Why did Newton think the apple was pulled, not pushed?

[Mojonski]

i was wondering, instead of thinking the apple was pulled down by some force to Earth , why didn't he think that there was a force pushed the apple down from above? , imagine when you leave in that particular year when he was alive.

 

[ShayanJ]

Reminds me of the horrible (and unnecessary) complication of Ptolemy's model for the universe.

 

[A.T.]

i was wondering, instead of thinking the apple was pulled down by some force to Earth , why didn't he think that there was a force pushed the apple down from above?

Newton quantified the force acting bodies in a gravitational field, and that is all you need to predict how the bodies will move. Whether you call it "pulling" or "pushing" is not relevant to physics, as long it's the same force quantitatively.

 

[CWatters]

I think the answer is that he wasn't just thinking about the apple but planets as well.

 

[Dale]

Push gravity has been discredited for centuries now
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Sage's_theory_of_gravitation

 

[Nugatory]

i was wondering, instead of thinking the apple was pulled down by some force to Earth , why didn't he think that there was a force pushed the apple down from above? , imagine when you leave in that particular year when he was alive.

If you assume that gravity is a pull, you end up with a simple theory that correctly predicts not only the behavior of the apple, but also the motion of the planets, the ballistic trajectories of thrown objects, the tides, and many other phenomena. If you assume that gravity is a push, you end up with a complicated theory that correctly predicts nothing (except for making a non-quantitative prediction that dropped objects fall, which isn't exactly a brilliant new discovery).

Thus, Newton's insight was that we could try thinking in terms of pull instead of push. Then he tried it, and it worked so well that he (and the rest of humanity ever since) have run with it.