Classical Mechanics and Modern Thought: Exploring Determinism and Freedom

Basic Propositions of Classical Mechanics (Newton)

• It is possible and desirable to reduce all natural phenomena to the interaction of material particles possessing objective reality.
• Only mathematically quantifiable qualities: extension and motion.
• It is sufficient to describe mathematically the laws governing movements: scientific explanation only needs to express the mathematical relationship between two covariant variables.
• Size and extent in space are objective properties of bodies.
• Mass is a property of all bodies.
• All movements in nature have a cause. In physical reality, there is no freedom. Everything is determined.
• Primary qualities of objects (shape, size, motion, and position) are independent of the observer.

The Problem of Human Freedom in Modern Thought

One of the great problems of modern thought is how to explain human freedom. Consider four attempts to solve this problem:

René Descartes (17th Century)

Descartes proposes and demonstrates the existence in humans of a body and soul endowed with God-given freedom. He "proves" the existence of God.

Benedictus Spinoza (17th Century)

Spinoza states that there is only one substance in the world: God or Nature, with infinite attributes, of which humans only know two: extension and thought. All particular entities are "modes" of this one substance (God). In an ordinary person, body and soul are two sides of the same coin. Everything that happens in the body also happens in the soul, and vice versa.

David Hume (18th Century) and Immanuel Kant (18th Century)

(Further explanation needed)

The Contemporary Worldview

Classical mechanics was the dominant physical theory during the 18th and 19th centuries. It viewed all non-human events as governed by strict determinism (even animals were seen as sophisticated mechanisms). All matter was in motion, always due to an efficient cause, in an absolute space and time.

Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Einstein's theory of relativity can be divided into two parts: special relativity and general relativity.

Special Theory of Relativity

• The speed of light is constant, regardless of the speed of the light source or the observer.
• Therefore, the Galilean transformation is invalid.
• It is replaced by the Lorentz transformation: the measurement of speed, both space and time, depends on the observer's speed.
• While Newton considered mass a property of all bodies, Einstein posits that mass is a relationship between a physical system and a frame of reference, increasing with speed according to the following formula: (Formula needed)