1. The principle that you take as the basis of your demonstration, namely that nature always acts in the shortest and simplest ways, is merely a moral principle and not a physical one; it is not, and cannot be, the cause of any effect in nature .... For otherwise we would attribute knowledge to nature; but here, by "nature", we understand only this order and this law established in the world as it is, which acts without foresight, without choice, and by a necessary determination.