Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1160462 Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 2013 8 Pages PDF
Abstract

I discuss three principles of unity available in Newton’s physics, appealing to space and time, causal interaction, and law-constitution respectively. I compare these three approaches with respect to aggregation (how a collection of entities can compose a whole) and multiplicity (how the world as a whole can contain a multiplicity of genuine unities), outlining the problems faced by the first two approaches and arguing that the third looks a promising candidate for further philosophical investigation.

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Social Sciences and Humanities Arts and Humanities History
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