ポーとニュートンの世界

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In Eureka, Poe quoted various scientific theories suggested by such 18th century natural philosophers as Herschel, Laplace, von Humbolt etc. However, he seemed to owe more than any other else his images to the ideas of Newton when he constructed his universe. Poe cited Querry 31 of Newton's Opticks in his "A Chapter of Suggestions", and Poe's statement about the relation between ether and consciousness had remarkable similarities to that shown in Querry 23 of Opticks, and in Eureka we can see many negative interrogative sentences which are especially characteristic of Opticks. These facts may verify the influence of Opticks on Poe's literary world. However, Poe was not a simple follower of Newton. He commented on Newton, saying that Newton had shrunk back from the principle of his laws, and claimed that Newton's attractive force was material, while his own repulsive force spiritual. But unlike Poe's hasty judgement, Newton's 'active principle' has a great deal in common with Poe's force resulting from spiritual ether. It is a great interest that both Poe and Newton imagined universe as a cyclical one, repeating generations and breakdowns. In Poe, the destructive image may come from a presentiment of the ruin of the earth which he think will be caused by the overdevelopment of technology. In Newton, the same image may probably be derived from his millenial belief. It seems that their eschatological expectations are reflected in their ideas of newly generated universes.
日本科学史学会の論文
1977-03-31

ポーとニュートンの世界

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