運動力は物質に本質的なものか

『自然科学の形而上学的原理』におけるカントのニュートン批判

抄録

In this paper, I try to clarify the difference between Kant and Newton on the essentiality and universality of gravity. In his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786), Kant made the criticism that Newton’s rejection of essentiality of gravity was inconsistent with his theory of universal gravity. I examine the validity of such criticism of Newton focusing on a new interpretation of Rule 3 in the second edition of the Principia (1713). The conclusion of this paper is: for Newton, gravity is universal, not essential. Kant, however, identified both essentiality and universality because he rejected the mechanical atomism which is the basis of Newton’s theory of matter.