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By ye divine arm: God and substance in De gravitatione

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

HYLARIE KOCHIRAS
HYLARIE KOCHIRAS*
Affiliation:
New Europe College Institute for Advanced Study, Strada Plantelor 21, Bucharest, 023971, Romania e-mail: kochiras@nec.ro
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Abstract

This article interprets Newton's De gravitatione as presenting a reductive account of substance, on which divine and created substances are identified with their characteristic attributes, which are present in space. God is identical to the divine power to create, and mind to its characteristic power. Even bodies lack parts outside parts, for they are not constructed from regions of actual space, as some commentators suppose, but rather consist in powers alone, maintained in certain configurations by the divine will. This interpretation thus specifies Newton's meaning when he writes that bodies subsist ‘through God alone’; yet bodies do qualify as substances, and divine providence does not extend so far as occasionalism.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 327 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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