Newton's Mechanistic Metaphysics

Isaac Newton discussed his take on causes in Mechanistic Metaphysics. This excerpt from his work Optiks is brief but comprehensive. He begins by addressing properties of matter like inertia, gravity, and fermentation. Newton describes these phenomena as manifest. The qualities are obvious; it is only the cause that is occult. Bodily things operate under principles of motion, not according to supernatural and random guides. Newton calls for a set of laws which material things follow, but does not attempt to find the laws. He introduces the concept of an intelligent designer that created these principles, principles that must be responsible for creation instead of chaos.  He uses the nearly perfect orbit of the planets as an example. Animals are also quite similar, he says, most having bilateral symmetry and many of the same body parts. This is thanks to a designer as well. Here, Newton sets up a mechanized view of the universe. Many bodies in this universe are so similar that it can’t just be chance.

The intelligent agent described doesn’t have organs or body parts like animals do. This distinction is interesting because it separates the designer from the mechanism of the universe Newton just described. God, he says, doesn’t need sensory organs because he is present for all things at all times. He is better at moving the contents of the universe than they are at moving themselves. What sets the designer apart is that he is not very similar to anything at all. How something so dissimilar to the universe could be responsible for its existence makes total sense to Newton. A god so estranged from the similarities of the universe means a god that can effectively mechanize his world, drawing to the belief of mechanistic metaphysics.

While Newton seems very sure of his arguments (the excerpt closes with, “I see nothing of Contradiction in all this,”) many more questions can be asked in response. Why must there be occult causes, or even a creator, when Laws of Motion were already being explored and laws for material things were thought important? Newton makes great conclusions about the universe but relies on an intelligent designer to explain it. He even says that God can create different types of matter, therefore matter might not always follow the same natural laws. How does a more modern take on the relationship between a creator and natural laws compare?