The Rational Mechanics Dilemma
Since its genesis, the study of mechanics has always been associated with geometry and oftentimes with astronomy. It is unnecessary to say that any kind of mechanical theory is based on some concept of space. Specifically, classical mechanics and the spec
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The Rational Mechanics Dilemma
I wish we could derive the rest of the phenomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles, for I am induced by many reasons to suspect that they may all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards one another, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from one another. (Isaac Newton—Preface to the first edition of Principia, May 8, 1686)
4.1 A Brief History of Mechanics in Physics Context Since its genesis, the study of mechanics has always been associated with geometry and oftentimes with astronomy. It is unnecessary to say that any kind of mechanical theory is based on some concept of space. Specifically, classical mechanics and the special theory of relativity use Euclidian space, which is the place where motion occurs. Its metric is given by the distance between two points calculated by the Pythagorean theorem. With respect to astronomy, which is at the center of the seventeenth century Scientific Revolution, we can say that, historically, it gave origin to mathematical physics, as remarked by Poincaré: Mathematical physics, as we know, was born from celestial mechanics at the end of eighteenth century, when it achieved its complete development. In his first years, although the child looked like his mother in a very impressive way (Poincaré 1970). Let us follow the long history of mechanics in a concise way. The pioneering mechanical studies were made by Aristotle and Archimedes, as we saw in the previous chapter, in spite of certain old documents of unknown origin. The two thinkers lived in related epochs but in different contexts. Aristotle lived in the period of
A. R. E. Oliveira, A History of the Work Concept, History of Mechanism and Machine Science 24, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7705-7_4, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
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4 The Rational Mechanics Dilemma
Greek history that led to the end of state-cities and Archimedes lived in the Alexandrian period.1 The fundamental differences between Aristotle and Archimedes regarding the development of mechanics are that Aristotelian mechanics are part of his philosophy. In other words, when Aristotle tries to characterize motion, it is done within the framework of general changes and transformations. Aristotelian mechanics are completely qualitative and developed in a historical and speculative context of philosophical thought of which he was one of the most important adherents. In a world dominated by social hierarchies, mechanical motion would be too. To him, motion was classified into two types: the natural and the violent. In the first, the body tends to go back to its natural position (to heavy bodies, the center of earth); the second type occurs when the body is displaced from that position (for instance, the motion of projectiles). Archimedian mechanics, as well as the whole of mechanical studies of the Alexandrian period, are characterized by extreme specialization, attackin
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