Page 86 - CONSCIENCISM By Kwame Nkrumah_Neat

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CONSCIENCISM
CONSCIENCISM 81
significant proposition is yielded by its method of verificatino.
Indeed, Newton would also deny a body's power of rotary self­
The principle which r am on the other hand anxious to defend
motion. To borrow a word invented by Whitehead, the inertia of
states no condition for meaningfulness, but only establishes a
matter corresponds to its pushiness.
sufficient condition for identity ofmeaning. The central idea is as
When it is enquired what the philosophers mean by the inertness
follows: if there are two expressions such that precisely the same
ofmatter, something different transpires. In reality the plillosophers
consequences follow from the conjunction of the first with any
seek an intellectual parallel to physical motion, and deny this of
other proposition as follow from the conjunction of the second
matter. Hence, we find them harping incontinently on the
with the same proposition, then the two expressions are identical in 'stupidity' ofmatter. They mean by this that matter is incapable of
meaning.
intellectual action, neither thinking, perceiving nor feeling. Of
It will be seen that this Principle ofIdentity ofMeaning is akin to
course, they are grateful for Newton's denial of the physical
Leibniz's Principle ofIdentity ofMeaning and to Frege's Principle
activity ofmatter. They take this up and increase it with a further
ofIdentity ofMeaning. I have described one kind ofmotion which
denial of the intellectual activity ofmatter. Hence, when a philo­
philosophers accept. They also distinguish rotary motion, which
sopher says that matter is 'stupid', he does not mean that it is slow­
Plato illustrated with the movement ofa top. There is however a
witted, but that it has no wit at all. In this denial ofactivity, both
third kind of motion, which consists in alteration of property. If
physical and mental, of matter, it is however not 1.ll1usual for
properties can be distinguished from relations, it can be said that
philosophers to contradict themselves. Ifone looks through Locke's
there are two broad categories ofmotion, such that one introduces
magnum opus, The Essay on Human Understanding, one quickly
a change in relation while the other introduces a change in property,
comes upon such contradictions.
seeing that linear as well as rotary motion involves change of There Locke denies that matter is active, attributing all activity to
relation. Ifthere are these two kinds ofmotion, one resulting in a
spirit. Nevertheless, in his theory of perception, he says that
change ofrelation, the other in a change ofproperty, then when it is corpuscles travel from a perceived object to our appropriate organ of
said that matter has an original power ofself-motion, neither kind sense in order that we should be able to perceive it. These cor':'
is necessarily implied, nor are both together.
puscles are said by him to be parts ofthe perceived object which
It is fashionable, in particular among philosophers who eschew
detach themselves and subject us to a kind ofradiative bombard­
dialectics, to say that matter is inert. What tllls means must be
ment. Here, Locke patently contradicts himsel£ For tllis activity of
distinguished from what the inertia of matter means in Newton.
matter is not said by him to be induced, but origina~ natural.
Newton defined inertia axiomatically as, for example, in his first
But even the theory ofgravity, while it does explain the current
law ofmotion. According to this law, a body, except in so far as it is
motion of bodies (including rest), is properly silent over the
impressed upon by an external force, continues in its state of
question ofantecedents. It does not face the question why bodies
uniform motion in a straight line. The position of rest is easily
move at all, how it is that the heavenly bodies, for example, come
accommodated as a limiting case ofmotion in a straight line. Now
to be moving, but only how they keep moving and why they keep
it is quite proper, instead ofgiving a direct defmition ofan intro­
moving as they do.
duced term, to elucidate its meaning by means of axioms. The
And yet, all those who conceive the universe in terms of an
axioms will in fact set out what one is to gather from the use ofthe original super-atom which multiplied internal stresses to such a
introduced term. In the case ofNewton's first law ofmotion, we see
pitch as to burst aS1.ll1der, thereby imply that matter has powers of
that here too a body's power of linear self-motion is denied.
self-motion, for they do not conceive this primordial building­