In my early years I was constituted in the exacting imperatives of
philosophical analysis. That stern face is present in the composition of
the Newton essays chosen here for republication. It is my hope that
potential readers will be patient with the old Adam of analysis, and
seize the portrait of Newton's intellec- tual world presented in these
essays. It is gratifying for me to acknowledge the encouragement of
Robert Butts and John Nicholas of the University of Western Ontario,
intellectual comrades in arms. It was at Western that I began my
intellectual journey, and many of the present members of the Philosophy
Department remain my friends and mentors. I thank also Marta Spranzi-
Zuber who long ago believed in the merit of my Newton scholarship. But
most important to me is the sustaining encouragement of Professor
Barbara Tuchanska, who shares my vision of the historicity of scientific
thought. It is a pleasure to express my gratitude for membership, over
twenty years, in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at
the University of Pittsburgh. It is the mecca for one who seeks to
understand. J. E.