, Leibniz's monads — each multiplying explanatory entities. Newton's era demanded a methodological revolution: replace qualitative, purpose-driven accounts with mathematical laws derivable from minimal assumptions. His quote was a manifesto against hypothesis-stacking, echoing Ockham's razor but weaponizing it for empirical science at the height of the Scientific Revolution.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].