In science, mechanical philosophy is the view which holds that all that exists is matter and motion (Boyle, 1665); more generally that all objects are composed of particles or atoms, and that these interact according to fixed natural laws. [1]
See also
● Mechanics
● Mechanical theory of heat
● Mechanism
● Social mechanics
Quotes
The following are related quotes:
“Hobbes was one of the three most important mechanical philosophers of the mid-seventeenth century, along with Descartes and Gassendi.”
— Robert Kargon (1966), Atomism in England [2]
References
1. (a) Boyle, Robert. (1665). “Some Occasional Thoughts about the Excellency and Grounds of the Mechanical Hypothesis”, Annexed to the Excellence of Theology, 3: 450; in: Selected Philosophical Papers of Robert Boyle (editor: M.A. Stewart) (mechanical philosophy, 10+ pgs). Manchester University Press, 1979.
(b) Sommerville, J.P. (c.2000). “The Mechanical Philosophers”, History Department, Wisconsin University.
2. (a) Kargon, Robert. (1966). Atomism in England (pg. 54). Clarendon.
(b) Shapin, Steven; Schaffer, Simon. (1985). Leviathan and the Air Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life (pgs. 7-8). Princeton, 2011.
Further reading
● Brandt, Frithiof. (1928). Thomas Hobbes’ Mechanical Conception of Nature. Levin & Munksgaard.
● Hall, Marie B. (1949). The Mechanical Philosophy. Ayer Publishing.
External links
● Mechanical philosophy – VernonPratt.com.
