display all the ideas for this combination of texts
3 ideas
6421 | Newton's four fundamentals are: space, time, matter and force [Newton, by Russell] |
Full Idea: Newton works with four fundamental concepts: space, time, matter and force. | |
From: report of Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica [1687]) by Bertrand Russell - My Philosophical Development Ch.2 | |
A reaction: The ontological challenge is to reduce these in number, presumably. They are, notoriously, defined in terms of one another. |
13470 | Mass is central to matter [Newton, by Hart,WD] |
Full Idea: For Newton, mass is central to matter. | |
From: report of Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica [1687]) by William D. Hart - The Evolution of Logic 2 | |
A reaction: On reading this, I realise that this is the concept of matter I have grown up with, one which makes it very hard to grasp what the Greeks were thinking of when they referred to matter [hule]. |
17020 | An attraction of a body is the sum of the forces of their particles [Newton] |
Full Idea: The attractions of the bodies must be reckoned by assigning proper forces to their individual particles and then taking the sums of those forces. | |
From: Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica [1687], 1.II.Schol) | |
A reaction: This is using the parts of bodies to give fundamental explanations, rather than invoking substantial forms. The parts need not be atoms. |