Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:1:Those who assume hypotheses... (Neal Stephenson)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Cotes probably intended this as a way of bashing Leibniz. Newton said "I do not feign hypotheses" (hypothesis non fingo) at least partly as a way of explaining why he did not address the underlying nature of gravity and of force in his work. Leibniz and others saw this as a flaw and were not shy about framing hypotheses of their own. Cotes is saying here that Leibniz's work is nothing more than an "ingenious romance."

The word "romance," among other things, is a synonym for "novel" and so this quote may also be read as a play on words, telling the reader something about the romance that they are about to read. This romance (The Baroque Cycle) assumes hypotheses as a first principle, i.e. it is based on some fictitious imaginings of the author. So it is not a history, but merely a "romance" which I hope at least some readers will find "ingenious."

The purpose of this and other annotations made on this site by the author is to assist those who are curious in teasing apart what is purely fictitious from what is based in historical evidence.