Mass, Gravity and Self-Consistency: A Reconstruction of the Newton-Einstein Argumentative Path by Time Field Theory

The classical argument that "falling acceleration is independent of mass" in Newtonian mechanics relies on two unproven presuppositions: that inertial mass equals gravitational mass, and that both are invariant with motion. Einstein elevated the former to a theoretical axiom via the equivalence principle, yet this equivalence remains logically non-necessary rather than deductive. Time Field Theory (TFT) dissolves this circularity at the conceptual foundation: gravity is not an interaction force, but a manifestation of the time field gradient. All masses in a closed system jointly form the total mass distribution and determine the global time field configuration; the acceleration at any position is uniquely determined by the local field gradient, with no binary distinction between "gravitational mass" and "inertial mass". Thus, "acceleration is independent of the test body's own mass" is a direct corollary of the definition of gravity, not a coincidental fact requiring presuppositions. This paper traces the evolutionary argumentative path from Newton to Einstein and then to TFT, revealing the methodological feature of TFT: it does not revise the quantitative conclusions of predecessors, but pushes inquiry one layer deeper into the logical premises.