QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

mechanical and deterministic ideals as a result of quantum mechanics. Despite the great changes
that have taken place in physical science since the turn of the 20th century, classical mechanics
continues to be both a fundamental part of modern physics and to illustrate an important type of
physical explanation. 254
3.1.1. Mechanism
As a beginning, it is by no means superfluous to examine the meaning of the words mechanic
and mechanical, the most common qualifications of classical science. These words sound
familiar to most people and are often employed without any further explanation even in technical
discussions. But what do we precisely understand by the ”mechanisation” of the picture that
scientists form of the physical world, and what is the meaning of the word ”mechanical” that it is
linked with so many scientific terms such as problem, model, fact, law, conception or
explanation? For Descartes, these terms implied that no other explanatory principles are used
other than the concepts employed in mechanics: geometric concepts such as shape, size and
quantity which are used by mechanics as a department of mathematics and motion which forms
its specific subject. According to him, only things that can be described and explained using
these concepts can be recognised as actually existing in nature. This approach not only excludes
all notions of animation, internal spontaneity and purpose, it also, since it views them as the
ultimate building blocks of perceivable bodies, prohibits all internal changes in the particles of
matter, and banishes from physics all the secondary qualities of matter, which it considers to be
states of consciousness. 255
From an etymological point of view, the word ”mechanistic” can be viewed as the opposite of
”animistic”. When thought of in this way, the essence of the replacement of Aristotlean by
classical physics can be seen as a rejection of any internal principle of change and the attribution
of all forms of motion to external causes. The word ”mechanical” also carries the connotation of
automatic or thoughtless in addition to the idea of being capable of imitation by a mechanical
model. There is no essential difference between a clockwork mechanism and a growing tree. 256
Even if such associations may not add very much to a correct understanding of the character of
classical science, they may have had a quite profound effect on the commonly accepted world-
254
Nagel 1961, 153.
255
Dijksterhuis 1986, 414-415, 495. Nagel 1961, 155.
256
Dijksterhuis 1986, 415, 498.
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