De Motu (Berkeley's essay)

De Motu: Sive, de Motus Principio & Natura, et de Causa Communicationis Motuum (On Motion: or The Principle and Nature of Motion and the Cause of the Communication of Motions), or simply De Motu,^[1] is an essay written by George Berkeley and published as a tract in London in 1721. The essay was unsuccessfully submitted for a prize that had been offered by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris.

Berkeley rejected Sir Isaac Newton's absolute space, time and motion. With this essay, Berkeley is considered to be the "precursor of Mach and Einstein" (Karl Popper).^[2]^[3]^[4]

^ Berkeley's Philosophical Writings, New York: Collier, 1974, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-22680
^ Karl R. Popper Conjectures and Refutations. The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1969, Part I, 6. "Note on Berkeley as precursor of Mach and Einstein"
^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Micropædia, Vol. 2, Chicago, 2007
^ Myhill, John "Berkeley's "De Motu" - An Anticipation of Mach" In: "George Berkeley: Lectures delivered before the Philosophical Union of the University of California" Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1957 (University of California Publications in Philosophy, Volume 29)

[1] Berkeley's Philosophical Writings, New York: Collier, 1974, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-22680

[2] Karl R. Popper Conjectures and Refutations. The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1969, Part I, 6. "Note on Berkeley as precursor of Mach and Einstein"

[3] The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Micropædia, Vol. 2, Chicago, 2007

[4] Myhill, John "Berkeley's "De Motu" - An Anticipation of Mach" In: "George Berkeley: Lectures delivered before the Philosophical Union of the University of California" Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1957 (University of California Publications in Philosophy, Volume 29)

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