The Inseparability of Matter and Motion in Margaret Cavendish’s Metaphysics

This paper intends to present a reconstruction of an argument for the inseparabilityInseparability of matter and motionMotion in Cavendish. Implicit in this argument is a critique of the mechanisticMechanistic definition of motion and its project as an explanatory model for natural phenomenaNatural phenomena. At first, I will attempt to show how the textual tension over the relationship between matter and motion originates in some of the relevant texts of Cavendish’s metaphysicsMetaphysics. After that, I will present how it is possible to reconstruct an argument for the conceptual inseparability between matter and motion and this is directly linked to her theory of complete blending. Once these steps have been taken, we are in a position to analyze Cavendish’s critiques of mechanism.