Newton Day

[A. Uiet bhor]

Thanks Newton!

Darwin is said to have been the scientist who aided the non-theists most in providing empirical evidence for fodder in the arguments they use. But explaining life is one thing, but for many of the earliest sceptics or Epicureans the motion of the planets was a far bigger headache. In Athens BC, their would be heated debates between the philosophers who worshiped the gods and those who were convinced they were either of no importance or non existent. It all boiled down to observation not ontological argument. The theist who be able to point to the heavens and say "look at the regular movement of the sun and moon, the regular seasons, etc" and the non-theist would be stumped, as this apparent order was seemingly evidence of providence. All they could do was point to the chaos on earth, of the unpredictable weather or injustice among mankind. The consensus was that either chaos or order ruled, as no one could come up with any natural laws to explain the order of the heavens. Then Newton found the principles that were at work, a colossal leap, and now the heavens no longer enter the religious debate, and with Darwin we have life covered as well, that’s why I think as well as a Darwin day there should be a Newton day as well.

[AspenMama]

Moved from SL.

[JohannGoodflag]

I agree.

One thing which we might not be able to appreciate these days is just how much Newton influenced western thought. It's one thing to say, "Yeah, we should be able to analyse the world empirically and deduce how it works, fixing things as we go!". It's entirely another thing to actually go out and do that -- for no less than apples and asteroids alike.

Almost all of Newton's "ideas" in physics were not originally his. This is not a complaint against him, but a fact: Galileo anticipated inertia, Descartes had already done a lot of the math. To his credit, Newton developped a lot of the calculus to support his work, but on the physics side, most of what he did is that he took many ideas and finally put them all together. But he did one more thing as well: along with the Three Laws, Newton popularised the idea that assuming causality gets you results.

Newton gave us a methodology of skepticism that even Descartes hesitated to make. If something accelerates, you don't guess that a ghost or a spirit moved it; you infer that there is a force, and then you look for the object which is exerting that force, even if you have to allow it to exert that force over a distance for the numbers to work. We're all fine with force at a distance now, but at Newton's time it was a revolutionary idea, and one that even Newton wasn't too happy with. But it was almost necessary in order to explain elliptical orbits, and more importantly, it worked.

So powerful was Newton's influence in predicting astronomical behaviour with the same laws as terrestrial that now we can hardly imagine why planets and apples should be governed by different laws. Newton gave us the first really good evidence that the world could be understood without recourse to theology or the occult. In short, Newton set the standard for what a secular world model should be.

Two centuries later, Darwin would reap the benefits of what Newton sowed: primed by Newton to accept natualistic explanations without verification against theology, Darwin was therefore willing to think of the presence of species as requiring as little theological intervention as the moon and the planets require, and Britain was willing to listen to what he had to say. Netwon never touched biology, but there would have been no Darwin without Newton.

But for heaven's sake, give Newton a day other than his birthday. With all the commercialist fooferrah around that time, no-one wants to listen about a mere scientist. Leave December 20-27 to the pagan rituals, and give Newton a day his own -- like maybe the date of publication of the Principia.

[Veovis]

Leave December 20-27 to the pagan rituals, and give Newton a day his own -- like maybe the date of publication of the Principia.

Good idea! When was it published? Also, what are some other eligible dates?

[A. Uiet bhor]

The main aim for me is trying to get non religous holidays, we need to get a more post-enlightenment mindeset out there. Make people realise how far we've come, how much better things are, people need to learn how much of a differance these people made. It's simple gratitute, cause i see no reason why non xtians have to put up with theistic holidays, when all of mankind reaps the benefits of the work of the great scientists. we could also think musicians and artists, but science is more universal, who doesn't need to use gravity now and again?

ps. nice extra info JohannGoodflag, you hit the nail right on the head!

[Shake]

Good idea! When was it published? Also, what are some other eligible dates?http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/education/sp/images/principia.gif

Looks like July 5th to me. Although many Americans will be recovering from celebrating Independance Day.

[arthurshiraz]

Thanks Newton!

No thank you!

One thing which we might not be able to appreciate these days is just how much Newton influenced western thought.

Man I love this website! It gives me all the things I was missing!

[arthurshiraz]

Thanks Newton!

Hey guys, I like what you said so much that I copied and pasted your words on another forum. Hope that is ok with you ? I believe some people on this other forum were upset by this though I don't understand why since they are atheists, agnostics and freethinkers too...

I agree.

[JohannGoodflag]

Veovis
Good idea! When was it published?

Shake
Looks like July 5th to me.

D'OH!

My guess it that it would work fairly well in Canada, Britain, and Down Under; but if we want to popularize a holiday for Newton in the U.S., we would definitely have to pick a different date.

Looking up Newtondays on the web, it seems that it is common to talk about British history of Newton's time in terms of both the Julian Calendar (in use at the time) and the Gregorian calendar. When the calendars were changed, there was a correction made in the date. So, for example, the Julian date for Newton's birth is December 25, but the Gergorian one is January 4.

It seems to me that the Gregorian date for the publication of the Principia is July 15. Very close to Bastille day, but not so bad in English speaking countries, and certainly better than the 5th in the U.S.

[JohannGoodflag]

arthurshiraz
Hey guys, I like what you said so much that I copied and pasted your words on another forum. Hope that is ok with you ?

Well, it's not like I have a choice any more, but hey, why not.

I believe some people on this other forum were upset by this though I don't understand why since they are atheists, agnostics and freethinkers too...
I'd be interested in their reaction. In what way were they upset?