The past twenty years has seen the rapid expansion of a movement within the philosophy of science that I will call the new mechanical philosophy (or NMP). The movement offers an approach to understanding both the world that scientists explore and the tools they use to explore it. Its core claims are (1) that most or all natural and social phenomena are produced by the operation of things called mechanisms, and (2) that scientists seek to predict, explain and control these phenomena by the construction, testing and elaboration of models of mechanisms. As a Visiting Fellow at the KLI, I will write a book on the topic of the new mechanical philosophy. That book would be an attempt to give a synoptic account of the NMP, articulating its general tenets and staking out a position on a number of central questions now under discussion.