Cartesius Page #4

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What do say gentleman?

Are you really convinced

that you'll succeed in leaving

that part of yourself in France

that keeps your reasoning prisoner?

Well I've got to do something

to free myself from the prejudices

I grew up and was educated in.

Incredible...

Admitting to having prejudices.

It's a rare thing in our times

for someone to recognize this.

When we were little

we learned that with

tantrums and tears

we could make our nurses obey us

and thus also reached the conclusion

that the world was at our disposal.

And in the same way

since ancient times,

humanity's infancy,

man persuaded himself that the

earth was flat and not round

and that it remained immobile

at the centre of the universe.

Also, many other

false opinions were

formed about reality

that are still very difficult

to get rid of today.

Our masters covered these

archaic opinions

with wise words

and in doing so have

strongly rooted

the force of the error

they contain in us.

And you think that

by going to Holland

You'll succeed in freeing yourself

from the contagion of these errors?

I need to remove myself

from the air of this city,

from the noise the words and

opinions of its learned men make

to succeed in making my

reasoning to work freely.

I have decided to refuse

all opinions, even my own,

as if they were all false

and I have decided

that I will not accept

them before carefully examining

them carefully with my reasoning,

only accepting the ones I

reach absolute certainty about.

I will behave like an apple seller,

who empties the whole basket,

fearing the presence

of a few bad pieces

and puts back only the sound fruit.

But I always thought that Paris

was the city most capable

of stimulating the

intellect and of giving

reasoning the greatest liberty.

I believed that too, but...

by travelling in the world

I'll be able to know the

truth much better,

than through the debates

of wise Parisians.

I see that you've already

made your decision,

have you written to tell your father?

Of course I'd never set off on a

journey without letting him know.

And when are you leaving?

Straightaway with little luggage

in which there will not be

enough room for even one book.

Men who love liberty must

follow it every where

because they believe it lives there.

And I see that you believe

that liberty lives in Holland.

If you really do find it,

write to me.

I'll write to you sir.

Bring us some beer.

It seems...

that only traders and sailors

live in this country.

Do you mind?

We would like to talk to you.

Take a seat.

Almost every morning,

at this time,

I see you come here to drink

your customary beer.

Do you find it good?

What do you want from us sir?

We know that you can

handle a sword well.

Anyone who is adept, is a swordsman

But we have been told that

you are very skilled,

and we have been observing

you for several days.

You are never drunk.

I already asked you sir,

what do you want from us?

I'm offering you recruitment.

Two thousand florins per year

as masters of arms

two ships sailing

for the West India Company.

We are cadets without pay sir,

each of us has enough to live on.

But if you love adventure

and like liberty,

there is nothing better for you

than to take to the sea life.

We are offering you positions

on two new merchant ships

- 600 toners -

that have just been armed.

They are ships that look like palaces,

have thirty cannons

and holds larger than

the warehouses of Mr

Van Cliff of Amsterdam.

You would have a

cabin and the sole task

of instructing the sailors and

of commanding the ship's guard.

How many months

would the job be for?

Just one voyage sir, 12 months.

You would find yourself with the tidy amount

of two thousand Florins in your pocket,

because on the voyage

you'd have little to spend.

Please realise that

this is an excellent deal ,

the ships will land at the

Dutch colony of New Holland

at the mouth of the

river piloted by Hudson

in which you navigate

like in a vast sea.

As far as I 'm concerned, I 'm not

interested in your offer at all.

I couldn't take my servant

with me on your ship

and I wouldn't have any comforts

which are indispensable

for me to live and think.

It's strange for a soldier to be

so attached to his comforts.

And you sir, do you refuse the offer?

Unfortunately I must return

to Paris at the end of the year,

otherwise I'd accept.

I come to this tavern every

morning to drink a glass of beer

If you should change you mind...

Just let me know.

Don't hold out any hope for me sir.

This problem has been put

up here for two days now

and no one has yet come

forward with the solution.

Go then friend and good luck.

Good-bye and thanks.

Excuse me sir,

I heard you speaking my language,

could you please translate the

text for me to be more certain?

I haven't understood

some of the details.

My pleasure sir.

Here is a mathematical problem

for an illustrious mind.

A stone falls

from A to B in one hour.

It is perpetually attracted

by the earth with the same force,

without losing any of the speed

imparted to it

by the previous attraction.

Well, what moves in

space moves eternally.

The question is

how long will the stone take

to cross a given space.

Well the solution is simple.

Simple. But...

Why yes...

But I'm the person who posted

this puzzle, despairing of ever

finding an answer to the problem,

and I'm a mathematician.

I'm ready to give you an

explanation whenever you like.

I'll wait for you at my house sir.

I'm anxious to hear you.

Here at Breda, everyone knows where

Isaac Beckman of Middle Border lives.

Here.

In this triangle rectangle

ABC represent the space,

in other words the movement.

The disparity of the space

from point A to the base

BC represents the disparity

of the movement.

Consequently AD will

be covered in the time

represented by ADE and DB in

the time represented by DEBC.

Therefore, AB will be reached

three time more slowly than AD.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Do you know what a scholastic

learned man would have replied

to me in your place?

''Everything present in the universe

belongs in a place that

is natural for it.

The place that is most suitable for it.

We can say that weight

is no more than the appetite

that things have for

finding that blessed place''

''Mr Beckman'' would have told me,

''Your problem is simply

badly expressed.

just tell me first

which body is falling

and I will tell you straightaway

where its preferred place is''.

But all this is simply absurd.

I see sir,

that you are refusing to explain

the physical phenomena to me

by attributing qualities to bodies

that belong only to the spirit.

This is why I love mathematics

but practice medicine.

You're right.

Mathematics

is the only discipline

certainty comes to

us from.

Mathematical sciences teach us

the enumeration and calculation

of any movement,

the relationships, the proportions,

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