Newton’s Scholium on Time, Space, Place and Motion

Abstract

<p>In the Scholium to the Definitions at the beginning of the <italic>Principia</italic>, Newton distinguishes absolute time, space, place, and motion from their relative counterparts. He argues that they are indeed ontologically distinct, in that the absolute quantity cannot be reduced to some particular category of the relative, as Descartes had attempted by defining absolute motion to be relative motion with respect to immediately ambient bodies. Newton’s rotating bucket experiment, rather than attempting to show that absolute motion exists, is one of five arguments from the properties, causes, and effects of motion. These arguments attempt to show that no such program can succeed, and thus that true motion can be adequately analyzed only by invoking immovable places, that is, the parts of absolute space.</p>

What's the Situation with Situated Visualization? A Survey and Perspectives on Situatedness

“…Willett et al [105] note that, as for space, one can consider temporal indirection, defined as the distance "between the moment in time a physical presentation is shown and the original time it refers to". In Newtonian or naïve physics, this corresponds to the notion of a linear and directional flow of time, leading to a global ordering, and to observers sharing the same time reference [78]. Adopting a linear time-flow perspective means that to be situated, visualizations should minimize temporal indirection [105], i.e.…”

“…To sum up, a linear or cyclical perspective on time, in which time is considered an objective non-reversible arrow, "flowing equably without regard to anything external" [78] can be useful. Yet in many cases, temporal situatedness has more to do with the way data connects to the temporal experience of the viewers.…”

Gravitational Energy in Newtonian Gravity: A Response to Dewar and Weatherall

“…In rational (albeit historically incorrect, see Hoefer and Huggett [30], Sect. 6; [63]) reconstructions, he is frequently (e.g. [43], Ch.…”

Relacionismo, Exigências Empiristas E Relatividade

“…Essa doutrina tem algumas diferenças para o absolutismo newtoniano, o qual não admitiria que pontos no espaço-tempo fossem entendidos enquanto substâncias genuínas. O espaço e o tempo, na ontologia newtoniana, são entes cuja existência necessária se segue de propriedades divinas, como, por exemplo, a onipresença e a eternidade (Rynasiewicz, 2014). São absolutos apenas porque não dependem das substâncias, mas não são semelhantes aos corpos materiais.…”