PhilSci Archive

“Gravity as a relational quality of matter in Newton’s Treatise:”

Schliesser, Eric (2010) “Gravity as a relational quality of matter in Newton’s Treatise:”. In: UNSPECIFIED.

[img] Microsoft Word (.doc)
EPSAgravityrelationalschliesser.doc

Download (100kB)

Abstract

In this paper I clarify what Newton could have meant when he insisted that gravity is a real force. I interpret Newton’s speculative treatment of gravity as a relational, accidental quality of matter that arises through what Newton calls “the shared action” of two bodies. I argue that when Newton drafted the first edition of the Principia in the mid 1680s, he thought that (at least a part of) the cause of gravity is the disposition inherent in any individual body, but that the force of gravity is the actualization of that disposition; a necessary condition for the actualization of the disposition is the actual obtaining of a relation between two bodies having the disposition. The cause of gravity is not essential to matter because God could have created matter without that disposition. Nevertheless, at least a part of the cause of gravity inheres in individual bodies and were there one body in the universe it would inhere in that body. On the other hand, the force of gravity is neither essential to matter nor inherent in matter, because (to repeat) it is the actualization of a shared disposition. A lone part-less particle would, thus, not generate a gravity field.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Schliesser, Eric
Keywords: Newton, gravity, action at a distance.
Subjects: General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Depositing User: Eric Schliesser
Date Deposited: 18 Mar 2010
Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 15:19
Item ID: 5199
Subjects: General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Date: 2010
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/5199

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item