Noticed this “news” story about MoND – “Modified Newtonian Dynamics” the same week as “In Our Time” had Newtons Laws of Motion as its subject matter – no idea if there is any connection – I’ve not listened to the edition yet, but I’ve noticed several different plugs for it on different philosophical discussion fora.
[Post Note – this quote from Melvyn’s newsletter …]
One thing that still intrigues me is the idea that you can derive the laws of motion without experimental evidence. In this regard there was a lovely quotation from Descartes speaking of Galileo: “he builds without foundations”. Galileo, so I believe Raymond Flood said, declared that whatever causes gravity isn’t worth worrying about.
What matters is getting the measurements right and understanding how it works. As long as you get the measurements right, what happens happens.
Not unlike the American Indian idea of the Great Mystery in the sky.