=18. The Applied Sciences.= It will be remarked that the grouping of the
table gives no place at all in its scheme to certain branches of
learning taught in the universities and equally good technical
institutions. We look in vain not only for theology and jurisprudence,
but also for astronomy, medicine, etc.
The explanation and justification of this is, that for purposes of
systematization we must distinguish between _pure_ and _applied_
sciences. By virtue of their strictly conceptual exclusiveness the pure
sciences constitute a regular hierarchy or graded series, so that all
the concepts that have been used and dealt with in the preceding
sciences are repeated in the following sciences, while certain
characteristic new concepts enter in addition. Thus logic, the science
of the manifold, exercises its dominion over all the other sciences,
while the specific concepts of physics and chemistry have nothing to do
with it, though they are of importance to all the biologic sciences.
Through this graded addition of new (naturally empiric) concepts, the
construction of the pure sciences proceeds in strict regularity, and
their problems arise exclusively from the application of new concepts to
all the earlier ones. In other words, their problems do not reach them
accidentally from without, but result from the action and reaction of
their concepts upon one another.
At the same time there are problems that each day sets before us without
regard to system. These come from our endeavor to improve life and avert
evil. In the problems of life we are confronted by the whole variety of
possible concepts, and under the day's immediate compulsion we cannot
wait, if we are sowing crops or helping a sick man, until physiology and
all the other appropriate sciences have solved all the problems of plant
growth and the changes of the human body and human energy. When other
signs fail, we use the position of the stars for finding our way on the
high seas. In this manner we turn the teaching of the stars, or
astronomy, into an applied science, in which at first mechanics alone
seemed to have a part. Later physics took a share in it, then optics
took a particularly prominent share, and in recent times not only did
chemistry find its way into astronomy, but the specifically biologic
concept of evolution was applied in astronomy with success.
Thus, side by side with the pure sciences are the applied, which are to
be distinguished from the pure sciences by the fact that they do not
unfold their problems systematically, but are assigned them by the
external circumstances of man's life. The pure sciences, therefore,
almost always have a larger or smaller share in the tasks of the applied
sciences. For instance, in building a bridge or railroad, physical
problems have to be taken into consideration as well as sociologic
problems (problems of trade), and a good physician should be a
psychologist as well as a chemist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account