A DYNAMIC THEORY OF HISTORY (1904) A DYNAMIC theory, like most
theories, begins by begging the question: it defines Progress as
the development and economy of Forces. Further, it defines force
as anything that does, or helps to do work. Man is a force; so
is the sun; so is a mathematical point, though without
dimensions or known existence. Man commonly begs the question
again taking for granted that he captures the forces. A dynamic
theory, assigning attractive force to opposing bodies in
proportion to the law of mass, takes for granted that the forces
of nature capture man. The sum of force attracts: the feeble
atom or molecule called man is attracted; he suffers education
or growth; he is the sum of the forces that attract him; his
body and his thought are alike their product; the movement of
the forces controls the progress of his mind, since he can know
nothing but the motions which impinge on his senses, whose sum
makes education. For convenience as an image, the theory may
liken man to a spider in its w