THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES 401 



real relations. Conversely, the systems of nature are dis- 

 covered and synthesized by science, and the real universe 

 is revealed, though imperfectly, to human intelligence. The 

 system of verified knowledge progressively reveals reality. 

 The intellect aspires ultimately to comprehend the universe. 

 This intellectual tendency is in some minds consciously 

 purposive. In religious minds the purpose is regarded as 

 related to a universal purpose that is causative, or teleolog- 

 ical, creative or divine." * 



It is not likely that a problem of this scope will receive a 

 solution which is anything like final. The complete data 

 are all of the facts of method and subject matter as related 

 to the various disciplines, and are obviously too extensive 

 for a single mind to grasp. No man can know all things. 

 Accordingly, there must be a generous reliance upon the 

 method of authority and other indirect methods. One is 

 entitled, for example, to rely more or less completely upon 

 the specialized investigator for information pertaining to 

 his particular field. This method has its obvious disadvan- 

 tages. The specialized investigator is seldom in a position 

 to see his field in perspective; the man who is in love cannot 

 analyze love, the man who is immersed in the religious 

 experience cannot study religion, and the physicist cannot 

 say clearly what physics is. But this is the only method by 

 which the philosopher can hope to comprehend the great 

 mass of necessary data. As an alternative to this procedure 

 he must infer as to the character of the specialized disciplines 

 from what the individual investigators say and do — a method 

 which is open to dangers that are equally obvious. But even 

 after the philosopher has been provided with the necessary 

 data, many of which are conflicting among themselves, he is 

 confronted with the precarious task of assigning the special 

 studies to their places in the total scheme, a task founded upon 

 estimates of importance and unimportance, generality and 

 speciality, dependence and independence, all of which are al- 

 most certain to be reflections of an individual value outlook. 



i H. E. Bliss, The Organization of Knowledge (New York: Holt, 1929), p. 409. 



