But since all the individual questions arising in the applied sciences
may be considered essentially as problems of one or other pure science,
they need not be explicitly enumerated along with the pure sciences,
especially since their development is greatly dependent upon temporary
conditions and is therefore incapable of simple systematization.
PART II
LOGIC, THE SCIENCE OF THE MANIFOLD, AND MATHEMATICS
=19. The Most General Concept.= If we try to conceive the whole
structure of science according to the principle of the increasing
complexity of concepts, the first question which confronts us is, What
concept is the _most general_ of all possible concepts, so general that
it enters into every concept formation and acts as a decisive factor? In
order to find this concept let us go back to the psycho-physical basis
of concept formation, namely, _memory_, and let us investigate what is
the general characteristic determining memory. We soon perceive that if
a being were to lead an absolutely uniform existence, _no_ memories
could be evoked. There would be nothing by which the past could be
distinguished from the present, hence nothing by which to compare them.
So the "primal phenomenon" of conscious thought is the realization of a
_difference_, a difference between memory and the present, or, to put
the same idea still more generally, between two memories.
Our experiences, therefore, are divided into two parts, distinguished
from each other. In order to predicate something of a perfectly general
nature concerning those parts, without regard to their particular
content, we must, in accordance with the means employed in human
intercourse, designate them by a _name_. Now in all human languages
there is a great deal of arbitrariness and indefiniteness in the
relations between the concepts and the names applied to them, which
render all accurate work in the study of concepts extremely difficult.
It is necessary, therefore, to state definitely in each particular
instance with what conceptual content a given name is to be connected.
Every experience in so far as it is differentiated from other
experiences we shall call simply an _experience_ without making a
distinction between a so-called inner or outer experience.
Many of the experiences remain isolated, because they are not repeated
in a similar form, and so do not remain in our memory. They depart from
our psychic life once for all and leave no further consequences or
associations. But some experiences recur with greater or less
uniformity, and become permanent parts of psychic life. Their duration
is by no means unlimited. For even memories fade and disappear. However,
they extend through a considerable part of life, and that suffices to
give them their character.
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