----> ---- ---- ---- ----
English ----> Español ---- Deutsch ---- Français ---- Italiano ---- Português ... If translation leaves the bottom of a page still English, copy and translate HERE.

Rene Descartes - mechanical universe theory

Homepage . Albert Einstein . Isaac Newton . William Gilbert ....... Descartes' Principles . Descartes' The World ....... General Image Theory

- Site Search at bottom v -

Rene Descartes or Rene Des Cartes (1596-1650) was a philosopher and mathematician and produced a basically simple theory of the universe that many considered to be in line with the emerging science of the time. He basically took mechanics and made it a complete theory of a universe composed of nothing but matter and one piece of matter pushing another piece of matter with a fluid ether filling all space. He hypothesised that his fluid ether moved in vortices pushing the planets around the sun mechanically. He had other particle push theories for terrestrial gravity and for magnetism.

Descartes' ideas were perhaps best put in his Principia Philosophiae (Principles of Philosophy) published in 1644. You can read an English version of his Discourse..., through the excellent Google Books - Google Descartes. Or see more about using Google Books at the bottom of our History of Science section.

Descartes' science theory.

Descartes was primarily a logician who did much interesting work in philosophy and mathematics. He used logic more than experiment in developing his new science, and his logic is maybe best known for his 'most certain' proposition "I think, therefore I am". While he might perhaps more logically have taken a more Gilbert conclusion from that, that the universe certainly contained thinking things but did not certainly contain any non-thinking things, Descartes' logic somehow went with the idea that most things in the universe are non-thinking and that only god and humans think. He posited a separate spiritual-mental universe distinct from the physical universe, and from science. Of course this Dualist conclusion does seem to accord with common views of a stone not thinking, if not with Descartes' own certainty logic. 'I think' seems to fit better with 'I observe' and with observers existing - and directly from that with things to think upon or observe from, such as signals existing. But 'I think' really gives less support to the view that no-thinking no-signals solid objects exist, which is the basis of Descartes physics theory.

And Descartes' physics seems to rest on a very doubtful view of the human senses taking touch as being the only certain sense, as supposedly being unique in not requiring sensory signals. Of course touch may seem less certain for liquids and very uncertain for gasses. Gilbert and Newton took all proper experiment or experience as equally valid for science. Should the assumed sensivities of any observer be allowed to determine the validity of alternative physics theories anyway ? The issue arises for Descartes' physics, but perhaps applies also to some modern physics theories taking sight as the only sure sense and light the only sure signal ?

George Berkeley's 'to be is to be perceived' philosophy concluding that non-thinking things did not exist, was no great challenge to Descartes matter push physics and no help to Gilbert signal physics since Berkeley somehow additionally concluded that signals informing thinking did not exist either. Berkeley was chiefly concerned with some 'non-causal non-physical thinking', while Gilbert was chiefly concerned with the significance of basic 'causal physical thinking' or natural responses to natural signals as in magnetic attraction etcetera. And the Descartes science keeping science out of spiritual-mental matters was less a problem to religion than a Gilbert science that looked like allowing science to explain the mental and maybe spiritual physically.

In his logic-derived material universe theory, Descartes saw objects as mechanical only and animals as mechanical clockwork robots, and the human body, senses and brain largely likewise - except that humans alone had soul/self-awareness like god. His mechanism for automatic reaction by animals (and the human body largely) to 'signals' was as to direct push forces - so light basically punches eye nerves. Descartes theory viewed all 'signals' (or Gilbert 'effluvia') as material particles that pushed sense organs mechanically and mechanically caused animal actions deterministically, so that animals reacted more as billiard balls to other billiard balls and less as thinking things or robots responding to information signals.

Descartes had a vortex-push theory for planetary motion, and for terrestrial gravity he had a separate theory of celestial-particles moving away from the center of the earth and so displacing and sucking-down masses in their path. His magnetism 'effluvia' were also material particles and physically pulled and pushed magnets, for which he had to postulate left and right handed corkscrew shaped particles working like corkscrews. Descartes' universe was a mechanical ('wind-up') clockwork robot universe, with energy only as the property of matter being in motion and nothing other than God and human souls being non-material. His material universe was all matter with no empty space and with no separate energy besides the kinetic energy involved in body motion. His no empty space was in line with Aristotle and Huygens but opposed the experimental evidence offered by Gilbert, Newton and others.

To Descartes the essential properties of bodies were only the absolute requirements that they must occupy some space and no two bodies could occupy the same space at the same time, so that any body motion involved pushing other bodies from the space they occupied. Bodies could be of different sizes or shapes, and their pushing motions explain all physical behaviour including gravity, electricity and magnetism. Gilbert and Newton saw this theory as requiring detectably effects like drag. So Gilbert concluded that magnetisn cannot work by push since magnets showed no effect on air or candle flames, and Newton concluded that space had no push ether or continuum since planet orbits show no slowing effect.

Descartes' philosophical Logical Mechanical Universe science theory ideas influenced many and basically still does. Descartes made a major contribution to philosophy, but Descartes ideas and science have become almost inseparable. Descartes produced 'laws of motion' that read almost the same as Newton's, though his motion examples are often about bodies being pushed by unseen ethers more like Aristotlian motion. Newton published a disproof of the part of Descartes' 'dead-matter' theory that involved ether vortex motion pushing planets around, but seems not to have taken that as essential to it and electro-magnetic field theory based on a modified Descartes ether idea became accepted by most physicists until the Mitchelson-Morley experiment of 1887 indicated that either the ether did not exist or ether motion did not exist, which Einstein agreed, though his spacetime continuum is ether-like if not a full replacement.

There was much support for Descartes ether push physics even after chunks of his own theory were firmly disproved. Hence Russian mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) rejected the planet motion and Earth tide ideas of Descartes. But still Euler supported general Descartes ether push physics, as even in publishing a 'proof' of Descartes push-attraction ether corkscrew magnetism in 1744 - another piece of Descartes theory that was not long in being disproved. Euler was maybe just another example of great mathematics backing bad science.

Directly opposing William Gilbert, Rene Descartes believed in the certainty of rigorous logical reasoning though not mere mathematical reasoning, and that experience and experiment were of less certainty. Descartes held that his was the best science possible, explaining the universe to the best extent possible though it might be impossible to establish the actual causes of phenomena like gravity. Hence on causation he states a neo-blackbox position in his Principles of Philosophy Part 3.CCIV ;

"That, touching the things which our senses do not perceive, it is sufficient to explain how they can be."

"I most freely concede this, and I have done all that was required, if the causes I have assigned are such that their effects accurately correspond to all the phenomena of nature, without determining whether it is by these or by others that they are actually produced. And it will be sufficient for use in life to know the causes thus imagined ...."

Hence Descartes himself was less fully committed to his push-physics than most of the physicists supporting it. And of course other physicists were soon producing evidence that solid objects are not solid but are largely empty space with some perhaps-solid particles. So a billiard ball pushing another billiard ball may well be largely space 'pushing' space - with at most a very few particles contacting. So must the transfer of momentum from all the particles of one ball, to all the particles of the other ball, involve action-at-a-distance and not involve contact ? If most apparant contact is not contact, then any push physics has a problem and maybe needs mechanical ethers or particle emissions - and proving their solidity may not really ever be possible ? If Descartes' push physics rested on touch, and Einstein's on vision, then maybe Gilbert/Newton response attraction physics alone having observers and signals within the physics was also the least dependent on particular human senses ? Descartes' physics included solid push ethers, but some other push physics theories do not.

Wave theory involving motions of material media became a significant part of Descartes physics, but from Einstein's time waves not involving motions of material media were postulated and that was not compatible with Descartes physics. The long postulated energy not involving matter motion was also not compatible with Descartes physics.

The currently best developed Descartes push physics theories are perhaps Particle Exchange Quantum Mechanics and Lorentz-Fitzgerald Ether Fieldforce Theory, which may well both involve the same mathematics as a properly developed Gilbert signal response physics. These three may well be valid image theories.

For comparison with other physics theories, Descartes three laws of motion would be ;

1. Every body will remain at rest, or in a uniform state of motion unless pushed or pulled.

2. When a body is pushed or pulled, it accelerates proportional to the force of the push or pull and inversely proportional to the mass of the body and in the direction pushed or pulled.

3. Every push or pull has an equal and opposite reaction.

For another more recent Descartes-like 'shadow-suction' push theory of gravity see here.

You should be able to read here Descartes 1644 Principia Philosophiae (Principles of Philosophy) but somehow the original seems not available online anywhere. But an online English translation of part of it is available and discussed here.

Or for now you could maybe read online or download free 'The Iliad' by Homer, 1.24mb PDF - up to 8 minutes to load.
(you may need the FREE PDF reader available from www.Adobe.com.)

Or if you might want to buy Descartes books in our USA Descartes books or UK Descartes books sections.

NOTE : You can use this with confidence as we do not share and do not store this information at all.

IF you like this site then

OR maybe make a small donation ; (it will help with site development, and just possibly with some experiments long planned but never afforded.)

You can do a good search of this website, or of the web, below ;

Custom Search

Websites you may wish to visit ;

You may like a bit of advice about How to kiss, dating, online love and more.
Or see an interesting website on USA and UK poverty and bad housing.

For a website with an actually interesting forum, online puzzles and educational store - or if you or your children are into learning, poetry, stories or song or if you suspect that your childrens school is not being really honest in saying your child is doing fine, visit :- Learning, poetry, story forum - educational and games online store.

otherwise, if you have any view or suggestion on the content of this site, please contact :- New Science Theory Vincent Wilmot 166 Freeman Street Grimsby Lincolnshire DN32 7AT.

You are welcome to link to any page on this site, eg http://www.new-science-theory.com/rene-descartes.html