A Nova Filosofia Mecânica: uma Análise Histórica e Filosófica de suas Ideias e de sua Representatividade na Filosofia da Ciência Contemporânea

Abstract

This work aims to discuss the nature and historical development of the ideas of the philosophical current known as new mechanical philosophy or new mechanism, demonstrating how this movement represents paradigmatically certain central trends identified in the philosophy of contemporary science, which can shed new light on traditional philosophical problems. For this task, we chose to follow the methodology of historical reconstruction on the origin and development of this school of thought, starting with a comparative analysis between its ideas and other currents traditionally associated with mechanistic thinking throughout history, such as Atomism and the mechanism of the Scientific Revolution. Later, we will move on to the investigation of the emergence of the new mechanism itself, in the context of the dissolution of the hegemony of logical empiricism, trying to demonstrate how the new mechanists embrace philosophical positions such as naturalism, realism and pluralism. The general conclusion that could be derived from the philosophical analysis of the ideas of this movement is that it represents a sort of intellectual coming of age of philosophical reflections on biology, building general theses about the sciences and nature that they study from the complexities of life sciences, ending up revolutionizing the very conception of philosophy as a consequence.