CHEMICAL CLOCK I77 



to suppress, in thought, this presence outside of which we 

 cannot speak of reality? 



So far, only mathematicians have dared to venture into the 

 domain of the imponderable. They speak a language the 

 symbols of which express solely pure ideas or relations. 

 Thanks to this privilege they can explore the most abstract 

 regions and emit daring theories without incurring the 

 thunder of the enemies of philosophy, the rationalists. It 

 must be admitted that mathematical methods possess a 

 rigorousness never attained by ancient philosophers, which 

 enables a greater number of men to reason with a seeming of 

 truth. Yet, there as elsewhere, the value of the conclusions 

 depends on the value and legitimacy of the premises and 

 postulates, that is to say, on the genius of man and not on the 

 rigour of the intermediate reasoning. 



Nowadays our philosophers are mathematicians. Their 

 aim, if not their ambition, is not to explain, but to translate 

 quantitatively the facts perceived by our conscience. This is 

 undoubtedly a marked progress. Nevertheless, the question 

 now arises as to whether quantitative symbols will ever be 

 able to express life, psychological phenomena in general, 

 intelligence, and mathematical reasoning itself, including the 

 principle of beauty which it so often embodies. 









