Is our evidence about Gilberd's philosophy of science based on implications in his work, or is there correspondence/articles/etc which actually spell out the philosophies you mention? I hadn't noticed how much the historians of that era depend on explicitly stated philosophies.

As for Newton, surely Gilberd would have got on famously with the man who said 'hypothesis non fingo' . . . um, while speculating and theorising all over the place.