Technikatörténeti szemle 4. (1967)

TANULMÁNYOK - Makkai László: Gép, mechanika és mechanisztikus természetfilozófia

objektiviert worden war. Die nachfolgende menschliche Arbeitsbewegung, die Regelung der Maschine, blieb noch äußerst primitiv, sie gelang also nicht zur technischen Objektivierung, so daß auf diesem Gebiet der Naturwissenschaft weiterhin anthropomorphe Vorstellungen vorherrschten. Die klassische Erscheinungsform der mechanistischen Naturphilosophie, der Deismus, meinte das Etwas, was die Weltmaschine programmiert, im persönlichen Gottbegriff zu finden und stellte sich den Gott als einen gigantischen Uhrmacher vor. Allerdings siegte die Maschine im Denken seiner Schöpfer und die mechanistische Philosophie bahnte neuere Siege der Maschine an. L. MAKKAI MACHINE, MECHANICS AND MECHANISTIC NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 17th century scientific and philosophical revolution is rooted in the experiences of machine construction. Before the appearance of experimenting science, technique was the only source of learning about natural laws; only those parts of them were philosophically elaborated which could be technically utilized. Technique is the self projection of man to nature; his own working gestures are mirrored, i. e. objectified, in tools, machines. Thus became objectified hand movement in tool in primitive age, arm movement in transmission in antiquity, muscular energy in power machines in middle age, the planning and controlling activity of brain in self-regulating and self-controlling machines in modern and recent times. This objectifying self projection of man is realized through work. But work is a purposeful activity, in the course of which not only objective operations are projected, but man's subjective teleology when working is projected to nature: a purposeful will (similar to that in man) manifesting itself in natural phenomena is supposed. Distortions of his imaginary self projection, rendering nature anthropomorphous are gradually corrected in the course of self projection, as the working gestures, objectified in tools and implements, reveal themselves on the one hand as the activity of the human will and as a natural process taking place indifferent of man on the other. Thus — through technique — man understands nature and his own character as far as this knowledge can be objectified technically. Antiquity objectified two-armed lever, latent in the body of primitive hand-tool using caveman. Its principle, that movement originates from the cooperation of a moving and unmoving component, was generally applied to movement. The operation of the lever requires force, accordingly work appears as fighting a resistance due to the static condition of the object to be moved. According to this viewpoint repose 'a the ..natural", movement the „unnatural" state, which latter needs some interference by force, and — as no source of energy different from human or animal muscular force was technically utilized in antiquity — every force obtained a mystified living force character. The fundamental idea of antique vitalism, that life brings forth movement, turned to its mechanistic contrary during one and a half century: it is movement, that gives birth to life. Already the first form of the simple power machine, the water-wheel, suggested that lifeless force can move lifeless material. In middle age with the application of water- and windmills the substitution of human and animal muscular force by natural energies, i. e. their technical objectifying, became general, later on new, partly artificially produceable energies — magnetism, gravitation, gas explosion — gained ground with the prevalence of compass, catapult, wheeled timepiece and cannon. For the antique man force, not objectified technically, incorporated purposeful will (according to Aristotle potential „dynamis" was activated by actual ,.energeia"), while the mediaeval miller or watchmaker himself gave direction to the force, existing in water, held by a Sluice, or weight, lying on the table inertly until connected to a machine structure by man. Material is inert, force blind; an outward, dominant will gives movement to material and direction to force — this was the view, machine suggested. Obviously mechanistic natural philosophy follows from the machine, but to make man believe in what he experiences, he had to get rid of the ideology, blinding him. The precondition of Galileo's posing the question whether experiment and mathematical formula prove the inertia of moving objects, was the possibility enter-