Stony Brook University - SUNY Digital Repository

comets, the trajectory motion of cannonballs
and other projectiles – indeed, all the known
phenomena of celestial and terrestrial
mechanics were now unified under one set of
physical laws. […] Newton had struggled to
discover the grand design of the universe, and
had patently succeeded. Descarte’s vision of
nature as a perfectly ordered machine governed
by mathematical laws and comprehensible by
human science was fulfilled. (270)
With Newton and his discovery of the very laws of nature itself,
the Logos and the Word of God had been proven, seemingly,
through theorems and formulae. The universe and the “truth”
about it – and by proxy, very possibly, God himself – could be
measured, weighed, charted, and demonstrated. In short, “Newton
had revealed the true nature of reality” and, therein, had
“established […] the foundation of a new world view” (270). All
of its mysteries could not only be known but, in essence,
possessed, through scientific investigation and ratiocination.
According to physician and renowned alternative medicine
practitioner and Dr. Andrew Weil, this knowledge gained from
science’s “ability to describe, predict, and control the
phenomenal world” was power, “power to use the forces of nature”
(258). Explaining further, Weil writes:
The picture drawn by Descartes and Newton was (and
is) very appealing. It demystified much of reality,
putting distance between the modern, scientific world
and a superstitious past in which people lived in
fear of supernatural forces and unpredictable
deities. Also, it worked very well, conferring a
high degree of ability to describe, predict, and
control the observable world. Using this model,
Western scientists were able to achieve an
unprecedented level of technological power in the
1800s and thus dominate the world. (260-1)
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