Atomism and Immanent Causality

The two main theses of Atomism are--there are indivisible discrete elements, and any manifold is a compound of elements. The chronic weakness of Atomism is its applicability. As its history has shown repeatedly, the classification of a phenomenon by an Atomistic system has regularly been arbitrary, i. e. such phenomena have seemingly always been eventually proven to be divisible. Conversely, as Bergson eminently notes, Atomism falsifies a manifold continuity when it fragments its phases into isolated elements. Similarly, one shortcoming of Hume's Atomistic interpretation of Causality is its fracturing of a dynamic process into a mere conjunction of its initial and final moments. Hence, his influential theory of Causality is inapplicable to processes which consist in immanent causality, such as Formal Causality and Material Causality, as defined here. It is also likewise inapplicable to Kant's example of immanent causality, i. e. the process of obeying his Principle of Pure Practical Reason. Hence, Kant's demonstration of the limitation of Humean Causality with respect to Practical Reason focuses on only a specific example of that more general limitation.