Question

There is the well-known dispute between Leibniz and Newton over whether only the basic objects exist in any real sense, while what lies between them—the measures that allow us to grasp them in relation to one another—is grounded in the existence of the objects themselves. Thus, according to Leibniz, space and time are relative and are defined solely through the organization of the objects together. Newton, by contrast, held that it is דווקא the relations between the objects that truly exist. Only from the measures that determine absolute relations does the existence of the objects follow, because the objects do not exist (or at any rate are meaningless) without their place within the whole. In Newton’s view, mathematics is not a mental tool devoid of real existence for understanding reality, but reality itself, and measures such as space and time, defined mathematically, exist absolutely and independently according to this approach. Only through them is the existence of a defined and specific magnitude possible, or in other words, an individual mass. Which side is the Rabbi on in this dispute?