DESCARTES - THE ANSWERS

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>DESCARTES</FONT><BR> THE RATIONALIST</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>All is Revealed</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>MATTER IN MOTION</B></FONT><BR> Descartes' system limited the properties of <A HREF="../t03/g031.html" TARGET="_top">matter</A> to those which scientists can measure, quantify and explain by mathematics. He proved, not only that the physical world exists but that it has exactly those qualities which the new science said it had. It is nothing but particles with size and shape moving according to the laws of mechanics. This extends to living things. Descartes sees animals as automata, mechanically responsive to the stimulus of other bodies. With the exception of man, animals have no reason or inner mental state. They are just matter in motion. If we made machines to look like animals we could not tell them apart.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE</B></FONT><BR> Descartes' mechanistic view has man living in a clockwork universe. In Descartes' system of matter in motion, God simply causes motion to exist. He merely gives the world a shove, to get things started. As first cause of motion, he provides a fixed and constant amount of motion according to the laws of geometry and mechanics. After that, he does not interfere. Thus the universe is a mechanical clockwork system of bodies in motion according to the laws of physics. Particles move on impact with one another in a purposeless mechanical motion in the clockwork universe.<P> <CENTER><IMG SRC="1104a.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="150"><P> A model solar system using clockwork to show the movement of the earth and moon around the sun.</CENTER> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>