Voltaire and the project of a Newtonian metaphysics

Abstract

Voltaire had an important role in the dissemination of Newtonianism into the European continent. But he also was responsible for the most direct attempt to extend the authority of Newton to other philosophical issues, beyond those related to mathematics and to physics. The book La Métaphysique de Newton, published in 1740, is a proof of that. In this article, Voltaire's book is analyzed from the context of the controversy between partisans of Newton and Leibniz. It looks for recognizing connections between the project outlined in La Metaphysique and the speculations made by Hume and by Kant on the metaphysical problems of the Newton's law of universal gravitation.