Abstract

Galileo and Descartes made an important contribution to the making of modern mechanics in the Scientific Revo-lution. However, there are crucial differences between their views on the nature of gravity and on the concept of iner-tial motion. They indicate the difference between their methods of science.
Huygens supported Descartes' mechanical natural phi-losophy and based his theory of light on the corpuscular theory. But he criticized Decartes' excessive confidence in his own philosophy. Huygens gave higher priority to the solution of individual problems than to the construction of a whole system. He developed the problem-oriented method of Galileo's mathematical physics.