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Single Idea 14171
[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / c. Forces
]
Full Idea
A force is the supposed cause of acceleration, ...but an acceleration is a mere mathematical fiction, a number, not a physical fact.
Gist of Idea
Force is supposed to cause acceleration, but acceleration is a mathematical fiction
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §448)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Principles of Mathematics' [Routledge 1992], p.474
A Reaction
This rests on his at-at theory of motion, in Idea 14168. I'm not sure that if I fell off a cliff I could be reassured on the way down that my acceleration was just a mathematical fiction.
Related Idea
Idea 14168
Occupying a place and change are prior to motion, so motion is just occupying places at continuous times [Russell]
The
25 ideas
with the same theme
[attractions and repulsions in physical nature]:
13548
|
The ocean changes in volume in proportion to the attraction of the moon
[Seneca]
|
17259
|
'Force' is the quantity of movement imposed on something
[Hobbes]
|
17547
|
Newton's idea of force acting over a long distance was very strange
[Heisenberg on Newton]
|
20966
|
Newton introduced forces other than by contact
[Newton, by Papineau]
|
20967
|
Newton's laws cover the effects of forces, but not their causes
[Newton, by Papineau]
|
16708
|
Newton's forces were accused of being the scholastics' real qualities
[Pasnau on Newton]
|
13153
|
I am studying the quantities and mathematics of forces, not their species or qualities
[Newton]
|
12724
|
The aim is to discover forces from motions, and use forces to demonstrate other phenomena
[Newton]
|
15986
|
Boyle and Locke suspect forces of being occult
[Locke, by Alexander,P]
|
16685
|
An insurmountable force in a body keeps our hands apart when we handle it
[Locke]
|
16709
|
Some people return to scholastic mysterious qualities, disguising them as 'forces'
[Leibniz]
|
13192
|
Power is passive force, which is mass, and active force, which is entelechy or form
[Leibniz]
|
13196
|
All qualities of bodies reduce to forces
[Leibniz]
|
12758
|
It is plausible to think substances contain the same immanent force seen in our free will
[Leibniz]
|
13167
|
We need the metaphysical notion of force to explain mechanics, and not just extended mass
[Leibniz]
|
12924
|
Motion alone is relative, but force is real, and establishes its subject
[Leibniz]
|
13096
|
The force behind motion is like a soul, with its own laws of continual change
[Leibniz]
|
13097
|
Force in substance makes state follow state, and ensures the very existence of substance
[Leibniz]
|
12719
|
Clearly, force is that from which action follows, when unimpeded
[Leibniz]
|
15307
|
Leibniz uses 'force' to mean both activity and potential
[Leibniz]
|
14171
|
Force is supposed to cause acceleration, but acceleration is a mathematical fiction
[Russell]
|
12671
|
I deny forces as entities that intervene in causation, but are not themselves causal
[Ellis]
|
15313
|
By 'force' I mean the sources of all actions - sometimes called 'powers' by their outcomes
[Breheny]
|
21202
|
The strong force has a considerably greater range than the weak force
[Martin,BR]
|
21181
|
Relativity and Quantum theory give very different accounts of forces
[Hesketh]
|