 In order to better grasp the specific role of Cartesian force, it would be useful to closely examine his theory of centrifugal effects, which is closely associated with the second law of nature. Besides straight-line motion, Descartes’ second law also mentions the “center-fleeing” (centrifugal) tendencies of circularly moving material bodies: “all movement is, of itself, along straight lines; and consequently, bodies which are moving in a circle always tends to move away from the center of the circle which they are describing” (Pr II 39). At first glance, the second law might seem to correspond to the modern scientific dissection of centrifugal force: specifically, the centrifugal effects experienced by a body moving in a circular path, such as a stone in a sling, are a normal consequence of the body’s tendency to depart the circle along a straight tangential path. Yet, as stated in his second law, Descartes contends (wrongly) that the body tends to follow a straight line away from the center of its circular trajectory. That is, the force exerted by the rotating stone, as manifest in the outward “pull” on the impeding sling, is a result of a striving towards straight line inertial motion directed radially outward from the center of the circle, rather than a striving towards straight line motion aimed along the circle’s tangent. Descartes does acknowledge, however, the significance of tangential motion in explicating such “center-fleeing” tendencies, but he relegates this phenomenon to the subordinate status of a composite effect. By his reckoning, the tendency to follow a tangential path exhibited by a circling body, such as the flight of the stone upon release from the sling, can be constructed from two more basic or primary inclinations: first, the tendency of the object to continue along its circular path; and second, the tendency of the object to travel along the radial line away from the center. Thus, Descartes is willing to admit that “there can be strivings toward diverse movements in the same body at the same time” (Pr III 57), a judgment that seems to presuppose the acceptance of some type of “compositional” theory of tendencies analogous to his dissection of determinations. Yet, since he believes that “the sling, …, does not impede the striving [of the body along the circular path]” (Pr III 57), he eventually places sole responsibility for the production of the centrifugal force effects on the radially directed component of “striving”. He states, “If instead of considering all the forces of [a body’s] motion, we pay attention, to only one part of it, the effect of which is hindered by the sling;…;we shall say that the stone, when at point A, strives only [to move] toward D, or that it only attempts to recede from the center E along the straight line EAD” (Pr III 57; see Figure 2).