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Single Idea 20966

[from 'Principia Mathematica' by Isaac Newton, in 27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / c. Forces ]

Full Idea

Newton allowed forces other than impact. All the earlier proponents of 'mechanical philosophy' took it as given that all physical action is by contact. ...He thought of 'impressed force' - disembodied entities acting from outside a body.

Gist of Idea

Newton introduced forces other than by contact

Source

report of Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica [1687]) by David Papineau - Thinking about Consciousness App 3

Book Reference

Papineau,David: 'Thinking about Consciousness' [OUP 2004], p.237


A Reaction

This is 'action at a distance', which was as bewildering then as quantum theory is now. Newton had a divinity to impose laws of nature from the outside. In some ways we have moved back to the old view, with the actions of bosons and fields.