III The Mechanical Interpretation of the Universe

occurrence. This principle of causation was found to dominate the whole of animate nature. (p. 13) The concept which came to be known as “the mechanical interpretation of the universe” was thus developed. It came to be ‘established’ that all events occurred without any external intervention. The entire process was material. Thus, the whole universe was seen as being tied to the chain of cause and effect. According to an article published in 1874 and recorded in Chambers Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, p. 691, philosophers of physics, chemists and biologists were convinced that a particular cause invariably showed the same result. If this concept was successful in one instance, they felt assured that they would always succeed in producing the same result. In the physical sciences, therefore, no discrepancies were to be found in the law of causation. It was only in metaphysics that the system of cause and effect did not work. But this happy state of affairs was short-lived; with the beginning of the twentieth century, many facts came to light in the world of science, which were not consistent with the mechanical interpretation. For instance, numerous experiments which were carried out to determine the cause of radioactivity (a spontaneous disintegration of certain unstable types of atomic nuclei—as happens with radium) met with no success. Even today, we do not know what causes the breaking away of a particular electron in a piece of radium from its atomic system. The same mystery surrounds the magnet’s power to attract iron. Many theories have been put forward to explain this phenomenon. Sir James Jeans having attempted to analyse this fact, concludes that we do not know why a magnet attracts iron. “Perhaps it has been ordered to do so by its Creator.” This resistance to analysis is not confined just to radium and the magnet. In-depth studies have shown that in the past, the supposed causes of events were actually superficial aspects of fundamental events. In actual fact, we do not know why any event takes place, we do not even know why we sleep at night.