Abstract
One common view of the scientific revolution is as a period in which the 4 'mechanical philosophy came ever more to dominate the natural sciences. Although the term mechanical philosophy is fraught with difficulty, a convenient way of defining it may be found in Robert Boyle, who labelled it as the attempt to reduce natural explanations to those two grand and most catholick principles of bodies, matter and motion.1 In this definition Boyle was of course following the lead of Descartes, and if it does less than perfect justice to his own system, at least it allowed Boyle and many others an ideal for which to strive.2
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