INTRODUCTORY 9 



for the time and energy spent in scientific work. From 

 the standpoint of morality, or from the relation of the 

 individual unit to other members of the same social 

 group, we have to judge each human activity by its 

 outcome in coiidicct. How, then, does science justify 

 itself in its influence on the conduct of men as citizens ? 

 I assert that the encouragement of scientific investigation 

 and the spread of scientific knowledge by largely incul- 

 cating scientific habits of mind will lead to more efficient 

 citizenship and so to increased social stability. Minds 

 trained to scientific methods are less likely to be led by 

 mere appeal to the passions or by blind emotional excite- 

 ment to sanction acts which in the end may lead to social 

 disaster. In the first and foremost place, therefore, I lay 

 stress upon the educational side of modern science, and 

 state my position in some such words as these : — 



Modern Science, as training the mind to an exact and 

 impartial analysis of facts, is an education specially fitted to 

 promote sound citizenship. 



Our first conclusion, then, as to the value of science 

 for practical life turns upon the efficient training it pro- 

 vides in method. The man who has accustomed himself 

 to marshal facts, to examine their complex mutual rela- 

 tions, and predict upon the result of this examination 

 their inevitable sequences — sequences which we term 

 natural laws and which are as valid for every normal 

 mind as for that of the individual investigator — such a 

 man, we may hope, will carry his scientific method into 

 the field of social problems. He will scarcely be content 

 with merely superficial statement, with vague appeal to the 

 imagination, to the emotions, to individual prejudices. 

 He will demand a high standard of reasoning, a clear 

 insight into facts and their results, and his demand cannot 

 fail to be beneficial to the community at large. 



§ 4. — Essentials of Good Science 



I want the reader to appreciate clearly that science 

 justifies itself in its methods, quite apart from any service- 



