- #1
zanick
- 383
- 23
- TL;DR Summary
- In one of Newtons famous letters to Richard Bentley he talks about gravity as if it is "absurd".. is it the way in which he is speaking or referencing the letters sent to him by Bentley, or does he really think gravity is an "absurd concept?
http://www.google.it.ao/books?id=4q...=editions:ISBN0803974612&lr=&output=html_text
The last clause of the second position I like very well. It is inconceivable, that inanimate brute matter should, without the mediation of something else, which is not material, operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact, as it must be, if gravitation, in the sense of Epicurus, be essential and inherent in it. And this is one reason why I desired you would not ascribe innate gravity to me. That gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of any thing else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity, that I believe no man, who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it. Gravity must be caused by an agent acting constantly according to certain laws; but whether this agent be material or immaterial, I have left to the consideration of my readers.