Newton's metaphysical picture of space and time provides the conceptual background for his theory of motion. Philosophical discussions of absolute space and time, however, underemphasize Newton's concern with the relativity of motion. From a modern perspective, this is usually seen as a concern that Newton himself did not take seriously enough, especially in comparison with contemporaries such as Huygens and Leibniz. In one sense, however, Newton pursued the problem of the relativity of motion further than his contemporary critics. In fact, while they defended the relativity of motion as a general principle, only Newton tried to develop what may legitimately be called a theory of relativity: a systematic theoretical account of what is objective in the description of physical interactions, and a principled distinction between the objective properties and those that depend on the choice of a frame of reference. On this basis Newton articulated, more clearly than any of his contemporaries, the conceptual revisions imposed by the relativity of motion on prevailing notions of force, inertia, and causality. We can see this from the history of his use of the Galilean relativity principle, which became Corollary V to the Laws of Motion. Moreover, while his critics demanded a mechanistic alternative to his theory of gravitation, Newton not only saw the empirical power of his theory, and its exemplary power for the theory and practice of physics in general; he also saw that the peculiar nature of gravity placed the problem of the relativity of motion in a dramatically new light. This is seen in his development and use of Corollary VI.

By studying the progress of Newton's thought about these relativity principles, and the profound changes in his views between early manuscripts such as De Gravitatione and the first drafts of the Principia, we can see why Newton did not regard them as undermining his aim to determine “the true motions” in the solar system. On the contrary, he saw it as enabling him to separate the local problem of “true motion” for a given system of bodies, from the global problem of how that system might be moving with respect to absolute space. In other words, Newton, having acknowledged that absolute space is unobservable, and motion with respect to it therefore unknowable, nonetheless could solve the problem of “the system of the world.” Indeed, the history of his thinking shows that Newton introduced the theory of absolute space precisely in order to articulate his theory of relativity. Newton's use of relativity principles sheds light on the relation between mathematical principles and causal explanation in physics.

牛顿对空间和时间的形而上学描述为他的运动理论提供了概念背景。然而，关于绝对空间和时间的哲学讨论并未强调牛顿对运动相对性的关注。从现代的角度来看，这通常被认为是牛顿本人没有足够重视的一种关注，特别是与惠更斯和莱布尼兹等同时代人相比。然而，从某种意义上说，牛顿比他的当代批评家更关注运动的相对性问题。实际上，尽管他们捍卫运动的相对性是一条通用原则，但只有牛顿试图发展一种可以合理地称为相对论的东西：对物理相互作用描述中的目标进行系统的理论解释，以及客观属性与那些依赖于参考框架选择的属性之间的原则性区别。在此基础上，牛顿比他的同时代人更清楚地阐明了运动的相对性对普遍的力，惯性和因果关系的概念所进行的概念性修改。从他使用伽利略相对论原理的历史可以看出这一点，该原理成为运动定律的推论五。而且，尽管他的批评家们要求用机械方法代替他的万有引力理论，但牛顿不仅看到了他的理论的经验力量，而且还发现了它对一般物理学理论和实践的示范力量。他还发现，重力的特殊性质将运动的相对性问题置于了一个全新的视角。从他对推论VI的开发和使用中可以看出这一点。

通过研究牛顿关于这些相对原理的思想的进步，以及他的观点在诸如德格拉维蒂（De Gravitatione）等早期手稿与《原理》初稿之间的深刻变化，，我们可以看到为什么牛顿不认为它们破坏了他确定太阳系中“真实运动”的目的。相反，他认为这使他能够将给定物体系统的局部“真实运动”问题与该系统相对于绝对空间的运动方式的全局问题区分开来。换句话说，牛顿已经认识到绝对空间是不可观察的，因此关于它的运动因此是不可知的，但是仍然可以解决“世界体系”的问题。确实，他的思想史表明，牛顿正是为了阐明他的相对论而引入了绝对空间理论。牛顿对相对论的运用阐明了物理学中数学原理与因果解释之间的关系。