Newton’s Logic of Space and Time

Abstract

I have now argued that the actuality of the potential embodies the inherent irrationality in the logic of Newton’s mathematics, in so far as it is based on the presupposition of the actuality of the infinite series. I shall argue now that a parallel step is taken in his physics in regard to the existence of its fundamental entities, namely, space, time, force and its laws of motion. All of these are potential things, yet their full actuality is the conceptual foundation of the whole physical structure which Newton discovered. This is where his platonic ontology is displayed in its most glaring colours.