Chapter XLIV: Section D: Methodology of Science (4)

If we turn our attention to this way of viewing the problem,--not, however, in the form of Herbart's speculative method,--we shall find that the results which we have gained will in no respect be altered. We do, however, get a view beyond. From it we can find the way to subordinate not only the uniform sequence of events, but also the persistent characteristics and states with their mutual relations, under the extended causal law. In so doing, we do not fall back again into the intellectual world of the concept philosophy. We come only to regard the _persisting coexistences_--in the physical field, the bodies, in the psychical, the subjects of consciousness--as systems or modes of activity. The thoughts to which such a doctrine leads are accordingly not new or unheard of. The substances have always been regarded as sources of modes of activity. We have here merely new modifications of thoughts that have been variously developed, not only from the side of empiricism, but also from that of rationalism. They carry with them methodologically the implication that it is possible to grasp the totality of reality, as far as it reveals uniformities, as a causally connected whole, as a cosmos. They give the research of the special sciences the conceptual bases for the wider prospects that the sciences of facts have through hard labor won for themselves. The subject of consciousness is unitary as far as the processes of memory extend, but it is not simple. On the contrary, it is most intricately put together out of psychical complexes, themselves intricate and out of their relations; all of which impress upon us, psychologically and, in their mechanical correlates, physiologically, an ever-recurring need for further empirical analysis. Among the mechanical images of physical reality that form the foundation of our interpretation of nature, there can finally be but one that meets all the requirements of a general hypothesis of the continuity of kinetic connections. With this must be universally coördinated the persistent properties or sensible modes of action belonging to bodies. The mechanical constitution of the compound bodies, no matter at what stage of combination and formation, must be derivable from the mechanical constitution of the elements of this combination. Thus our causal thought compels us to trace back the persistent coexistences of the so-called elements to combinations whose analysis, as yet hardly begun, leads us on likewise to indefinitely manifold problems. Epistemologically we come finally to a universal phenomenological dynamism as the fundamental basis of all theoretical interpretation of the world, at least fundamental for our scientific thought, and we are here concerned with no other.

ADDENDA PAGES

FOR LECTURE NOTES AND MEMORANDA OF COLLATERAL READING

Transcriber's Notes:

In the original book, ten blank pages follow the last text entry.
On the title page, the copy number (337) is written in by hand.
In the chronological order of proceedings for September 24, there
is no listing for Hall 9 at 3 p.m.

Alterations:

Punctuation was standardized.
Footnotes were moved directly after the paragraph to which they pertain
and are indented.
Greek phrases were transliterated. Stand-alone Greek letters were
spelled out, i.e., 'alpha,' 'beta,' 'gamma.'
Hyphens removed for consistency with remaining text:
... banquet hall of the Tyrolean Alps ...
... breaking down of national Schools ...
... analysis of the material scientific methods ...
... is by no means a passive mirror picture of an ...
... and the much discussed historical laws are ...
... it is in the number series that we have ...
... as well as of the number system, can all be ...
... by our sense perception of this ...
... in the form of sense perception ...
... for the space of sense perception is to ...
... are in the first instance sense perceptions,...
... doctrine of the thought processes,...
... character of the thought processes,...
... introduction of time relations into the ...
... the too much neglected idea of the ...
... in the main, twofold: ...
... sense and self perception,...
Hyphen added for consistency with remaining text:
... of those will-acts which themselves have ...
Changed:
'colaborers' to 'co-laborers' ... and other worthy co-laborers?...
'pyscho' to 'psycho' ... psycho-physical elements ...
'interacademic' to 'inter-academic' ... inter-academic interest ...
'organzied' to 'organized' ... already organized branches ...
'Pyschological' to 'Psychological' ... Psychological Association....
'B' to 'A' and 'C' to 'B' in the Programme, Department 16. Sociology
Capitalized 'Admiral' ... Rear-Admiral John R. Bartlett ...
Added period to 'LL.D.' ... Putnam, Litt.D., LL.D., ...