Notas epistemológicas en torno a las investigaciones newtonianas sobre la luz y el color

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the earliest texts where Isaac Newton presents his experiments and reflections on his theory of light and color. I will show that there are hermeneutic problems in these texts that cannot be solved without the consideration of extra-phenomenical principles in Newtonian thought. With this purpose, I will mainly refer to the letter «New Theory about Light and Colours» addressed to the Royal Society in 1672; from this analysis I will take into consideration the problem of Newton’s division of the color spectrum and the controversy about the modificationist theory, mainly represented by Robert Hooke. My conclusions point toward a consideration of a non-functionalistic lecture of extra-phenomenical principles in Newtonian thought.