Diet Mechanistic Philosophy

This chapter compares and contrasts the black-boxing approach with the “new wave of mechanistic philosophy.” Is the present treatment of black boxes novel and original? Or is it a rehashing of ideas that have been on the table since the turn of the new millennium? The black-boxing recipe fits in quite well with the depiction of science being in the business of discovering and modeling mechanisms. All three steps underlying the construction of a black box have been stressed, in some form or degree, in the extant literature. Nevertheless, the construction of black boxes, as presented here, dampens many of the ontological implications that characterize the contemporary landscape. This allows one to respond to some objections raised against the traditional mechanism. For this reason, the author provocatively refers to black-boxing as a “diet” mechanistic philosophy, with all the epistemic flavor of the old-fashioned mechanistic view, but hardly any metaphysical calories.

The Idea of Sport Agon as a Metaphor of Human Life in Thomas Hobbes’ Mechanistic Philosophy of Motion

Contemporary sport is a complex phenomenon with a rich multicultural historical tradition, its universal principles, such as peaceful and institutionalised competition included in the rules of individual fi tness professions, as well as ethos, ceremonial and ideology, are the work of many epochs and nations. The particular contribution of English culture to sport is well-known, from the promotion of its fi nal name (from the Old French desporte, which came to England in the 11th century with the Normans), through the promotion of physical education by eminent educators and philosophers such as John Locke, Herbert Spencer and Thomas Arnold, to the creation and dissemination of many sports, including football, rugby, tennis, cricket and golf. In the article, I refer to the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, signifi cantly infl uencing the shape of modern concepts regarding natural rights, articulating, inter alia, the inalienable right of every human being to freely use his/her body to maintain health through physical activity. Hobbes based his anthropology on the mechanistic philosophy of motion, which he used to explain not only physical activity and functional fi tness of the body, but it also became a premise for the development of the psychology of human aff ects and desires, the culmination of which was the image of the sports race as a metaphor of human life. Hobbes did not limit himself to discussing in-offi ce deliberati, he was very active throughout his life, implementing the movement directive he proposed by performing sports, recreation, practicing preventive health treatments and taking numerous trips. The article is part of the history of ideas - it is a presentation of the concept of movement by the English modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), supplemented with a new element in doxographic studies linking the mechanicism of the Leviathan author with the existential motif regarding the idea of the life as a sport competition.

The Oxford Handbook of the Baroque

Few periods in history are so fundamentally contradictory as the Baroque, the culture flourishing from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries in Europe. When we hear the term ‘Baroque,’ the first images that come to mind are symmetrically designed gardens in French chateaux, scenic fountains in Italian squares, and the vibrant rhythms of a harpsichord. Behind this commitment to rule, harmony, and rigid structure, however, the Baroque also embodies a deep fascination with wonder, excess, irrationality, and rebellion against order. The Oxford Handbook of the Baroque delves into this contradiction to provide a sweeping survey of the Baroque not only as a style but also as a historical, cultural, and intellectual concept. With its thirty-eight chapters edited by leading expert John D. Lyons, the Handbook explores different manifestations of Baroque culture, from theatricality in architecture and urbanism to opera and dance, from the role of water to innovations in fashion, from mechanistic philosophy and literature to the tension between religion and science. These discussions present the Baroque as a broad cultural phenomenon that arose in response to the enormous changes emerging from the sixteenth century: the division between Catholics and Protestants, the formation of nation-states and the growth of absolutist monarchies, the colonization of lands outside Europe and the mutual impact of European and non-European cultures. Technological developments such as the telescope and the microscope and even greater access to high-quality mirrors altered mankind’s view of the universe and of human identity itself. By exploring the Baroque in relation to these larger social upheavals, this Handbook reveals a fresh and surprisingly modern image of the Baroque as a powerful response to an epoch of crisis.

Rocks Are Just Bad Souls: Anne Conway's Privation Account of Matter

The Cambridge Platonist Anne Conway, in her only treatise, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy, articulates a complex metaphysical system, partly formed as an alternative to the mechanistic philosophy of Descartes and Hobbes. Objecting to Descartes’ dualism, Conway defends a monistic and vitalistic account of matter. However, Conway’s account of matter is notoriously difficult to understand. One reason for this is that Conway does not make her aims in the Principles explicit. Without a precise account of Conway’s aims, it is difficult to evaluate her account of matter. I argue that Conway, motivated by primarily religious aims, defends a privation account of matter. Conway’s concern is making her ontology consistent with the Christian doctrine of universal salvation. The paper concludes by considering how Conway defends her account of matter from mechanist objections.