usurped the unused pages of a notebook

[GoodTaste]

Even though the new philosophy was not in the curriculum, it was in the air. Some time during his undergraduate career, Newton discovered the works of the French natural philosopher Descartes and the other mechanical philosophers, who, in contrast to Aristotle, viewed physical reality as composed entirely of particles of matter in motion and who held that all the phenomena of nature result from their mechanical interaction. A new set of notes, which he entitled “Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae” (“Certain Philosophical Questions”), begun sometime in 1664, usurped the unused pages of a notebook intended for traditional scholastic exercises; under the title he entered the slogan “Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica veritas” (“Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth”). Newton’s scientific career had begun.

Source: Britannica Isaac Newton

I understand the behavior to usurp as worse than the behavior to plagiarize, that is why the author used "usurp" rather than "plagiarize" to emphasize Newton's wrongdoing. Am I on the right track?

 

[Tarheel]

Those pages of that notebook were meant for one thing, but he used them for something else. That's how he "usurped" them.

I don't consider that wrongdoing, but it is an interesting story.

 

[GoodTaste]

Those pages of that notebook were meant for one thing, but he used them for something else. That's how he "usurped" them.

I don't consider that wrongdoing, but it is an interesting story.

If this is the case, why not use "borrow"? The word usurp conjures up a picture of being illegal or having no right to do - Newton had no right to do that, yet he did it, that is why I have had the impression of his wrongdoing.

 

[Piscean]

If this is the case, why not use "borrow"?

Because he borrowed nothing. He couldn't 'repay' the pages he had usurped.

The word usurp conjures up a picture of being illegal or having no right to do - Newton had no right to do that, yet he did it, that is why I have had the impression of his wrongdoing.

Fine.

 

[GoodTaste]

Fine.

Does this word mean you don't agree with Tarheel's opinion (Tarheel said "I don't consider that wrongdoing")?

 

[Tarheel]

Newton had no right to do that, yet he did it, that is why I have had the impression of his wrongdoing.

Two things. One, does that mean you don't have that impression anymore? Two, it was his own notebook. How can you decide there was wrongdoing involved?

 

[Tarheel]

What wrongdoing?

 

[Piscean]

Does this word mean you don't agree with Tarheel's opinion (Tarheel said "I don't consider that wrongdoing")?

I don't consider Newton's action 'wrongdoing'.

 

[GoodTaste]

Two things. One, does that mean you don't have that impression anymore? Two, it was his own notebook. How can you decide there was wrongdoing involved?

Well, with your and Piscean's opinion I go back to reread the OP carefully again, I find it seems simply to refer to that Newton took the unused space of a notebook to write down his own ideas rather than taking the ideas produced by others as his own - and so, the usurpation was a proper behavior, nothing wrong.
I think the historical dispute between Leibniz and Newton has somehow cast shadow here and misled me to misunderstand the meaning of the word "usurped":

begun sometime in 1664, usurped the unused pages of a notebook intended for traditional scholastic exercises

These "unused pages" must have been "blank pages" with nothing on them, aren't they?

 

[Tarheel]

Well, with your and Piscean's opinion I go back to reread the OP carefully again, I find it seems simply to refer to that Newton took the unused space of a notebook to write down his own ideas rather than taking the ideas produced by others as his own - and so, the usurpation was a proper behavior, nothing wrong.
I think the historical dispute between Leibniz and Newton has somehow cast shadow here and misled me to misunderstand the meaning of the word "usurped":


These "unused pages" WERE "blank pages" with nothing on them, WEREN'T they?

Yes, they were.

 

[Piscean]

and so, the usurpation was a proper behavior, nothing wrong.

The use if the word usurp always suggests that the act referred is not rightful. In post #8, I merely pointed out that I didn't consider it wrongful. It was the writer of the article who chose the verb, not Tarheel or I.

 

[jutfrank]

It's wrongful only in the sense that the book wasn't meant for the kind of thing he was going to use it for.