The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 2, February, 1864: Devoted To Literature And National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 2, February, 1864: Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
We must guard, however, against entertaining the supposition that a
Unitary Science will bring _all_ the Phenomena of the universe within
the compass of _Demonstrable_ apprehension. The province of Science is
not infinite, but circumscribed. We are limited in the application of
Mathematical Laws, even within the sphere of Pure Mathematics; general
equations of the fifth degree having until recently resisted all
attempts to solve them; and fields yet remain into which we cannot
advance. The power of the human mind to analyze Phenomena ceases at some
point, and there our ability to _apply_ Scientific Principles, however
indubitable in themselves, ends. It is the office of Exact Science to
furnish us with a knowledge of the inherent Laws which everywhere
pervade the Universe and govern continuously and unalterably its
activities. To the extent to which it is possible to trace the
constituent elements of Thought or Things we can have the guidance of
these Laws or Principles. But when we reach that point in any department
of investigation where the complexity of the Phenomena renders it
impossible for the human intellect to successfully analyze it and
discover its separate parts, the sphere of accurate Scientific Knowledge
is transcended. The Intuition--the faculty which apprehends what we may
call the spirit of _Concrete_ things, which goes to conclusions by a
rapid process that overleaps intermediate steps, which is our guide in
the numerous decisions that we are called to make in our every-day life,
and which perceives, in a somewhat vague and indefinite manner--becomes
our only guide in this Realm of the Inexact.
The advent of a Unitary Science and the inauguration of a true Deductive
Method in all domains of Thought, will, indeed, completely revolutionize
our Scientific bases, and render precision and infallibility possible in
domains where now only conjecture and probability exist. It will enable
us to establish on a firm and secure foundation the _Laws or Principles
of every department of the Universe of Matter and of Mind_, and to
penetrate the Phenomena of all realms to an extent now scarcely
imagined. It will furnish us the 'Criterion of Truth' so long sought
after--a ground of intellectual agreement in all the concerns of life,
so far as this is essential, similar to that which we now have in
Mathematics, where difference of opinion is impossible because _proof is
of a nature to be alike convincing to all_.
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