KnowraMechanical philosophyLinked fromLinked fromThe 12 pages that link to Mechanical philosophy, each with the reason it gives.All 12Broader topic 1Related 6Narrower topic 2Compared with 3Scientific RevolutionRelated: It replaced many appeals to hidden qualities with explanations based on matter and motion.René DescartesRelated: Descartes’s physics helped advance mechanistic explanations of the natural world.Robert BoyleNarrower topic: This framework shaped Boyle’s accounts of matter, air, and physical phenomena.Natural philosophyRelated: It recast nature as a system of material parts whose motions could explain observable effects.DemocritusRelated: Early modern thinkers revived explanations resembling atomism’s emphasis on material motion.Pierre GassendiRelated: His particle-based natural philosophy contributed to explanations that displaced Aristotelian forms.Action at a distanceNarrower topic: Its preference for contact mechanisms made action at a distance seem philosophically troubling.Natural magicCompared with: Its rejection of occult qualities displaced many explanations used by natural magicians.Mechanism (philosophy)Broader topic: It is the early modern historical movement most closely associated with philosophical mechanism.Margaret CavendishCompared with: She objected that purely mechanical accounts could not explain nature’s self-motion and perception.NewtonianismCompared with: Newtonian force challenged strict mechanical accounts that rejected action without contact.School of AbderaRelated: Early atomism supplied a precedent for explaining natural events without appeal to purpose.