George Smith and William Harper argue that Newton's quam proxime reasoning is methodologically asymmetric: deviations from equal areas measure force perturbations only under idealizing assumptions.
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Methodologically asymmetric(describing a property of Newton's reasoning method)
A method that works differently depending on which direction you apply it—in this case, you can use one approach to detect problems but can't simply reverse it to solve them.
Newton's quam proxime reasoning(as Newton's methodological strategy)
Newton's approach to science where he made approximations and simplified assumptions to solve problems, rather than trying to account for every complicating factor at once. 'Quam proxime' is Latin for 'as nearly as possible.'