Page:The Concept of Nature.djvu/37

24 in terms of the relations of a bit of matter with itself. My own view is a belief in the relational theory both of space and of time, and of disbelief in the current form of the relational theory of space which exhibits bits of matter as the relata for spatial relations. The true relata are events. The distinction which I have just pointed out between time and space in their connexion with matter makes it evident that any assimilation of time and space cannot proceed along the traditional line of taking matter as a fundamental element in space-formation.

The philosophy of nature took a wrong turn during its development by Greek thought. This erroneous presupposition is vague and fluid in Plato’s Timaeus. The general groundwork of the thought is still un committed and can be construed as merely lacking due explanation and the guarding emphasis. But in Aristotle’s exposition the current conceptions were hardened and made definite so as to produce a faulty analysis of the relation between the matter and the form of nature as disclosed in sense-awareness. In this phrase the term ‘matter’ is not used in its scientific sense.

I will conclude by guarding myself against a mis apprehension. It is evident that the current doctrine of matter enshrines some fundamental law of nature. Any simple illustration will exemplify what I mean. For example, in a museum some specimen is locked securely in a glass case. It stays there for years: it loses its colour, and perhaps falls to pieces. But it is the same specimen; and the same chemical elements and the same quantities of those elements are present within the case at the end as were present at the beginning. Again the engineer and the astronomer deal with the motions of real