This collection of specially-commissioned essays by leading scholars presents new research on Isaac Newton and his main philosophical interlocutors and critics. The essays analyze Newton's relation to his contemporaries, especially Barrow, Descartes, Leibniz and Locke, and discuss the ways in which a broad range of figures, including Hume, Maclaurin, Maupertuis, and Kant, reacted to his thought. The wide range of topics discussed includes the laws of nature, the notion of force, the relation of mathematics to nature, Newton's argument for universal gravitation, his attitude toward...

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) left a voluminous legacy of writings. Despite his influence on the early modern period, his correspondence, manuscripts, and publications in natural philosophy remain scattered throughout many disparate editions. In this volume, Newton's principal philosophical writings, including excerpts from the Principia and the Opticks and a corrected translation of 'De Gravitatione', are collected in a single place. This newly expanded second edition of Philosophical Writings contains new excerpts from Newton's earliest optical writings, some of his unpublished reflections...

Sir Isaac Newton (1642 1727) left a voluminous legacy of writings. Despite his influence on the early modern period, his correspondence, manuscripts, and publications in natural philosophy remain scattered throughout many disparate editions. In this volume, Newton's principal philosophical writings, including excerpts from the Principia and the Opticks and a corrected translation of 'De Gravitatione', are collected in a single place. This newly expanded second edition of Philosophical Writings contains new excerpts from Newton's earliest optical writings, some of his unpublished reflections...