SPACE AND RELATIVITY IN NEWTON AND LEIBNIZ

In this paper I challenge the usual interpretations of Newton's and Le ibniz's views on the nature of space and the relativity of motion. New ton's 'relative space' is not a reference frame; and Leibniz did not r egard space as defined with respect to actual enduring bodies. Newton did not subscribe to the relativity of inertial motions; whereas Leibn iz believed no body to be at rest, and Newton's absolute motion to be a useful fiction. A more accurate rendering of the opposition between them, I argue, leads to a wholly different understanding of Leibniz's theory of space, one which is not susceptible to the objections Newton had raised against Descartes regarding the representation of motion. This in turn suggests a new approach for contemporary theory of space, one which neither hypostatizes space nor tries to reduce it to relati ons among actual things,