Space and Time

[JonF]

Oh i'm not saying it wouldn't help, a lot. But if you've done well in the classes I listed you shouldn't have that much trouble picking up the parts of tensor algebra you need along the way.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Newton called his Principia a work of "natural philosophy".

That was what science was called back in his day.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Resha Caner]

That was what science was called back in his day.

To some extent, but the modern connotation of "science" is different than what Newton understood by the meaning of "natural philosophy". For example (as we've been discussing in another thread), "method" was not formalized until the latter part of the 19th century. Further, mathematics was not accepted for modelling the real world the way we accept it. Newton was revolutionary in doing so. As such, he used geometric and logical proofs to support his derivations through calculus to gain support for them. Even further, he worried about all kinds of ridicule that would be heaped on him for using a "method" that was different than his colleagues. His biggest concern was that gravity would be dismissed as an appeal to magic.

(edit: I should add that another difference in Newton's attitude was that natural philosophy was a way to better understand God by the study of his creation. Not sure too many scientists think that anymore.)