Experiment

The trying of something new is often called 'experimenting'. Frequently, we experiment in order to attain knowledge that can be put to some further use. But sometimes we simply attempt something just to 'see what will happen'. Involved is a basic movement-awareness structure, the movement producing the 'happening', and the 'seeing' of it being achieved in the awareness. Often, such experiences are merely whimsical, but even without the awareness gained being put to some further use, experimenting can be serious and urgent. Any movement whatsoever can be the subject of deliberate experiment, the potential seriousness of which can be seen in physical rehabilitation processes, in which the very attempt to move a limb may be fraught with uncertainty. In fact, every movement, at every instant, is uncertain at the outset, even if that uncertainty is obscured by the comforts of routine--the outcome may be highly probable, but absolute certainty is impossible. What is often underappreciated in Hume's scepticism regarding Causality is that the fundamental uncertainty of causal connections lies not between 'cause' and 'effect', but between previous sequences of events and future possible outcomes, because any propensity to link 'cause' and 'effect' is grounded upon the assumption that the future will repeat the past. The word 'experiment', like 'experience', comes from 'peril'; and, insofar as every movement is uncertain, all behavior is experimental.