Bahai Philosophy and the Question of the Environment

Regardless of differing theoretical interpretations of the ethnographic data, one

conclusion emerges out of the diverse accounts of premodern societies: the organizing principle

of their worldview affirmed the universal solidarity of all beings.

B. From Descartes and Jansenism to the Enlightenment

The transition from the organic conception of reality to the mechanistic paradigm occurred

through various developments between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. French

philosophy of the seventeenth century was strongly influenced by Cartesian and Jansenist

currents. Both perspectives, one philosophical and the other theological, set the stage for a new

conceptualization of nature and culture.

Rene Descartes, whose principle of methodic doubt is

perceived as one of the most important moments in the birth of modernity, divided reality into

two fundamental substances: mind and body. According to Descartes, mind and body are exact

opposites in terms of their essences. Mind is substance endowed with consciousness but lacking

extension. In contrast, matter lacks consciousness but has extension. It is important to realize that

Cartesian philosophy was intended to demonstrate the reality of the spiritual nature of human

beings and to prove the existence and wisdom of God. Descartes’ statement “I think therefore I

am,” was intended as a proof of the independent reality of the soul which became the foundation

for his proofs of the existence of God.

However, Descartes’ philosophy unintentionally initiated a theoretical model which led

to the dominance of the mechanistic paradigm. The crucial step taken by Descartes was the

substitution of a mechanical conception of nature for the previous organic view. As we saw,

Descartes defined matter as lacking consciousness but endowed with extension.

This meant that

extension became the essence of matter. That is why the realm of nature was defined simply in

terms of extension. It meant that the essential properties of matter are nothing but their

mathematical quantities in terms of different dimensions. The realm of nature was thus stripped

of any spiritual, organic, conscious, living, or magical characteristics. The Pythagorean mystic

and spiritual mathematics was replaced by abstract and uniform mathematics. From then on

mathematics became the language and principle of physics and physical reality, while the realm

of nature became a uniform space subject to calculation, quantification, formalization,

operationalization, and domination. For Descartes this implied that the realm of nature should be

understood in terms of mechanical phenomena. A machine works by mechanical laws, and the

material universe is nothing but a gigantic machine. This mechanistic conception of nature was