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On 1 April 1758, Kant published a short essay on motion and rest that contained a clear illustration of how he approaches the fundamental principles of mechanics. Kant presents an attack first on the concept of absolute motion and then on a conception of inertia that rests on absolute motion. Kant then turns to criticize what he takes to be the standard conception of inertia, namely the force a body at rest has to resist another body changing its state. Kant proceeds to adduce two further arguments against the traditional notion of inertia based on difficulties that arise in explaining how a body at rest could nonetheless suddenly set itself in motion prior to impact; and how motion could still occur if action and reaction were equal and thus cancelled each other out. He explains the law of continuity, and derives rules of impact from his corrected concept of motion.

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11 - New doctrine of motion and rest and the conclusions associated with it in the fundamental principles of natural science while at the same time his lectures for this half-year are announced (1758)

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11 - New doctrine of motion and rest and the conclusions associated with it in the fundamental principles of natural science while at the same time his lectures for this half-year are announced (1758)

Summary