Literary notes about mechanics (AI summary)
The term “mechanics” has been deployed in literature in remarkably diverse ways, reflecting both its technical scientific roots and its metaphorical and socio-economic nuances. In scientific and technical contexts, authors like Einstein and Jefferson use “mechanics” to denote the formal study of motion, forces, and the mathematical principles underlying physical phenomena [1, 2, 3, 4]. In contrast, writers such as Walt Whitman and Mark Twain invoke “mechanics” to represent the working class—skilled laborers and common artisans whose practical, everyday abilities form the backbone of society [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. Moreover, the term has been expanded metaphorically to refer to the underlying processes in various realms, from the “mechanics of modern culture” [10] to the abstract workings of human movement and even spiritual or religious life [11, 12]. This layered usage not only highlights the word’s evolution in meaning but also underscores literature’s capacity to employ technical terminology in articulating broader human and societal experiences.
- The System of Co-ordinates 03. Space and Time in Classical Mechanics 04.
— from Relativity : the Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein - One of these takes analysis; a second, mechanics; a third, descriptive geometry and geodesy; the fourth, physics; and the fifth, chemistry.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF APPLIED MECHANICS.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Course of Applied Mechanics, 205 1.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Great, very great, must be the State where such young farmers and mechanics are the practical average.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - They want good farmers, sailors, mechanics, clerks, citizens—perfect business and social relations—perfect fathers and mothers.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - I have noticed how the millions of sturdy farmers and mechanics are thus the helpless supple-jacks of comparatively few politicians.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - We cannot have grand races of mechanics, work people, and commonalty, (the only specific purpose of America,) on any less terms.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Below them were masses of the common people—mechanics, tradesmen, and peasants—whose life was devoted to arts of peace.
— from Bushido, the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe - The Subtler Effects of Isolation [109] The mechanics of modern culture is complicated.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Mechanics as a teaching of movement is already a translation of phenomena into man's language of the senses.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - Thus understood, religious technique seems to be a sort of mystic mechanics.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim
