QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

Huygens (1629-1695), who continued the mechanistic direction suggested by Descartes. 222
The Cartesian formulation of the mechanistic interpretation of nature 223 lacks the word “force”,
which in later times appeared to express its quintessence. To Descartes, there was no doubt that
forces which bodies were able to exert on each other from a distance, such as weight, were not
explanatory principles but required a mechanistic explanation. In the history of science, however,
the influence of Descartes has often become combined with that of revived ancient Atomism. 224
This may appear strange because Descartes in principle rejects the void, which is a prerequisite
for Atomism. 225 He also denies the existence of indivisible particles, since for him matter is
infinitely divisible. As Descartes did not accept the concept of the void, he could not, as Newton
did, contemplate absolute time and space or the possibility of forces operating through space. 226
In the Europe of the 1600s, Descartes’ philosophy developed into a role reminiscent of the role
played by Aristotleism in the 1200s. It was the “new philosophy” of the time, which clearly
opposed traditional ways of thinking and was confident that it would succeed in solving all
problems via its compelling mathematic-scientific method. Natural scientists and physicians in
particular, who opposed the customary Scholastic and Humanist cultural ideals, accepted it
rapidly, but in both university and theological circles, this reforming project was viewed as
dangerous and bitter battles were fought with the old Aristotlean philosophy. Descartes was
always anxious to avoid coming into conflict with the Catholic faith on the subject of his
propositions. It is known that the denunciation of Galilei prevented him from publishing his Le
Monde, a work in which he adopted the Copernican view. In this respect, Descartes possessed an
ability typical of scholars in the 1600s – keeping the new science separated from religion.
Reason was not to be applied to religious questions, as for example, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a
contemporary of Descartes, had learned from his father. 227
222
Aspelin 1995, 290-291. Dijksterhuis 1986, 408-409, 414. Tarnas 1991, 267. Seventeenth-century mechanistic
science, which assumed no other explanatory principles besides matter and motion, and no other way in which
material bodies influenced each other in addition to contact, reached its culmination in the work of Christiaan
Huygens. Dijksterhuis 1986, 457.
223
The content of the term mechanistic was not fixed once and for all, but it was to vary over the course of time.
The concept of mechanism is defined in Section 3.1.1..
224
The clear revival of Democritean-Epicurean atomism was a result of the activities of the French philosopher
Pierre Gassend (1592-1655) Dijksterhuis 1986, 419, 425-431.
225
By confusing space and extended matter, Descartes was able to exclude spirit from the realm of science. Spirit
was fundamentally different from matter because it did not have extension in space.
226
Dijksterhuis 1986, 414-415, 417. In practice, the differences are not as great as they may appear. We can only
mentally divide the parts into which God originally divided space. Even if, in actual fact, he can do this with
reference to science, the parts behave like Democitean atoms.
227
Trusted 1991, 68-71. Dijksterhuis 1986, 417-418. Aspelin 1995, 191-192.
87