time: the refreshing river 



mathematical logicians point out to us, that there are few, perhaps no, 

 metaphysical propositions which can be translated into the exact 

 language of mathematical logic. Philosophy on this view is an art, a 

 sort of music gone wrong. Among these opponents, however, marxist 

 ethics and orthodox theology cannot be numbered. They, at least, 

 cannot be accused of undervaluing philosophy. 



Against Science come many influences, some of which are equally 

 opposed to philosophy. The whole anti-intellectual ist movement, so 

 protean in its manifestations in our time, acts in this direction. From 

 the mystical point of view represented by D. H. Lawrence and his 

 followers at one end to the folky-brutal atmosphere of nazism at the 

 other, we have a thoroughly anti-scientific front. For these minds, if 

 so they can be called, scientific internationalism is an illusion, racial 

 factors dominate human actions, and true patriots must think with 

 their blood. Nothing could be more valuable for the armament 

 manufacturers than these views; nothing could be more in line with 

 the feudal vestiges which have for centuries lingered on in the army- 

 officer class. We are witoessing at the present day a wholesale frustra- 

 tion of science.^ To the capitalist, scientific research is useful, but only 

 relatively in comparison with other and perhaps even cheaper ways 

 of obtaining profits. It is only when these fail that the capitalist now 

 needs the scientist. Again, the conditions of profit-making forbid the 

 introduction of safety measures and the application of labour-saving 

 devices which could greatly increase world-production, while at the 

 same time equalising leisure in the form of a five-hour day under a 

 planned socialist system. Or improved technical methods may be 

 used for actually destroying a part of the produced material, such as 

 coffee or rubber. Or the area of land sow'n may be compulsorily 

 restricted. Worst of all, perhaps, is the continuing and increasing use 

 of science in war preparations; the development and application of 

 the most diverse scientific researches to rendering the killing of 

 individuals more effective, cheaper, and possible on a still larger scale 

 than ever before. "It does not need much economic knowledge," 

 writes Bernal,^ "to see that a system of which the essential basis is 

 production for profit, leads by its own impetus into the present highly 

 unstable and dangerous economic and political situation, where 



^ See the book of essays, The Frustration of Science^ by Sir Daniel Hall, J. D. Bernal, 

 J. G. Crowther, E. Charles, V. H. Mottram, P. Gorer, and B. Woolf (Allen & Unwin, 

 London, 1934). 



2 Bernal, J. D., "National Scientific Research," Progress, 1934, 2, 364. 



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