Problem: Related to mind and body (and determinism), another persistent question in psychology's history is whether human behavior is completely explicable in terms of mechanical laws. According to mechanism, the behavior of all organisms, including humans, can be explained in the same way that the behavior of any machine can be-in terms of its parts and the laws governing those parts. To the mechanist, explaining human behavior is like explaining the behavior of a clock except that humans are more complex. In contrast, according to vitalism, life can never be completely reduced to material things and mechanical laws. Living things contain a vital force that does not exist in inanimate objects. In ancient times, this force was referred to as a soul or spirit, and it was its departure from the body that caused death. The mechanism-vitalism debate is prominently featured in psychology's history, and we will encounter it in various forms throughout this text. Need Assignment Help?