Mechanism may refer to:
- Mechanism (engineering), rigid bodies connected by joints in order to accomplish a desired force and/or motion transmission
- Mechanism (biology), explaining how a feature is created
- Mechanism (philosophy), a theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes
- Mechanism (sociology), a theory that all social phenomena can be explained by the existence of a deterministic mechanism
- Mechanism (band), a death metal band from Canada
Famous quotes containing the word mechanism:
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
“A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)
“The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)