ABSTRACT
By the time of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence of 1716, the Newtonian and Leibnizian systems of natural philosophy had reached maturity. Each system consisted of different physical as well as metaphysical principles which, taken together, formed a worldview. This chapter discusses first the social psychology of the Newtonian and Leibnizian groups, then the Newtonian and Leibnizian natural philosophies, and finally the mechanics of the vis viva debates of the 1720s. The Newtonian and Leibnizian views of nature were radically different. Concepts of God, matter, force, and causality formed fundamental metaphysical dichotomies. The Newtonian group concerned with the vis viva controversy in the 1720s consisted of Samuel Clarke, Henry Pemberton, John Theophilus Desaguliers, and John Eames. These men were involved in the task of expounding Sir Isaac Newton's ideas, translating them into popular language, devising demonstrations and experiments for explicating Newtonian principles, and teaching Newtonian concepts to the general public through lecture demonstrations and textbooks.
