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Newton's theology was extremely heretical (to all major religious factions, as he was an anti-Trinitarian!) at a time when religious politics in England were br

by gwern 10y ago

Newton's theology was extremely heretical (to all major religious factions, as he was an anti-Trinitarian!) at a time when religious politics in England were brutal and could easily be fatal; being expelled from Cambridge for violating the religion oaths/tests would've only been the start. And, incidentally, alchemy was, besides being highly disreputable & associated with con artists, illegal in England for centuries before and for most of Newton's career: punishable by death and then confiscation of the deceased's estate (Levere, _Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball_). So if the full extent of Newton's activities & beliefs had been known, he could have lost his good name, job, life, and any family wealth. So what exactly was Newton risking? Everything.

pdm55 10y ago
Good points. His position must have been tenuous anyway as it was a requirement of Cambridge that all Fellows become ordained Anglican priests. Newton only avoided this by special exemption from Charles II and it is not likely that he could afford to be exposed as breaking other regulations. Maybe this is part of the reason he was so reluctant to publish, he may have wondered if his physical reasoning could be construed as somehow against the prevailing religious beliefs of the time, especially when you see the approbation Newton's intellectual predecessor Galileo suffered for his new physics.
- lisper 10y ago
  But you are actually making my point for me. Opportunity cost is a vacuous argument. Everything you do has an opportunity cost. That's not a risk, it's just a consequence of the laws of physics. Maybe publishing would have counted as taking a risk for the reasons you cite, but Newton resisted publishing for a very long time, so he was actually avoiding that risk. So once again it really seems to me that Newton is not a good example of the merits of taking risks. (Quite the contrary in fact.)

by gwern 10y ago

pdm55 10y ago

Good points. His position must have been tenuous anyway as it was a requirement of Cambridge that all Fellows become ordained Anglican priests. Newton only avoided this by special exemption from Charles II and it is not likely that he could afford to be exposed as breaking other regulations. Maybe this is part of the reason he was so reluctant to publish, he may have wondered if his physical reasoning could be construed as somehow against the prevailing religious beliefs of the time, especially when you see the approbation Newton's intellectual predecessor Galileo suffered for his new physics.

lisper 10y ago
But you are actually making my point for me. Opportunity cost is a vacuous argument. Everything you do has an opportunity cost. That's not a risk, it's just a consequence of the laws of physics. Maybe publishing would have counted as taking a risk for the reasons you cite, but Newton resisted publishing for a very long time, so he was actually avoiding that risk. So once again it really seems to me that Newton is not a good example of the merits of taking risks. (Quite the contrary in fact.)