Abstract
Mach's reinterpretation of Newtonian mechanics is examined and found ambivalent. His criticism of absolute time and absolute space was sound whereas his attempt to replace Newton's whole theory by an allegedly empirical statement and a definition was logically untenable. The whole program of reducing mechanics to kinematics is found to be unfeasible for logical reasons. The impossibility of deriving masses and forces from observations alone is discussed in detail. The driving force behind Mach's ideas on the foundations of mechanics is shown to be his empiricist philosophy which, while allowing him to impugn inscrutables, also suggested him to minimize the role of ideas. It is recalled that the discussion of the foundations of mechanics proceeds nowadays in a way far removed from Mach's operationalistic approach, namely via the axiomatic reconstruction of classical theories on the basis of undefined but meaningful concepts.
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