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He had the position that the action at a distance (interpreting the words literally, that there were two objects, attracting each other at a distance) was what
by whatshisface 4y ago
He had the position that the action at a distance (interpreting the words literally, that there were two objects, attracting each other at a distance) was what we observed, not that there was a metaphysical thing called an action reaching out across a distance.
- adastra22 4y agoInteresting. I know that in the 150 years or so that followed the people who called themselves Newtonians did believe in instantaneous action at a distance, and that this was the dominant understanding of mechanics until Faraday and Maxwell. But it would not surprise me if Newton's own views were more complicated.
- whatshisface 4y agoEnglish's faculties for speaking without metaphysical implications are poor, but Newton believed that he saw instantaneous action at a distance, and since they didn't have sufficiently accurate measurements to observe any delay in gravity, I would say he was right that they saw that.