An Introduction to PhilosophyFullerton, George Stuart
Philosophy
An Introduction to Philosophy
Fullerton, George Stuart
Philosophy
So it is also in the sciences of chemistry and physics. There is
nothing to prevent the chemist or the physicist from being a
philosopher, but he is not compelled to be one. He may push forward
the investigations proper to his profession regardless of the type of
philosophy which it pleases him to adopt. Whether he be a realist or
an idealist, a dualist or a monist, he should, as chemist or physicist,
treat the same sort of facts in the same sort of a way. His path
appears to be laid out for him, and he can do work the value of which
is undisputed by traveling quietly along it, and without stopping to
consider consciously what kind of a path it is. There are many who
work in this way, and they succeed in making important contributions to
human knowledge.
Such sciences as these I call the non-philosophical sciences to
distinguish them from the group of sciences I have been discussing at
length. What marks them out is, that the facts with which the
investigator has to deal are known by him with sufficient clearness to
leave him usually in little doubt as to the use which he can make of
them. His knowledge is clear enough for the purpose in hand, and his
work is justified by its results. What is the relation of such
sciences as these to philosophy?
79. THE STUDY OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES AND METHODS.--It is one thing to
have the instinct of the investigator and to be able to feel one's way
along the road that leads to new knowledge of a given kind, and it is
another thing to have the reflective turn of mind that makes one
clearly conscious of just what one has been doing and how one has been
doing it. Men reasoned before there was a science of logic, and the
sciences made their appearance before what may be called the logic of
the sciences had its birth.
"It may be truly asserted," writes Professor Jevons,[1] "that the rapid
progress of the physical sciences during the last three centuries has
not been accompanied by a corresponding advance in the theory of
reasoning. Physicists speak familiarly of Scientific Method, but they
could not readily describe what they mean by that expression.
Profoundly engaged in the study of particular classes of natural
phenomena, they are usually too much engrossed in the immense and ever
accumulating details of their special sciences to generalize upon the
methods of reasoning which they unconsciously employ. Yet few will
deny that these methods of reasoning ought to be studied, especially by
those who endeavor to introduce scientific order into less successful
and methodical branches of knowledge."
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