Mechanicῶs/Mechanicè. Reconsidering the Origin of Mechanical Philosophy

null, Mattia Mantovani (KU Leuven )

Venue: online Zoom meeting

Zoom link: https://unive.zoom.us/j/84571640858?pwd=MWFJbFgxRjlnaVJLWUpIOWJwQlZVUT09

Zoom meeting ID: 845 7164 0858; Passcode: gMi180

Abstract:

The paper intends to reconstruct the genesis of mechanical philosophy – both as an expression, and as a concept – starting from a hitherto neglected occurrence of the term “mechanical” to qualify a philosopher’s doctrine: in this case, Aristotle’s. The expression – to be read in Vopiscus Fortunatus Plemp’s Ophthalmographia (1632) – dates to five years before the previously-known occurrence of the term in Descartes’s correspondence with Libert Froidmont concerning the just-published Discours de la méthode (which was Plemp himself to mediate). The paper analyses how “mechanical” shifted in meaning from Plemp’s tract to Descartes’ letters of 1637 and, hence, in Descartes’ following writings. It investigates Descartes’ later statement that “physics is nothing but mechanics” in relation to Descartes’ theory of the laws of nature and to his concurrent identification of natural philosophy with geometry. The paper further explores the aftermath of Descartes’ theory by considering the third, revised edition of Plemp’s Ophthalmographia. In 1659, while retaining the largely neutral mechanicῶs of the original 1632 edition, Plemp did indeed strongly criticize Descartes – whom he styled as a neo-atomist – precisely for his pretence to account for all natural phenomena manifeste ac mechanice. The paper concludes by comparing Descartes’ views on physics as mechanics with the project for a “mechanical philosophy” launched by Boyle in the 1660s in name of a radically different epistemology and metaphysics.