60 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 



lection of data as possible before passing to the act of inter- 

 pretation; the imagination should be held in leash until the 

 scope of the facts is broad enough to permit one actually to 

 read the explanation out of them. According to such an 

 analysis the stage of verification is superfluous. For the 

 speculative scientist, on the other hand, the act of discovery 

 is the most important phase. Data should be collected, to 

 be sure. But one should not waste valuable time poring over 

 the facts in the faint hope that the discovery of just one 

 more datum will set off the mind in the proper direction. 

 Data should be limited to a minimum, and the speculative 

 activities should be set into operation at the earliest possible 

 moment. The stage of verification then becomes of increas- 

 ing importance, for only in this movement can one check 

 the flight of the mind, which, in the absence of specific data, 

 may have been extensive. 



The importance of symbols in the total structure of science 

 demands that a more detailed analysis of this notion be 

 made. This will be the topic of the following chapter. 



REFERENCES 



Bertrand Russell, Mysticism and Logic (London: Longmans, 



Green, 1921), Chap. X. 

 R. M. Eaton, Symbolism and Truth (Cambridge: Harvard 



University, 1925), Chap. III. 

 J. A. Thomson, Introduction to Science (New York: Holt, 1911), 



Chaps. II, III. 

 A. D. Ritchie, Scientific Method (London: Kegan Paul, 1923), 



Chap. II. 

 A. N. Whitehead, Concept of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge 



University, 1920), Chaps. I, II. 

 Symbolism, Its Meaning and Effect (New York: Macmillan, 



1927), Chap. I. 

 John Dewey, How We Think (New York: Heath, 2nd ed., 1933), 



Chaps. VI, VII. 

 A. C. Benjamin, The Logical Structure of Science (London: Kegan 



Paul, 1936), Chap. II. 



