Mechanism (philosophy)

Mechanism is the belief that natural wholes (principally living things) are similar to complicated machines or artifacts, composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other.

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; the second is a local doctrine about humans and their minds, which is hotly contested. For clarity, we might distinguish these two doctrines as universal mechanism and anthropic mechanism.

Experts in religious studies have criticized the philosophy that God's intervention in the management of the world seems unnecessary.^[17]

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Newton's mechanical philosophy, with all its positive effects on human life, ultimately leads to .^[18]

Deism

It is a stagnant worldview that cannot explain God's constant presence and favor in the world.

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At the height of this philosophy, God was viewed as a skilled designer, and for him the mental structure and human morality were conceived.

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The assumption that God tuned the world like a clock and left it to its own devices is in clear conflict with the God of the Bible, who is at all times directly and immediately involved in his creation.

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This philosophy abandons concepts such as , accident, matter, form, Ipso facto and potential that are used in ontology, and denies the involvement of transcendental affairs in the management of this world.^[22]

essence

This philosophy is incapable of explaining human spiritual experiences and the immaterial realms of the world.

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An overview of attempts to define "life"

de Munnynck, Mark P. (1911). . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10.

"Mechanism"

. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

"The Lucas-Penrose Argument about Gödel's Theorem"

"" by David L. Schindler (from Beyond Mechanism) – contrasts the Aristotelian and Cartesian views of nature and how the latter engendered the mechanical philosophy