noun
In philosophy, the view that all phenomena can be explained by mechanical principles or material interactions.
デカルトの機械論は、動物を複雑な機械と見なした。
Descartes' mechanism regarded animals as complex machines.
生命現象を機械論
There are attempts to explain life phenomena through mechanism.
生気論 (vitalism) is the opposing view that life involves a non-mechanical vital force, directly contrasting with 機械論.
Compound of 機械 (machine, mechanism) and 論 (theory, argument). Likely a Meiji-era calque from Western philosophical terminology.