Action at a Distance in Pre-Newtonian Natural Philosophy: An Introduction

Abstract

All historians of science are familiar with the debates on the issue of action at a distance surrounding Newtonian physics.1 Even prior to Newton, however, action at a distance represented a major concern for natural philosophers and practitioners of the various arts in the early modern period.2 This is because certain phenomena – such as tides and magnetic attraction – appeared to display causation without bodily contact.3 The widespread belief in the action of remote stellar constellations and heavenly bodies provided the theoretical