Universal regularities and initial conditions in Newtonian physics (Q1977815)

The paper is a detailed study of the foundations of Newtonian mechanics. In this theory, there are two classes of causal factors: universal regularities i.e., causal factors that are described by the laws of nature, and initial conditions. After a pertinent discussion, the author concludes that, in fact, the Newtonian universe contains only universal regularities; more precisely, initial conditions of a given physical system are consequence of universal regularities acting on some so-called ``previous systems''.