The theory this book is exploring, Newtonian dynamics, is, of course, a false theory of the world. Several scientific revolutions have shown us that it must be replaced as our fundamental theory of motion and its causes.

The special theory of relativity rejects even the basic kinematics of the Newtonian account. Even at the level of the very description of motion, at the level of our construal of the spatial and temporal structure of the world, the Newtonian account is rejected. At the level of dynamics, the level at which the causes of changes of motion are explored, the theory, once again, replaces the Newtonian account with a novel theoretical structure. The general theory of relativity proposes even further, highly dramatic, changes in our very notions of space and time. Its most direct contact with the Newtonian picture of the world is to replace Newton's famous account of the origin, nature and effects of gravitational force with a new account of the gravitational interaction of the material of the world.