World-machine. Isaac Newton's conception of the universe as one huge, regulated and uniform machine that operated according to natural laws in absolute time, space, and motion. In this new world that Newton created, God was the master-builder, who created the perfect machine and let it run. God was the Prime Mover, who brought into being the world in its lawfulness, regularity, and beauty. This view of God as the creator, who stood aside from his work and didn’t get involved directly with humanity was called Deism (which predates Newton) and was accepted by many who supported the “new philosophy”

Category:Metaphysics