Newton on Matter and Activity

Ernan McMullin

“In this delightfully brief and trenchant book, Ernan McMullin elevates several current problems in Newtonian scholarship to a new level of sophistication.”—Eighteenth-Century Studies

“This closely argued book is an up-to-date and judicious study of Newtons’ natural philosophy, providing a critical survey of a convoluted area of scholarship. In clarifying Newton’s ontology, McMullin has made a valuable contribution to Newtonian studies.”—International Studies in Philosophy

“A major contribution to the growing literature on Newton. . . . Drawing upon both Newton’s published and unpublished writings, McMullin explores the more metaphysical side of Newton’s physics—questions regarding the nature of matter, force, aether, spirit, and the void—rather than the mathematical and more positivistic side.”—Choice