The theory of dynamism strikes a fatal blow at the unity of higher beings. For either the simple forces that constitute a being come into contact or they act at a distance . If they come into contact they all coincide in a mathematical point, inasmuch as two indivisible beings in contact touch each other according to the totality of their being. If they do not come into contact, then a living being is a collection of individual particles which are capable of mutual influence only on the supposition that actio in distans is possible an hypothesis physically impossible. An Objection .
Force is essentially active, whilst extension is synonymous with passivity or complete inertia.
The fallacy of this objection consists in making extension and force two opposed realities whereas they are simply realities of different natures. The idea of force represents power of action, and nothing more. It in no way reveals to us the mode of the material being according to which this power Is realized. Hence it may be applied either to energies which are extended, such as physical and mechanical forces, or to forces of a simple nature, such as mind and will. The function of extension, on the other hand, is to expand in space the subject, whatsoever be its nature, to which it belongs.