A CRITIQUE OF THE CONCEPT OF FORCE IN MODERN SCIENCE

Authors

  • Emmanuel Iniobong Archibong

Keywords:

Force, Motion, Material, Immaterial, Metaphysics, Change, Shape, Object, Science

Abstract

Force, the paper contends has a material and immaterial dimension bringing about the experience of motion, change of state, and direction of an object. While IsaacNewton systematized the concept of force using mathematical postulates in his three laws of motion and the scientific method of observation and experimentation, it didn’t erode the metaphysical underpinnings of the concept. The first, second and third laws of motion provide an ontological truth though with the fact of force being descriptive without stating what force is in itself. The paper interrogates the material and factual claims of force as being scientific from its ontological derivatives such as: motion, velocity, acceleration, mass, distance, change, gravitation, relativity, and space-time arguing that force does not strictly adhere to the scientific method of observation and experimentation. The paper further extrapolated the meaning of force and examines some metaphysical themes from the determination of the material status of the concept. The paper employed the method of criticism in tackling the problem that force has an ambivalent nature of the material and immaterial with one serving as the missing link of the other. Furthermore, except perhaps for linguistic convenience, force doesn’t really tell what it is in itself as a concept in modern science. Thus the findings of the paper reveal that the categories of the mind can delineate the immaterial from the material in a complementary manner thereby making force the object of both materials (scientific) and immaterial (metaphysical) investigation with varied implications for man’s social existential experience when pushed to one extreme.

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Published

2020-09-24

How to Cite

Archibong, E. I. (2020). A CRITIQUE OF THE CONCEPT OF FORCE IN MODERN SCIENCE. Nnamdi Azikiwe Journal of Philosophy, 11(1), 159–170. Retrieved from https://journals.unizik.edu.ng/najp/article/view/451

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