"[T]he attempts to eiliminate organismic and theological elements from the law of inertia have proved to be of great consequence in the field of "science proper." They have stimulated research for new physical laws. ...Newton described it [absolute space (and time)] as the "sensorium of God"... mechanics were based on the "accidental fact" that the system of fixed stars was... at rest in "absolute space." However, if we examine the two premises... we can draw the simple conclusion: The law of inertia is valid with respect to the fixed stars. ..."Inertia" is then an interaction between material bodies just as much as gravitation is. This point was stressed in the nineteenth century by Ernst Mach, first in a short paper in 1872, and then more elaborately in his book... Mechanics and its Evolution in 1883..."
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, Philosophy of Science: The Link Between Science and Philosophy (1957)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Mechanics
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The Science of Mechanics
The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Exposition of its Principles is an 1893 translation of the second German edition of Ernst Mach's original 1883 Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung (Mechanics and Its Evolution). It is not a treatise upon the application of the principles of mechanics. Its aim was to clear up ideas, expose the real significance of the matter, and get rid of metaphysical obscurities. The little mathematics it contains is merely secondary to that purpose. Mechanics
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