SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 361 



SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 

 By professor r. m. wenley, 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



TTTHETHEK the average man recognize the situation or palter 

 ^ ^ with it, there can be no doubt that a dualism, a separation, if 

 not an antagonism, between science and religion forms one con- 

 spicuous phenomenon of modern life. True, palliating circumstances 

 may have eased or disguised it somewhat in recent years. But pallia- 

 tion was always a makeshift, and, everything considered, the funda- 

 mental opposition remains, little mitigated. Of course, we may allege 

 that religion and theology are by no means identical, and that the 

 latter rather than the former withstands scientific views and con- 

 clusions. Yet, when we summon courage to be quite frank with our- 

 selves, we must admit freely that religion, as an organized social 

 factor, is so bound up with theological presuppositions as to render 

 this distinction more of a subterfuge than a solution. Again, many 

 in these days seem to think that another marked contrariety of inter- 

 est characterizes the relation between science and philosophy. And, 

 indeed, one must admit that, altogether apart from theoretical prob- 

 lems, certain features of the academic world, in such countries as Scot- 

 land and the United States, for example, afford basis for this prev- 

 alent opinion. In the Scottish universities one-half of the professors 

 of philosophy are clergymen. In the universities and colleges of the 

 United States the theological affiliations are even more intimate. 

 Speaking from memory, I recall that in only three of our nine lead- 

 ing universities do we find the philosophical departments free from 

 clerical influence, while, in the lesser institutions, clerical control con- 

 stitutes the rule, not the exception. Small wonder, then, if many 

 have identified the tendencies of philosophy with the theological, as 

 opposed to the scientific, side of contemporary controversy. 



But, if manifold causes thus support the view that science and 

 philosophy must necessarily conflict, there happen to be other aspects 

 of the matter well worth consideration. In Germany, for instance, the 

 home land of philosophical inquiry during the nineteenth century, 

 the progress of science has been exercising decisive influence on specu- 

 lative thought for a generation at least. Furthermore, the rise and 

 development of experimental psychology has induced many, whose 

 main work lies on the philosophical rather than on the scientific side 



