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Nicholas Huggett Department of Philosophy University of Illinois at Chicago January 18, 2007 Thursday, 5:00pm-7:00pm Nursing, Room 127 In his Principia and in the earlier unpublished De Gravitatione, Newton claims against Descartes that the parts of absolute space cannot move. He offers two arguments for this claim. One of them has puzzled and intrigued a number of commentators because it appeals to a striking — un-'Newtonian' — account of the identity of points: he says that they only have their individuality in virtue of their mutual relations. Does this mean, as DiSalle has suggested, that the supposition of a universe being created elsewhere is nonsense? That is, does Newton agree with Leibniz on this point? To answer this question we need to understand just what Newton's argument is. I will explain why earlier readings are faulty and how best to understand him. We will see, however, that Newton cannot after all uphold the argument becuase its premises imply that all motion is relative. We cannot, therefore, see any deep agreement between Newton and Leibniz regarding 'shifts'.  |
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Last updated 9/24/08 11:56 AM
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