Mechanical Philosophy

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, natural philosophers were starting to reject Aristotelianism and began finding other forms of natural philosophy to study and believe in. One of the popular philosophies in the seventeenth century was mechanical philosophy. “Mechanical Philosophy sought to explain all natural phenomena in the terms of matter and motion without recourse to any kind of action at a distance (cause and effect without any physical contact) (Mechanical Philosophy).” This paper will go into detail about the mechanical philosophy’s background, advocates of the philosophy and later developments.
The mechanical philosophy was foreshadowed in Galileo and Kepler. As the seventeenth century was coming to an end, the general public agreed that the universe was made up of small solid corpuscles, which moved and changed in direction as they were bumped by each other. The material atom was in favor of the mechanical philosophy. This philosophy originated from the views of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. He always looked for the main key for a good life. “Epicurus believed that the greatest sources of human unhappiness, apart from bodily pain, are fear of the gods and anxiety about punishment after death (“Mechanical Philosophy”).” His version of atomism is how the conclusion of a human soul is material, composed of atoms that are very small came up in science. Soon after Epicurus claimed this was true he exposed that the gods’ could not interfere with human lives. Mechanical philosophy relied on the notion of contact action between bodies in motion for its explanatory force. As read in the module, there are three essential claims to the mechanical philosophy. “One, nature consists of nothing but matter and motion. Two, all causation occurs through contact (impact, collision, pressure, etc). Three, there is a distinction between primary and secondary qualities. Secondary qualities arise in the act of perception and have no independent or objective existence (Module 4 reading).” The first, matter and motion, a person could invoke the shape of a particle and its motion, but that is all. The idea that matter had any kind of active principle attaching to it was eliminated. The second, was all causation does occur through contact, such as nothing will be in motion unless an unknown force helps it get in motion. The third is the distinction between primary and secondary qualities, this was developed during the rise of modern science. Primary qualities are considered to be physical objects, always having the same shape and size. “By contrast, secondary qualities are related to perceivers by definition.…The qualities are temperature, smell, taste, and sound (Primary and Secondary Qualities).” Some people believe secondary properties do not actually exist. Are they “in the object” or “in the mind”, as more people research science they have come to the conclusion that the qualities exit only in the mind. Many religious people began rising objections, because of the belief that atomism, which relates to mechanical philosophy, was closely associated with atheism, but that did not stop scientists and philosophers from studying it.
There were many major advocates of mechanical philosophy, who did more and more research to make the philosophy more reliable. “Early advocates of the mechanical philosophy included David van Goorle (1591-1612), Sebastian Basso (fl. 1550-1600), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), and various members of the Northumberland Circle of which Walter Warner (c. 1557- c. 1642), Thomas Harriot (1560-1621), and Nicholas Hill (c. 1570-1610) were members (Mechanical Philosophy).” Each of these men favored in some version of atomism, none of them developed a certain systematic philosophy. David van Goorle was a Dutch philosopher, who later went on to be modern atomists. Goorle attended the University of Franeker, where an anti-Aristotelian professor, Henri de Veen, had a decisive influence on him. From then on, he began to study theology and really expressed his views on atoms. His views on atoms made him one of the best atomists and his views on the mechanical philosophy became one of his main ideas. Another member was Sebastian Basso, he was an early theorist of matter theory based on both atoms and compounds. Sebastian was a French physician and natural philosopher of the beginning of the seventeenth century and he also formed the concept of the “molecule”.
René Descartes was from a wealthy French family, he wanted to find the answers to all the questions that bothered philosophers. When disappointed he begins to construct a new natural philosophy. Descartes separated mind and matter, he believes matter can have no soul and is only extension. The mind can be influenced by material things and can change the mental process. “Matter and motion were used by Descartes to explain every natural process by means of mechanical models, even though he did not put a stamp of finality on his theory. They provided merely the "most likely models" which seemed quite plausible if you try to apply basic laws of nature (Vortex Theory of René Descartes, the 17th Century French Philosopher and Mathematician!).” As Descartes was doing his research he named the closed-loop motion “vortex”. Descartes thought the universe was filled with matter that in initial motion had carried the planets and sun in its path. The Vortex theory was hypothesized that the collisions of forces are what push the planets in the direct of the sun, even though this theory was later disproved, his philosophy and attempt became very influential for further research later on the in the seventeenth century. Near his time of death, he was giving lessons to Queen Christina, but she refused to like the concept of the mechanical philosophy so she did not listen and a few weeks later Descartes died of pneumonia. Another man who had a major influence on the mechanical philosophy was Pierre Gassendi. Although Gassendi and Descartes paved the way for this philosophy they did not agree on every detailed part of it. “Gassendi believed that God had created indivisible atoms and endowed them with motion. The atoms, colliding in empty space (the void), are the constituents of the physical world (Mechanical Philosophy).” He believed the existence of the void was conceptual and empirical. One of the main ways these man were different was the fact that Gassendi was a Catholic priest. He wanted to modify the ancient atomism so that it would be accepted by the seventeenth century church and not be seen as an atheist philosophy. Gassendi tried to make the philosophy more in a religious way while Descartes wanted to focus on the mathematical reasoning.
During the second half of the seventeenth century, many philosophers used the mechanical philosophy and concepts to form their own. “Boyle is best known for his attempt to incorporate chemistry within a mechanical framework. His corpuscular philosophy—which remained noncommittal on the question of whether matter is infinitely divisible or composed of indivisible atoms—was founded on a mechanical conception of matter (later developments).” He was sill worried about the atheism, but he knew the questions about the association lied beyond the ability of human reason. As Boyle continued his research, a man named Christiaan Huygens was using Descartes methods in attempt to mathematize physics and the mechanical philosophy. In his success with mathematics, Huygens created a wave theory of light, and outrageously improved the theory of impact. Huygens and his mathematics were definitely more successful that Descartes. Last but not least, Isaac Newton had accepted the mechanical philosophy in his achievements and he accomplished many great things. His reputation lies in the mathematical physics and optics. While he was a student at Cambridge University he wrote a lot. “A notebook written in the mid-1660s shows him thinking about natural phenomena in mechanical terms and designing thought experiments for choosing between Cartesian and Gassendist explanations of particular phenomena (Later Developments).” There were a lot of phenomena in which Newton thought of, such as gravitation, light chemical reactions and which they all resisted explanation in purely mechanical terms. Newton went on to use these things towards his idea in alchemical studies. The concept of force , a theory of action that was banished by the mechanical philosophy later enabled Newton to make his many accomplishments in the mathematization of physics which in results fulfilled the primary goal of the mechanical philosophy. As the seventeenth century was coming to an end Newton’s death brought out fears in the Christina mechanical philosophers. Soon debates arose about the theories of generation became connected to philosophical and theological implications of the mechanical philosophy. As studies continued about living things, the theories were always very compatible with the mechanical philosophy, whether they wanted them to be or not. Not every philosopher or scientist believed in this philosophy, but it came to show whether it was dealing with living properties or a religious answer the mechanical philosophy could always find a way to be applied.

Bibliography 1. Osler, Margaret. "Mechanical Philosophy." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2015. 2. “Descartes and the Mechanical Philosophy.” Module 4 reading. 3. "Routledge Taylor and Francis Group." Primary and Secondary Qualities (2013): n. pag. Routledge Documents. Web. 14 Nov. 2015. 4. "Vortex Theory of René Descartes, the 17th Century French Philosopher and Mathematician!" Vortex Theory of René Descartes, the 17th Century French Philosopher and Mathematician! N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. 5. "Mechanical Philosophy - Later Developments." - Cambridge, Newton, University, and Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.