The Cartesian metaphysics of the causes of motion: mechanism and divine agency

Abstract

The mechanist program presented by Descartes in the Principles of the Philosophy is intended to provide explanations of the causal mechanisms of the physical world exclusively in terms of the geometrical properties of matter and motion. Thus understood, matter cannot contain in itself the sources of its own activity, mobility, or diversity, which means that forces or any other active principles do not play any role in the Cartesian mechanist ontology. This paper attempts to clarify Descartes' claim that divine agency can replace in his mechanical universe the banished forces.