Robert Boyle and the Machine Metaphor

The seventeenth–century chemist and philosopher Robert Boyle argued that the world is like a clockwork machine. This led to the problems of the place of a Creator and of how one can explain the directed, “final–cause” nature of organisms. Boyle thought that he could wrap everything up in one neat pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ruse, Michael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2002
In: Zygon
Year: 2002, Volume: 37, Issue: 3, Pages: 581-596
Further subjects:B Robert Boyle
B machine metaphor
B final cause
B Natural Theology
B Aristotle
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Summary:The seventeenth–century chemist and philosopher Robert Boyle argued that the world is like a clockwork machine. This led to the problems of the place of a Creator and of how one can explain the directed, “final–cause” nature of organisms. Boyle thought that he could wrap everything up in one neat package, with a clear place for a designing God, but of course the coming of Darwinism casts doubt on this. Nevertheless, Boyle's thinking does have some very interesting implications for the way in which we today should consider the science/religion relationship.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/1467-9744.00438