In philosophy, mechanism is a theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes. It can be contrasted with vitalism, the philosophical theory that vital forces are active in living organisms, so that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Vitalism is the doctrine that vital forces are active in living organisms, so that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation), Lives (disambiguation) or Living (disambiguation), Living Things (disambiguation) Look up life, living in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The doctrine of mechanism in philosophy comes in two different flavors. They are both doctrines of metaphysics, but they are different in scope and ambitions: the first is a global doctrine about nature, which has been more or less thoroughly abandoned; the second is a local doctrine about human beings and their minds, which is hotly contested. For clarity we might distinguish these two doctrines as universal mechanism and anthropic mechanism. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ...

Universal mechanism

The older doctrine which we have called universal mechanism is a theory about the nature of the universe, closely linked with the early modern version of materialism. Universal mechanism held that the universe is best understood as a completely mechanical system--that is, a system composed entirely of matter in motion under a complete and regular system of laws of nature. The mechanists understood the achievements of the scientific revolution to show that every phenomenon in the universe could eventually be explained in terms of mechanical laws: that is, in terms of natural laws governing the motion and collision of matter. It follows that mechanism is a form of thoroughgoing determinism: if all phenomena can be explained entirely through the motion of matter under physical laws, then just as surely as the gears of a clock completely determine that it will strike 2:00 an hour after it strikes 1:00, all phenomena are completely determined by the properties of that matter and the operations of those natural laws. Indeed, the determinism implied by universal mechanism is even stronger than clockwork: whereas the mechanism of a clock may cease to work predictably as its parts break down, the "parts" of the system in universal mechanism are nothing less than everything in the universe — anything that they "broke down" into would still be a part of the universe, and so would still be subject to the mechanistic laws of nature. The French mechanist and determinist Pierre Simon de Laplace memorably formulated the sweeping implications of this thesis by saying: In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ... In physics, matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed, not counting the contribution of various energy or force-fields, which are not usually considered to be matter per se (though they may contribute to the mass of objects). ... Motion involves change in position, such as this perspective of rapidly leaving Yongsan Station In physics, motion means a continuous change in the position of a body relative to a reference point, as measured by a particular observer in a particular frame of reference. ... The Laws of Nature are claimed in the United States Declaration of Independence to be the work of the Creator of unalienable rights identified as Natures God. ... The event which most historians of science call the scientific revolution can be dated roughly as having begun in 1543, the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius published his De humani corporis fabrica (On the... Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... Pierre-Simon Laplace Pierre-Simon Laplace (March 23, 1749 – March 5, 1827) was a French mathematician and astronomer, the discoverer of the Laplace transform and Laplaces equation. ...

"We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of the past and the cause of the future. An intellect which at any given moment knew all of the forces that animate nature and the mutual positions of the beings that compose it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit the data to analysis, could condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom; for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes."

One of the first and most famous expositions of universal mechanism is found in the opening passages of the Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651). What is less frequently appreciated is that René Descartes, who is today remembered mainly as a paradigmatic enemy of materialism and mechanism (and in that respect quite the opposite of Hobbes), also did much to advance the mechanistic understanding of nature, in both his scientific works on mechanics and in his philosophical works on metaphysics. Descartes was a substance dualist, and argued that reality was composed of two radically different types of substance: corporeal substance, on the one hand, and mental substance, on the other hand. Descartes steadfastly denied that the human mind could be explained in terms of the configurations of corporeal substance (a chief claim of all forms of mechanism). Nevertheless, his understanding of corporeal substance was thoroughly mechanistic; his scientific work was based on the understanding of all natural objects, including not only billiard balls and rocks, but also non-human animals and even human bodies, as completely mechanistic automata. Descartes' dualism was, in no small part, motivated by the fact that he could see no place for the soul or for freedom of the will in his thoroughly mechanistic understanding of nature. Ancient naturalists such as Aristotle, on the other hand, had no need for substance dualism because their conception of nature was teleological rather than mechanistic, and was compatible with a robust sense of human freedom. Descartes, then, can be seen as agreeing with the early modern mechanists, and disagreeing with Aristotle, on the nature of the physical world. The difference between Descartes and his mechanist colleagues was that mechanists either saw no problem for the notions of soul and freedom of the will, or else were simply willing to dispense with these notions altogether. Properties For other uses, see Atom (disambiguation). ... Frontispiece of Leviathan Leviathan was a book written in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes, is one of the most famous and influential books of political philosophy. ... Hobbes redirects here. ... René Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, was a noted French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ... Substance dualism is a type of ontological dualism defended by Descartes in which it is claimed that there are two fundamental kinds of substance: mental and material. ... In philosophy, matter constitutes the formless substratum of all things, which exists only potentially and from which reality is produced. ... Mental substance can refer to the concept held by dualists and idealists, that minds are made-up of non-physical substance. ... In philosophy, matter constitutes the formless substratum of all things, which exists only potentially and from which reality is produced. ... A drummer automaton An automaton (plural: automata) is a self-operating machine. ... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ...

The mechanistic worldview gained considerable favor with the revolutionary successes of Isaac Newton, whose work in mechanics seemed to successfully explain the motion of everything in heaven and in earth according to the operation of a single mechanical principle. To be sure, that principle — universal gravitation — was something of a disappointment to the older cadre of mechanists, since mechanism originally sought to explain all phenomena entirely in terms of the motion and collision of material bodies, whereas Newton's principle of gravitation required action at a distance. Nevertheless, the generation of philosophers who were inspired by Newton's example carried the mechanist banner. Chief among them were French philosophes such as Julien Offray de La Mettrie and Denis Diderot (see also: French materialism). Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science. ... Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ... In Physics, action at a distance is the instantaneous interaction of two objects which are separated in space. ... The philosophes (French for philosophers) were a group of French intellectuals of the 18th century Enlightenment. ... Julien Offray de La Mettrie (December 25, 1709 - November 11, 1751) was a French physician and philosopher, the earliest of the materialist writers of the Enlightenment. ... Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767 Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. ... French materialism combined the associationist psychology and Empiricism of John Locke with the Totality of Isaac Newton to create a complex world view in diametrical opposition to the Cartesian dualist world view. ...

Universal mechanism has since fallen into disfavor - not so much because philosophers are less inclined toward a scientific worldview now than they were in the 17th and 18th centuries, but rather because physical science has abandoned the mechanistic worldview in favor of one in which phenomena such as (electromagnetic) radiation are held to be at least coequal with "commonly understood" matter as constituents of the universe, and — possibly, under some interpretations — universal determinism is denied. (See quantum theory.) The motivations that led some philosophers to mechanism in the 17th and 18th centuries now lead philosophers of a similar temperament towards physicalism, which leaves the specification of the primitive contents of the universe to a "completed physics." Electromagnetic radiation can be imagined as a self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. ... Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... Quantum theory is a theory of physics that uses Plancks constant. ... Physicalism is the metaphysical position (associated particularly with Quine) that everything is physical; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things. ...

Anthropic mechanism

Universal mechanism has come and gone, but the debate over anthropic mechanism seems here to stay. The thesis in anthropic mechanism is not that the everything can be completely explained in mechanical terms (although some anthropic mechanists may also believe that), but rather that everything about human beings can be completely explained in mechanical terms, as surely as can everything about clockwork or gasoline engines.

One of the chief obstacles that all mechanistic theories have faced is providing a mechanistic explanation of the human mind; Descartes, for one, endorsed dualism in spite of endorsing a completely mechanistic conception of the material world because he argued that mechanism and the notion of a mind were logically incompatible. Hobbes, on the other hand, conceived of the mind and the will as purely mechanistic, completely explicable in terms of the effects of perception and the pursuit of desire, which in turn he held to be completely explicable in terms of the materialistic operations of the nervous system. Following Hobbes, other mechanists argued for a thoroughly mechanistic explanation of the mind, with one of the most influential and controversial expositions of the doctrine being offered by Julien Offray de La Mettrie in his Man a Machine (1748). Julien Offray de La Mettrie (December 25, 1709 - November 11, 1751) was a French physician and philosopher, the earliest of the materialist writers of the Enlightenment. ...

Today, as in the past, the main points of debate between anthropic mechanists and anti-mechanists is mainly occupied with two topics: the mind — and consciousness, in particular — and free will. Anti-mechanists argue that anthropic mechanism is incompatible with our commonsense intuitions: in philosophy of mind they argue that unconscious matter cannot completely explain the phenomenon of consciousness, and in metaphysics they argue that anthropic mechanism implies determinism about human action, which (they argue) is incompatible with our understanding of ourselves as creatures with free will. In order to hold on to the ways in which we understand ourselves, they argue, we are logically committed to rejecting mechanism. Contemporary philosophers who have argued for this position include Norman Malcolm and David Chalmers. A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... Norman Malcolm (1911 – 1990) is an American philosopher. ... David John Chalmers (April 20, 1966 -) is a philosopher in the area of philosophy of mind. ...

Anthropic mechanists typically respond in one of two ways: either they dig in or they try to find a way to finesse the problem. In the former case, they agree with anti-mechanists that mechanism conflicts with some of our commonsense intuitions, but go on to argue that our commonsense intuitions are simply mistaken and need to be revised. Down this path lie eliminative materialism in philosophy of mind, and hard determinism on the question of free will. This option is popular with some scientists, but it is rejected by most philosophers. (Although not by its most well-known advocate, the eliminative materialist philosopher Paul Churchland.) The more common option, amongst philosophers who adopt anthropic mechanism, is to argue that the arguments given for incompatibility are specious: whatever it is we mean by "consciousness" and "free will," they urge, it is fully compatible with a mechanistic understanding of the human mind and will. As a result they tend to argue for one or another non-eliminativist physicalist theories of mind, and for compatibilism on the question of free will. Contemporary philosophers who have argued for this sort of account include J. J. C. Smart and Daniel Dennett. Eliminativists argue that our modern belief in the existence of mental phenomena is analogous to our ancient belief in obsolete theories such as the geocentric model of the universe. ... A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ... Compatibilism, also known as soft determinism and most famously championed by Hume, is a theory which holds that free will and determinism are compatible. ... Paul Churchland (born 1942) is a philosopher working at the University of California, San Diego. ... Physicalism is the metaphysical position (associated particularly with Quine) that everything is physical; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things. ... Compatibilism, also known as soft determinism and most famously championed by Hume, is a theory which holds that free will and determinism are compatible. ... John Jameison Carswell Smart, or Jack Smart, (born 1920, M.A. (Glasgow, 1946), B.Phil (Oxford, 1948)) is a Scottish-Australian philosopher. ... Daniel Clement Dennett (b. ...

Another quite different approach to anti-mechanism was famously argued by both Roger Penrose in his The Emperor's New Mind (1989) and initially by John Lucas in his Minds, Machines and Gödel (1961). What Lucas argued was that Gödel's first incompleteness theorem refutes mechanism because it shows that there are mathematical truths that, while humanly knowable, cannot be known by machines. He argued that since machines are instantiations of formal systems, there will be certain truths, namely Gödelian sentences, that machines cannot produce as true but which humans can see to be true. Sir Roger Penrose, OM, FRS (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. ... The Emperors New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics is a 1989 book by mathematical physicist Roger Penrose. ... John Randolph Lucas (born 18 June 1929) is a British philosopher. ...

See also

• Automaton
• Descartes

A drummer automaton An automaton (plural: automata) is a self-operating machine. ... René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ...

External links

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