Read, James (2025) Getting off the Hoek with Newton's laws. [Preprint]

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Abstract

How to make sense of the notion of force-free motion which seems to be presupposed by Newton's first law? One can identify in the literature various different answers to this question, one among which is to be found in the writings of Torretti (1983). In a wonderful recent article, however, Hoek (2023) has proposed a radical revision to our understanding of Newton's first law, motivated on both exegetical and philosophical grounds. In light of this, one is left wondering whether this reconceptualisation of the content of Newton's first law obviates the need to provide a notion of force-free motion with which to undergird it. In this note, I'll argue that this is not the case: one can (and should!) endorse Hoek's understanding of the first law, while nevertheless seeking to define force-free motions in one of the various ways which have been proposed in the literature.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Read, James james.read@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Additional Information:	Related to a talk presented as part of a symposium in honour of Roberto Torretti at CLMPST 2023 in Buenos Aires
Keywords:	Newton's laws; inertial motion
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User:	Dr. James Read
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2025 13:12
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2025 13:12
Item ID:	25074
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date:	15 April 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25074

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