Hylarie Kochiras

It is surprising that Isaac Newton’s concepts of causation have never been intensively analyzed. After all, science investigates nature’s causal processes, Newton is a pivotal figure in the history of science, and some of the most important questions about his thought turn upon causal concepts. Moreover, those specific questions, described below, converge in this fundamental one: how exactly did Newton think that a better understanding of forces, which are mathematically-expressible causes operating in the physical world, could lead us to “the very first cause”, God? This question asks about the relationship between Newton’s metaphysics and his natural philosophy. It simultaneously asks about the ways in which he remained a natural philosopher, even as his theories and methods did so much to establish science as we know it today. Its answer must draw upon diverse disciplines, ranging from the history of physics to theology. The results, meanwhile, should interest anyone curious about the ways in which Newton remained at odds with the modern science he helped to inaugurate.

This project thus aims to investigate Newton’s causal concepts, with an eye toward illuminating the fundamental question mentioned. The specific objectives are as follows: (i): Identify Newton’s multiple concepts of causation and the purposes they serve. (ii): Determine space’s relation to God by explicating Newton’s concept of emanative causation. (iii): Understand Newton’s causal hierarchy and his search for the very first cause. This latter objective will draw upon my earlier findings (Kochiras, 2012) that Newton took substances to be nothing more than sets of causal powers. I expect to show that this notion of substance grounds the causal hierarchy by which forces might serve as the path to the deity. Because some groundwork for this research has already been laid, I plan three journal articles, also to be presented at international conferences. Looking beyond this fellowship, the results will subsequently be incorporated in my book, which examines the aforementioned question about connections between Newton’s metaphysics and his natural philosophy.