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| | Newton's Views on Space, Time, and Motion |
 | | He begins by saying that, since in common life these quantities are conceived in terms relations to sensible bodies, it is incumbent to distinguish between, on the one hand, the relative, apparent, common conception of them, and, on the other, the absolute, true, mathematical quantities themselves. |
 | | The rotating bucket experiment is the last of five arguments from the "properties, causes, and effects of motion" designed to show cumulatively that an adequate analysis of true motion must involve reference to absolute space. |
 | | Suffice it to say for the moment that it is a common misunderstanding that Newton intends, in these arguments, to develop empirical criterion for distinguishing cases of absolute motion from merely apparent motion, and to insist thereby that the attribution of a state of absolute motion (or rest) to bodies is warranted. |
| plato.stanford.edu /entries/newton-stm (7882 words) |
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