Gravitația în interogările din Optica lui Newton Extras din: Sfetcu, Nicolae, "Isaac Newton despre acțiunea la distanță în gravitație - Cu sau fără Dumnezeu?", SetThings (22 ianuarie 2018), MultiMedia (ed.).

Sfetcu, Nicolae Gravitația în interogările din Optica lui Newton Extras din: Sfetcu, Nicolae, "Isaac Newton despre acțiunea la distanță în gravitație - Cu sau fără Dumnezeu?", SetThings (22 ianuarie 2018), MultiMedia (ed.)., 2019 [Preprint]

Preview

Text Nicolae_Sfetcu-Gravitatia_in_interogarile_din_Optica_lui_Newton-C.pdf - Published version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (218kB) | Preview

English abstract

Newton suggested, over time, several types of ether that could mediate action at a distance. But, consistent with his idea that he would not invent hypotheses that were not based on experimental evidence, he never promoted these suggestions to the level of scientific hypotheses. He needed to appease the mechanists, so he went with the idea of ​​an ether made of particles so fine that the mass is negligible (in effect, an immaterial ether). The medium that Newton introduced in Interrogation 21 consists of extremely small material bodies that are spatially separated, on the one hand, and of the non-mechanical active principle that produces and mediates the repulsive forces between these bodies, on the other.

Romanian abstract

Newton a sugerat, în timp, mai multe tipuri de eter care ar putea media acțiunea la distanță. Dar, consecvent ideii sale că nu va născoci ipoteze care nu se bazează pe dovezi experimentale, nu a promovat niciodată aceste sugestii la nivelul unor ipoteze științifice. Trebuia să împace mecaniciștii, astfel încât a mers pe ideea unui eter din particule atât de fine încât masa e neglijabilă (practic, un eter imaterial). Mediul pe care Newton l-a introdus în Interogarea 21 constă din corpuri materiale extrem de mici care sunt separate spațial, pe de o parte, și din principiul activ non-mecanic care produce și mediază forțele repulsive dintre aceste corpuri, pe de altă parte.

Item type:	Preprint
Keywords:	gravitația, Isaac Newton
Subjects:	D. Libraries as physical collections. > DD. Academic libraries.
Depositing user:	Nicolae Sfetcu
Date deposited:	27 Jan 2026 13:13
Last modified:	27 Jan 2026 13:13
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10760/47617

References

Ducheyne, Steffen. 2011. “Newton on Action at a Distance and the Cause of Gravity.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (1): 154–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2010.11.003

Janiak, Andrew. 2008. “Newton as Philosopher.” Cambridge Core. July 2008. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481512

Kochiras, Hylarie. 2009. “Gravity and Newton’s Substance Counting Problem.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 40 (3): 267–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2009.07.003

Kochiras, Hylarie. 2011. “Gravity’s Cause and Substance Counting: Contextualizing the Problems.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (1): 167–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2010.11.005

Newton, Isaac. 1952. Opticks, Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections & Colours of Light. Courier Corporation.

Newton, Isaac. 1978. “Papers and Letters on Natural Philosophy and Related Documents — I. Bernard Cohen | Harvard University Press.” 1978. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674332737

Schliesser, Eric. 2011. “Newton’s Substance Monism, Distant Action, and the Nature of Newton’s Empiricism: Discussion of H. Kochiras ‘Gravity and Newton’s Substance Counting Problem.’” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (1): 160–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2010.11.004

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item