Antithesis between individual and social as obstruction to method, 186. Meaning of individual, 185. Where opposition lies, 191. Meaning of absolutistic logic, 194. Illustration from doctrine of “evolution,” 196. From psychology, 197. Difference of human and physical science, 199. Experimental inquiry as alternative, 202. Method, and government by experts, 203. Democracy and education by discussion, 206. The level of intelligence, 210. The necessity of local community life, 211. Problem of restoration, 213. Tendencies making for reëstablishment, 215. Connection of this problem with the problem of political intelligence, 217. INDEX 221 THE PUBLIC AND ITS PROBLEMS CHAPTER I SEARCH FOR THE PUBLIC If one wishes to realize the distance which may lie between “facts” and the meaning of facts, let one go to the field of social discussion. Many persons seem to suppose that facts carry their meaning along with themselves on their face. Accumulate enough of them, and their interpretation stares out at you. The development of physical science is thought to confirm the idea. But the power of physical facts to coerce belief does not reside in the bare phenomena. It proceeds from method, from the technique of research and calculation. No one is ever forced by just the collection of facts to accept a particular theory of their meaning, so long as one retains intact some other doctrine by which he can marshal them. Only when the facts are allowed free play for the suggestion of new points of view is any significant conversion of conviction as to meaning possible. Take away from physical science its laboratory apparatus and its mathematical technique, and the human imagination might run wild in its theories of interpretation even if we suppose the brute facts to remain the same.