Samaroo, Ryan (2019) Newtonian Mechanics and its Philosophical Significance. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Newtonian mechanics is more than just an empirically successful theory of matter in motion: it is an account of what knowledge of the physical world should look like. But what is this account? What is distinctive about it? To answer these questions, I begin by introducing the laws of motion, the relations among them, and the spatio-temporal framework that is implicit in them. Then I turn to the question of their methodological character. This has been the locus of philosophical discussion from Newton’s time to the present, and I survey the views of some of the major contributors. I show that while Newtonian mechanics motivates a number of philosophical ideas about force, mass, motion, and causality – and through this, ideas about space and time – the laws are themselves the outcome of a philosophical or critical conceptual analysis.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Newtonian mechanics, constitutive principles, structure of space-time theories, theory of theories, analytic-synthetic distinction, Newton, Kant, conceptual analysis in physics | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Structure of Theories |
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| Depositing User: | Dr Ryan Samaroo | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 15 Oct 2019 12:08 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 15 Oct 2019 12:08 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 16521 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Structure of Theories |
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| Date: | 2019 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/16521 |
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