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THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVOLUTION
Descartes opened the attack more courageously than his older contemporary. His starting point was absolute doubt about everything the reality and veracity of which could not be established by sense perception. The rejection of authority as the unquestionable testimony for truth logically led to the deposition of theology from the proud position it had occupied for more than a thousand years. Nothing should be accepted as true unless it were proved to be so, and the standard of truth was not authority or the mystic fantasy called revelation, but reason. In expounding his memorable theory of vortices, Descartes, indeed, made a concession to the time-honoured prejudice regarding the orgin of creation; but the sheer formality of his accommodating attitude was unmistakably exposed by the cynical remark that "yet it would be of eminent interest to see how the Universe might have evolved by itself". In the bloody age of heresy hunting, the very postulation of such a hypothesis represented great boldness which could proceed only from a firm scientific conviction. The Cartesian theory of vortices marks the beginning of modern physics and cosmology. It was the continuation of ancient atomism, propounded by the philosophers of ancient Greece,Democritos and Epicuros-in the brilliant light of knowledge which had been all but extinguished in the dark ages of religiosity, miracles and revealed wisdom. Since the days of Descartes, physics has
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