A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature

Robert Boyle — EEBO-TCP A28982, keyed from the 1686 edition.

Boyle’s attack on the word Nature itself, as it was used by the Aristotelians: a wise and provident being standing between God and the world, which abhors a vacuum and does nothing in vain. He argues that there is no such being, that the notion is a hindrance to physics and an injury to religion at once, and that what is meant should be said plainly — the settled course God gave matter and motion at the creation, and upholds. It is the clearest statement of what the mechanical philosophy was for.

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Contents (10)

1. The Preface
2. Section 1
3. Section 2
4. Section 3
5. Section 4
6. Section 5
7. Section 6
8. Section 7
9. Section 8
10. The Conclusion