Time&Eternity

128 chapter 3
time, united Copernican and Keplerian astronomy with the Galilean concept
of acceleration, and deterministically and causally explained the movement
of earthly and heavenly bodies by means of a single force—gravity. 35
Edwin A. Burtt points out that Newton’s distinction of absolute and relative
motion using the concept of force as criterion is untenable. 36 When
Newton claims that wherever force is exerted, absolute motion occurs, 37 he
inadmissibly presumes that one can also reverse the argument of an effect in
the direction of a cause into an argument of a cause (i.e., force) in the direction
of an effect. 38 Burtt sees the basis for this conclusion by Newton as being
in the contemporary idea of force as a phenomenon having an autonomous
existence that precedes all effects and is independent of them.
Burtt speaks of animistic characteristics from which the scientific theory of
force was only gradually cleansed. Because there is no doubt of Newton’s
theological ambitions, however, I believe it is more reasonable to assume
that Newton defined the physical concept of force within the framework of
the theological notion of divine action. 39
Burtt, who assumes that Newton was influenced by the Cambridge Platonist
Henry More, 40 sees another inconsistency in the fact that Newton relates
the movement of bodies to absolute space and absolute time. 41 Because
absolute space and absolute time are infinite and homogenous entities and
thus cannot be distinguished within themselves, bodies can certainly move
in absolute space and in absolute time, but the motion is only noticeable in
relation to other bodies and not in relation to absolute space and absolute
time. According to Burtt, mathematics and physics were not decisive here
for Newton, but rather his theological conviction that, ultimately, time and
space have religious significance. He substantiates this with quotations from
the General Scholium, among other things, which Newton added to the
second edition of the Principia—according to which God, existing forever
and everywhere, constitutes time and space. 42 “Absolute space for Newton is
not only the omnipresence of God; it is also the infinite scene of the divine
knowledge and control.” 43
In Opticks, Newton speaks of a divine sensorium in connection with absolute
space, which suggests an understanding of divine consciousness as
the highest frame of reference for absolute motion. Whenever the connection
to this divine frame of reference is abolished, however, absolute space
and absolute time become empty categories. What remain are ideas of a mechanical
universe that functions like a clock and a nature that is despiritualized.
Burtt already foresees this development. 44 Within the framework of
eco-theological concepts, it has been emphasized repeatedly that Newton’s
thoughts paved the way for the misuse and exploitation of nature. In my
opinion, however, it was not Newton’s thinking per se that necessarily re-