Sir Isaac Newton was not the first man to suggest the concept of determinism. The idea of determinism can be traced back to Democritus. Newton did however, propose 3 laws of motion that would supposedly enable one to definitively predict future events

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Newtonian Determinism


Sir Isaac Newton was not the first man to suggest the concept of determinism.   The idea of determinism can be traced back to Democritus.   Newton did however, propose 3 laws of motion that would supposedly enable one to definitively predict future events.  The first of the Newtonian laws states that “In the absence of external influences, the separate natural formation retains its condition or continues motion, function, behavior, development under the influence of its own internal determination.”  The second law goes on to state that the more strongly (of higher power) its own internal determining origin is expressed (developed), the greater the external effort that must be applied to its movement (life, behavior, development) to induce change.”  Finally, the third law states, “any external influence on a separate natural formation causes a corresponding reaction, as long as it keeps its structural and functional integrity. Clearly, this action is organized, carried out and directed by its own internal determination.”

Newton was suggesting that all matter in the universe is governed by a set of fixed laws that are knowable.  If one were to hypothetically know all of these laws, and have all the data required to know what is influencing that matter, then one could presumably be able to predict how that matter would behave in the future.  It would also, hypothetically, allow one to trace events backwards and know what happened previously.  Newton’s deterministic views on motion were undoubtedly one of the most crucial, if not the most crucial, influencing concepts that gave birth to the age of enlightenment.  He influenced people from the scientific community as well as the religious community.  He is notably considered as the father of modern physics, the inventor of calculus, the discoverer of gravity, and one of the greatest astronomers of all time.  

In doing research, if one tried to predict future results based on past observations and found the results to contradict the prediction, someone of the Newtonian school of determinism would suggest that the researcher’s information was either corrupted or incomplete.  Newton’s 3 laws did not leave any room for randomness.  In this way Newton forced scientists, and all of the sciences as a whole, to work to discover more natural laws, take better observations and measurements, and discover new knowledge through experimentation.  His ideas greatly influenced almost all scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, and philosophers to follow.  

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Newton’s laws are the reason we have all of the modern mechanical, synchronized machines that we have today.  Being able to predict where matter was going to be based on the law of inertia made things like the combustion engine and space travel possible.  Indeed our lives would be radically different without Newtonian physics.  As the science of physics expanded and physicist began to examine sub-atomic particles the realm of quantum physics took root.  

        In looking at day-to-day things, Newtonian physics allows us to accurately predict future events.  However, this is limited to objects that are atomic in nature. ...

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