256 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 



adopted is one which is readily observable, i.e., one which 

 employs the relational-structure of time or space. Since 

 instants in time and points in space themselves exhibit 

 order, they become convenient instruments for the por- 

 trayal of orders which are not directly temporal or spatial. 

 For example, weights may be arranged by putting the least 

 heavy at the top of a column and the others below in order 

 of increasing weight; in this case the spatial relation of 

 'lying beneath' is taken as the equivalent of the non- 

 spatial relation of "being heavier than." Or pleasures may 

 be arranged by mentioning first the most intense pleasure 

 and then the less intense pleasures in order of decreasing 

 intensity; in this case the temporal relation of "succeeds" is 

 taken as the equivalent of the non-temporal relation of " being 

 less intense than." These are illustrations of empirical series. 



order: operational derivation 



However, it is not the task of science merely to discern 

 the obvious features of events. It is one of the functions of 

 the developing intelligence to disclose hidden relations 

 between events. But this requires greater precision in the 

 conceptual tools which are to be employed in the search. 

 Hence the scientist demands greater refinement in the 

 concept of order. This refinement is accomplished, as is 

 usually the case with the basic concepts, by an increase in 

 abstractness and generality. The ideal is to eliminate from 

 the empirical conception those features which are relatively 

 specific. The goal is to retain the relevance of the concept 

 to all of the empirical situations but to exclude all of those 

 aspects which tie the concept down to one situation rather 

 than another. The operation from empirical order to scien- 

 tific order is the same as that from redness to color, or from 

 color to quality in general. It is not an operation of neglect 

 in the sense that the specific qualities are merely dropped 

 out of consideration; rather the specific aspects are retained 

 in a feature which is generic to them. One does not pass from 

 redness to color or from color to quality in general by 



