分类：History of Science & Scholarship

The Mechanization of “Force”

Force = mechanics? — Raising the question Scholars often say: the Scientific Revolution was accompanied by (or led to) the “mechanization of the world picture.” We are also told that this so-called “mechanization” means “mechanization into mechanics,” which means “mathematization,” which means “quantification”… It is indeed the case that in modern Western languages mechanics and machinery are the same word (mechanics), and that the modern “mechanical world” is indeed mathematized, while mathematization does indeed imply quantification—that is, the flattening of singularity and quality, and the “disenchantment” of the world. However, once we trace this situation back into history, the matter is by no means so simple—the above-mentioned “equal signs” are…