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It is not the case that The success of Newtonian mechanics thus empirically refuted the completeness of the contact-mechanics paradigm from within natural philosophy itself.
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Reasons For
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1.
Newton himself resisted action-at-a-distance, suggesting his framework didn't intentionally refute contact-mechanics but sought compatible explanations.
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2.
Contact-mechanics advocates simply reinterpreted Newton's results as describing hidden mechanical processes, avoiding refutation by paradigm adjustment.
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3.
Empirical success of a theory doesn't definitively refute competing frameworks—it only shows one works better, leaving metaphysical questions unresolved.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
Newton's inverse-square law explained planetary motion without requiring mechanical contact between bodies, contradicting contact-mechanics assumptions.
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2.
The empirical success of gravitational theory (predictions, observations) demonstrated that non-contact action could be scientifically legitimate and explanatory.
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3.
Contact-mechanics couldn't account for observed phenomena like orbital mechanics without ad hoc modifications, showing internal insufficiency.
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