Making a history of the principle of inertia, as of any other principle or concept, is a complex but still possible operation. In this work it has been chosen to make a back story which seemed the most natural way for a reconstruction. On the way back, it has been decided to stop at the 6th century CE with the contribution of Ioannes Philoponus. The principle he stated, although very different from the modern one, is certainly associated with it. Going back in time it is still possible and of course one could proceed to the origins of the homo sapiens who perhaps posed the problem of why a club thrown with his hand could go so far from him. But the similarities that one can find with the modern principle are very vague, too perhaps. Without going so far one could see an embryonic idea of the principle of inertia in the atomistic theory of Democritus in the 5th century BCE. The motion of atoms whirling with no apparent reason can suggest the idea that a body can also move with no reason. But the transition from the atom, a metaphysical being, to the body, an empirical being, is far from immediate.

创造惯性原理的历史，就像任何其他原理或概念一样，是一项复杂但仍有可能的操作。在这项工作中，它被选择来制作一个背景故事，这似乎是最自然的重建方式。在返回的路上，由于 Ioannes Philoponus 的贡献，它已决定在公元 6 世纪停留。他所说的原则，虽然与现代的原则大不相同，但肯定与之相关。回到过去，这仍然是可能的，当然，我们可以继续研究智人的起源，他们可能提出了一个问题，即为什么用他的手扔出的棍子可能会离他那么远。但是，人们可以找到的与现代原则的相似之处可能也非常模糊。不用走得太远，人们就可以在公元前 5 世纪的德谟克利特原子论中看到惯性原理的雏形。没有明显原因的原子旋转运动可以暗示物体也可以无缘无故地运动。但是，从原子（一种形而上学的存在）到身体（一种经验的存在）的转变远非直接的。