General Scholium Newton - the non-mechanism of the Principia

Abstract

The General Scrum of Book III of the Mathematical Principles of the Philosophy of Nature refers to a singular context of the thought of Newton due to the several aspects that motivated him. Published in 1713, inserted in the 2nd edition of the Principia, the General Scoli brought aspects inside that were not considered so relevant for the 1st edition. The same tone as the preface by Roger Cotes, whose scope is more metaphysical in scope than the preface of the previous edition, is noted in the General Schole. This essay tries to demonstrate that the General Schole promotes a metaphysical debate before the philosophy of the nature in relation to the context of the modernity, whose objective is to promote a vision not only mechanical of the nature, but also non-mechanical, that distances, to a certain extent, Of the 1st edition, providing, in this sense, a support for the investigation of the metaphysical elements of the Newtonian philosophy.