The Cog in the Wheel E-Book

Patrice Leiteritz

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 103

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The mechanical philosophy originates in the 18th century and is based on ideas that were already advocated by ancient philosophers. Instead of explaining the world with the help of gods and founding a whole value system based on the teachings of a religion, the followers of mechanical philosophy sought their answers in nature and its laws. For them, the universe was a gigantic and complex mechanism governed by the principle of cause and effect. They even extended this view onto human beings, seeing them as another product of nature and not as a divine creation. The free will, of whose existence we are all convinced, is questioned as well. What follows from this world view and what does it mean for us, for our society and our understanding of morality, guilt, good and evil? The book "The Cog in the Wheel" is conceived as a compact work that is intended to provide the reader with the most comprehensive insight possible into the fundamentals and conclusions of mechanical philosophy. The structure of the book is pragmatic and starts with an explanation of the terms materialism, determinism and the principle of causality. In the next chapter the far-reaching consequences of these propositions are presented and explained. Here, numerous topics are taken up which, under the premise of mechanical philosophy, must be reassessed. These include, for example, the concept of nature, the difference between animate and inanimate matter, the highest good for mankind, and considerations regarding the meaning of life. The book contains examples, usually following theoretical explanations, which present the preceding information in a comprehensible way. This should also give those readers an introduction to the subject who have never dealt with it before. The last chapter is a summary and serves the practical application of theoretical knowledge. This handbook is not primarily intended as a guide to life but is mainly designed to introduce the interested reader to a particular school of philosophy, from its foundations to its application.

Leseprobe

I dedicate this book to my dear wife Christina.

Contents

1.

Prologue

2.

Basic Premises

2.1 Materialism

2.2 Determinism

2.3 The Principle of Causality

3.

Conclusions

3.1 Order and Chaos

3.2 Coincidence

3.3 Probability

3.4 Naturalness and Artificiality

3.5 Animate and Inanimate Matter

3.6 The Origin of Life

3.7 Evolution

3.8 Man and Animal

3.9 Body and Psyche

3.10 Free Will

3.11 Reason and Truth

3.12 Being and Consciousness

3.13 The Highest Good

3.14 The Pleasure Principle

3.15 Good and Evil

3.16 The Nature of Morality

3.17 The Fair Society

3.18 Predisposition and Environment

3.19 Egoism and Altruism

3.20 Feeling and Thinking

3.21 The Meaning of Life

3.22 Fate

3.23 Religion

4.

Summary

5.

Epilogue

6.

Notes on the 3

rd

Edition

1 Prologue

The mechanical philosophy is a world view which is based on the application of mechanical principles to all known processes and events. Matter (resp. energy) is the only substance in the universe and everything in existence originates from this basic material. This also applies to the human consciousness as well as everything mental and emotional. Simultaneously, all forces in the universe interact in a fixed, immutable manner and create an unbroken chain of events. Ultimately, the rules of this interplay are defined by the laws of nature which can be escaped by nothing and no one.

The ideas collected in this book have been expressed by many philosophers around the world. Some of them almost date as far back as the discipline of philosophy itself, others are from contemporary authors. However, because exact quotes and references do not contribute any informative content, they are intentionally avoided. The concepts shown speak for themselves and should be regarded as part of a logically constructed, philosophical system. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that the individual chapters of the book contain various thematic overlaps. References to other entries which cover related content are indicated by a right arrow (→). Instead of presenting fundamentally new knowledge, the intention behind this book is to describe the most important information on mechanical philosophy as precise and concise as possible. But its practical application in people's everyday life is not left out, either.

Apart from the intensive examination of the subjects of materialism and determinism and possible conclusions, one of the reasons for writing this book was the current tendency towards esotericism and the hostility towards science in parts of the population. Many people seek refuge in imaginary dream worlds and, in doing so, abandon the most basic concepts of reason and logic. The consequence is a lack of understanding of the own self and one's environment, which, in turn, may lead to confusion and suffering. Instead of distinguishing true from false and gaining real insights, some people blindly believe in the most absurd theories. In some extreme cases, they adjust their entire lives to these concepts.

Certainly, all of this would not be alarming if it only affected the individual person. At worst, however, those beliefs and their negative consequences also affect others, including friends, acquaintances or children. Especially the latter cannot defend themselves against this influence. If applied exclusively, pseudo- and alternative medicine already causes severe damage today, for example by dissuading people from getting vaccinated or by recommending pointless treatments for deadly diseases such as cancer. Homoeopathy, for instance, has developed into a huge business, even without any verifiable impact beyond the placebo effect!

However, the field of medicine is not the only aspect of human life which is negatively affected by superstition. As soon as ideas on morality are based on arbitrarily derived justifications, it is much more likely that they are conflicting with nature. Irresolvable tensions arise between human biology and acquired “virtues” of the individual system of values, whenever such a situation occurs. Without any purpose and without knowing that they do not need to, countless people suffer from the contradiction between their natural instincts and an arbitrary conception of →good and evil. Simultaneously, people are prosecuted and punished for basically harmless behaviour in many parts of the world. As opposed to this, a level-headed look on the world in accordance with the natural laws may contribute greatly to a person's happiness and serenity.

The title of this book refers to people, animals and generally every other object as well: Everything is just a tiny cog in the great wheels of the universe.

2 Basic Premises

As indicated in the prologue, the basic premises of this interpretation of mechanical philosophy can be summarised with a few keywords. These are a) the exclusively materialistic composition of the universe (materialism), b) the strictly deterministic behaviour of all its objects (determinism), as well as c) the universal validity of the law of cause and effect (the principle of causality). The philosophy is based on these fundamental principles and all its conclusions are built upon them. Due to their crucial importance, a closer examination of their propositions seems necessary.

2.1 Materialism

Materialism implies that ultimately, all objects and phenomena in the universe can be traced back to different manifestations of matter and their interactions. This includes energy (kinetic, chemical, electrical, etc.) as well, since matter may be converted into energy and vice versa. That means that both are merely two different forms of the same thing. Just like matter, energy can be measured and therefore scientifically assessed. Materialism is the counterpart to idealism which identifies the source of reality in the mind or in ideas.

While materialism considers human consciousness to be a result of a person's material existence, idealism deduces matter from the mind. However, both positions agree in the conviction that either matter or mind is inferior to the other and therefore must have originated from the superior counterpart. This position is described as monism. The opposed viewpoint, according to which both phenomena exist on an equal footing, is called dualism.

The mechanical philosophy believes that matter (resp. energy) is the source of everything existent, therefore it assumes that materialistic monism is true. The fundamental realisation that hypothetical phenomena which do not possess any scientific background do not exist and cannot exert any influence on humans is very important for this philosophy. This consequentially leads to (an at least agnostic) atheism and a critical attitude towards any insufficiently experienceable phenomena.

2.2 Determinism

Determinism regards all events as inevitable. Everything that happens is unambiguously defined by its initial conditions. That means all events in the universe are like dominoes in a long, widely ramified chain, which keeps on moving without any external interference. Every falling domino knocks down one or more others, just like one event causes the next one. This includes processes not only within the inanimate nature, but also actions of all animals and humans.

One of the most important conclusions of determinism can hence be described as the non-existence of →free will. The distinguishing feature of determinism is the →principle of causality, the correlation of cause and effect, which here serves as the sole explanation of events. Therefore, all events are based on the known and unknown laws of nature and could theoretically be traced back to the big bang (and possibly beyond that). However, it is very important to note that neither the actual nor the theoretical predictability of an event is a decisive factor for the question of any event being determined or not. In other words: Events are unambiguously and invariably determined even if they cannot be predicted now or at any time in the future. Human cognitive faculty is limited despite all technical progress, which means that mankind will most likely never be able to predict all events with absolute certainty.

Conversely, a “non-determined” event is difficult to imagine in practice. The reason is not only the fact that we are used to everything happening being caused by certain processes. Instead, there are other arguments against such events as well. “Non-determined” events are occurrences whose procedure is not conclusively defined by their initial conditions. According to its definition, a non-determined event cannot have any relation to an object or process in the universe before its occurrence. Otherwise, one would have to assume a relationship of dependence which would result in the assumption of an influence by external factors. But then it would be determined again, after all. As a result that means, however, that actual non-determined events would not be bound to time or space. If one assumed the existence of non-determined events to be true, it certainly would not be inconceivable that other events are being influenced by them.

More problems arise from this, however, because this would necessarily constitute an objectively chaotic phenomenon. “Objectively chaotic” in this context describes a process, which does in fact—and not only apparently—contradict the universal order (more on this later). If non-determined events exerted influence on other processes, then this would happen completely unpredictably. Nobody could ever predict the occurrence of a non-determined event and the repetition of an experiment, which includes such an event, would be basically impossible. The consequences for every activity demanding a high degree of precision would potentially be catastrophic if non-determined events, which can influence processes in our universe, were common occurrences. For example, if non-determined (and therefore unpredictable) events affected processes in astronautics or the operation of nuclear power plants, even perfect calculations would be useless and could not prevent people from failing.

One important counter-argument, however, regards a much more basic issue: To influence an object in the universe in any way (for example by moving it or warming it up), a certain quantity of energy is always necessary. Consequently, this also applies to non-determined events, as far as the ability to influence objects is attributed to them. If they did not exert any influence, these events would be completely irrelevant, since their occurrence would not have any consequences whatsoever. However, the question arises how an event, which comes literally out of nowhere and occurs independently from time and space, could possess the necessary energy to influence an object in the universe in any way imaginable.

This would only be conceivable if the event was equipped with energy, which must have been created simultaneously with the event itself. If, for instance, a non-determined event caused a window to close, what would be the source of the necessary energy for this movement? If, however, a gust of wind was the cause, the question would answer itself: There was a cause for this gust of wind as well, which equipped it with energy.

As opposed to this, a non-determined event lacks the necessary energy source. Therefore, it would contradict the law of energy conservation if non-determined events were able to influence objects. This law states that, even though energy may be converted into different forms, it can never be created or destroyed. Based on these thoughts, it could be concluded that even if the existence of non-determined events cannot be dismissed with certainty, it should also not necessarily be taken into consideration.

Just like materialism, determinism functions without gods, higher powers or other types of supernatural beings which exert any controlling influence. This also distinguishes determinism from apparently similar philosophical positions such as fatalism.

Fatalism also assumes a fixed course of history, but considers fate to be the cause and not the laws of nature. The fate of everything, no matter if it is a living being or an inanimate object, is decided by an universal entity which assumes the role of the central cause for all events. The existence of this entity (in the form of a god or impersonal power) may let the belief in a →meaning of life or in a greater significance of events appear more logical than a value-neutral, deterministic (and therefore “automatic”) course of events. The position opposed to determinism is called indeterminism and assumes both non-determined events and →coincidences to be true.

From a deterministic perspective, human life resembles a finished movie. The end and the entire sequence of events are already decided even before the first five minutes elapsed. The suspense is created solely by the people's lack of knowledge regarding the events to come. Whether in film or in life: People merely play the roles which life or respectively nature has given to them.

2.3 The Principle of Causality