Alternative World - no Newton

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Not

I'm in the minority, but I think that scientific theories are idiosyncratic things, like poems. Absent Newton (et. al) we might have different theories incommensurate with current ones that explain the phenomenal universe exactly as well.

Well, there were five or ten theories of the structure of the solar system circulating in 16th and 17th century Europe. Other than relativity, has anyone made a theory which tries to do the same things as Newtonian gravitation and gets equivalent results through completely different assumptions?

Newtonian kinematics are a simple invention one one has the calculus and the Cartesian plane; gravity and optics are trickier.