mekanisti

Mekanisti is a Finnish noun that translates roughly to “mechanist” in English. It denotes a person who advocates or applies mechanism as an explanatory principle, and it can also refer to someone who works with machines in a historical or informal sense. The word is formed from mekanismi (mechanism) and the agent suffix -isti.

In philosophy and the history of science, mekanisti refers to proponents of mechanism—the view that natural phenomena can be explained entirely by mechanical interactions of matter, often as a counterpoint to vitalism or teleology. This mechanistic approach has roots in the Scientific Revolution and has influenced fields such as physics, physiology, and the philosophy of mind. Mechanists argue that organisms and other complex systems operate through causal interactions of parts in space and time.

In contemporary Finnish usage, the term is uncommon as a current professional title. In practice, people who design, build, or repair machinery are more likely described as mekaniikka-asiantuntijoita, mekaniikka-alan työntekijöitä, mekaniikkoja, or insinöörejä; mekanisti appears mainly in scholarly or historical writing when discussing mechanism or mechanistic explanations.

Related concepts include mechanics, mechanism, mechanistic explanation, reductionism, and vitalism. See also mechanism of action, scientific revolution, and philosophy of mind.