machinism
Machinism is a historical term used in the philosophy of science to describe the view that natural processes can be explained entirely by mechanical causes—the motions and interactions of matter governed by laws of motion. In this sense, machinism is closely related to mechanism but emphasizes a programmatic stance: the universe is understood as a vast machine, and phenomena are reducible to mechanical interactions.
The term has its roots in the early modern period, when the mechanical philosophy emerged as an
In biology and the life sciences, machinist or mechanistic explanations sought to model physiological processes—such as
Today, the term machinism is mainly encountered in historical discussions of the mechanistic philosophy and in