Isaac Newton
The same simple laws of motion and gravity govern a falling apple and the planets – and science should state laws, not invent hidden causes.
Placement
Universal gravitation and mathematical laws of nature – the model for the Enlightenment.
Key ideas
- Gravitation
- “Hypotheses non fingo”
Influence
Influenced by 2
Nicolaus Copernicus
influenced by
Newton gave the Copernican arrangement of the planets a dynamical basis by deriving planetary motion around the sun from universal gravitation (Principia, 1687). I. Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687); SEP “Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”; SEP “Nicolaus Copernicus”
Evidence: AI draft
Nicolaus Copernicus › 1473–1543
Galileo Galilei
influenced by
Newton credited Galileo with having used the first two laws of motion to find the law of fall and the parabolic path of projectiles (Principia, 1687). I. Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687); Galileo, Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze (1638); SEP “Isaac Newton”
Evidence: AI draft
Galileo Galilei › 1564–1642
Influenced 5
Voltaire
influenced ✓
In the Philosophical Letters (1734) Voltaire set Newton’s attraction against Descartes’ vortices and introduced Newtonian physics to a French public. Voltaire, Lettres philosophiques (1734); SEP “Voltaire”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Voltaire › 1694–1778
Émilie du Châtelet
influenced ✓
Du Châtelet translated Newton’s Principia into French with a commentary of her own, completed shortly before her death in 1749 and published in 1756/1759. I. Newton, Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle, tr. É. Du Châtelet (1756/1759); SEP “Émilie Du Châtelet”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Émilie du Châtelet › 1706–1749
David Hume
influenced ✓
Hume subtitled his Treatise (1739) ‘an attempt to introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects’, modelling his science of man on Newton’s natural philosophy. D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), title page; SEP “David Hume”
David Hume › 1711–1776
Immanuel Kant
influenced ✓
Kant’s Universal Natural History (1755) explained the origin of the planetary system by Newtonian attraction plus a repulsive force, a question Newton had left to God. I. Kant, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels (1755); SEP “Kant’s Philosophy of Science”
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Albert Einstein
influenced ✓
Einstein kept Newton’s mechanics as a limiting case while replacing absolute space and time with relativistic spacetime and gravitation with curvature (‘Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie’, 1916). A. Einstein, “Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie”, Annalen der Physik 49 (1916); “Autobiographical Notes” (1949); SEP “Einstein’s Philosophy of Science”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Albert Einstein › 1879–1955
Criticism
Criticized by 3
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
criticised by
In his letters to Clarke (1715–16) Leibniz rejected Newton’s absolute space and a God who must mend his clockwork, and called gravitation without mechanism a perpetual miracle. Leibniz–Clarke Correspondence (1715–16), Leibniz’s letters 1–5
Evidence: AI draft
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
George Berkeley
criticised by
Berkeley attacked Newton’s fluxions as ‘ghosts of departed quantities’ (The Analyst, 1734) and rejected absolute space and motion (Principles, 1710, §§110–117; De motu, 1721). G. Berkeley, The Analyst (1734), §35; Principles (1710), §§110–117; De motu (1721); SEP “George Berkeley”
Evidence: AI draft
George Berkeley › 1685–1753
Ernst Mach
criticised by
Mach rejected Newton’s absolute space and time as metaphysical, reinterpreting the rotating bucket through motion relative to the distant masses of the universe (Die Mechanik, 1883). E. Mach, Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung (1883), ch. II.6; SEP “Ernst Mach”
Evidence: AI draft
Ernst Mach › 1838–1916
Criticizes 1
René Descartes influenced by
influenced by ✓
Newton studied Descartes’ Géométrie and Principia philosophiae (1660s); his first law is close to Descartes’ laws of nature, and his title echoes Descartes’ (Principia, 1687). I. Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687); R. Descartes, Principia philosophiae (1644); R. S. Westfall, Never at Rest (1980); SEP “Isaac Newton”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
criticised
Newton argued that Descartes’ vortices cannot account for Kepler’s laws (Principia II, 1687), and rejected his identification of space with body (De gravitatione). I. Newton, Principia (1687) II, scholium to prop. 53; De gravitatione et aequipondio fluidorum; SEP “Newton’s Philosophy”
Evidence: AI draft
René Descartes › 1596–1650
Works
The laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Position
Newton’s Principia showed that one set of mathematical laws – the laws of motion and universal gravitation – governs both a falling apple and the orbits of the planets. Heaven and earth obey the same physics. He set out rules of reasoning that ground general laws on observation and induction, and refused to speculate about the hidden cause of gravity: “I frame no hypotheses.” His assumption of absolute space and time sparked a famous debate with Leibniz. For the Enlightenment, Newton became the model of what human reason can achieve; Hume, Kant and Voltaire all measured philosophy against his achievement.
Life & context
Born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Newton studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. In a few intense years he developed calculus, a theory of light and the beginnings of his mechanics. Later he became Master of the Royal Mint in London and President of the Royal Society. He died in 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Further main works
- Opticks (1704)
- General Scholium (1713)
Appears in
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