Newton's Metaphysics

This collection of papers by a leading philosophical Newton scholar offers new interpretations of Newton’s account of space, gravity, motion, inertia, and laws—all evergreens in the literature. The volume also breaks new ground in focusing on Newton’s philosophy of time, Newton’s views on emanation, and Newton’s modal metaphysics. In addition, the volume is unique in exploring the very rich resonances between Newton’s and Spinoza’s metaphysics, including the ways in which Newton and his circles responded to the threat by, and possible accusation of, Spinozism. Seven chapters have been published before and will be republished with minor corrections. Two of these chapters are coauthored: one with Zvi Biener and one with Mary Domski. Two chapters are wholly new and are written especially for this volume. In addition, the volume includes two postscripts with new material responding to critics. A main part of the argument of these essays is not just to characterize the conceptual choices Newton made in developing the structure of theory that would facilitate the kind of measurements characteristic of the Newtonian style, but also to show that these choices, in turn, were informed by intellectual aspirations that brought Newton’s edifice into theological and philosophical conflicts. As these conflicts became acute, these drove further conceptual refinement. Many of the essays in the volume relate the development of Newton’s philosophy to the philosophies of his contemporaries, especially Spinoza and Samuel Clarke.