Returning then to our starting-point, many contemporary physicists
wish to subject Descartes' idea to strict criticism. From the
philosophical point of view, they first enquire whether it is really
demonstrated that there exists nothing else in the knowable than
matter and movement. They ask themselves whether it is not habit and
tradition in particular which lead us to ascribe to mechanics the
origin of phenomena. Perhaps also a question of sense here comes in.
Our senses, which are, after all, the only windows open towards
external reality, give us a view of one side of the world only;
evidently we only know the universe by the relations which exist
between it and our organisms, and these organisms are peculiarly
sensitive to movement.
Nothing, however, proves that those acquisitions which are the most
ancient in historical order ought, in the development of science, to
remain the basis of our knowledge. Nor does any theory prove that our
perceptions are an exact indication of reality. Many reasons, on the
contrary, might be invoked which tend to compel us to see in nature
phenomena which cannot be reduced to movement.
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