BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



menter, of the calculator — whose wages, though sure, were 

 small. He was enticed by the visions of wealth that specula- 

 tion always promises so impudently. Consequently, he has 

 gone bankrupt, like many another who has hoped to be- 

 come rich quickly. 



The philosopher, probing the universe for final causes, 

 resents the success of his kinsman who has vulgarly engaged 

 in trade. Under the influence of the delusion that he is 

 grand arbiter by divine right on all intellectual problems, 

 he tells the latter that his methods are limited in applica- 

 tion, restricted in validity, and thus hopeless for the pur- 

 pose of detecting absolute truth. Such criticisms of science 

 cannot be refuted. They are true. But they do not have quite 

 the consequences assumed by even their most logical pro- 

 ponents, and they certainly give no support to the doctrine 

 of self-evident truth. They fail lamentably, therefore, for 

 they are put forward chiefly as props to intuitionalism. 



Let us look a little further into these questions. By mak- 

 ing certain assumptions, any good metaphysician can prove 

 that the earth does not exist; by making somewhat differ- 

 ent assumptions, he can prove that it does exist, though 

 only because man is present to perceive its existence. Now 

 the scientist doesn't care the slightest whether the earth 

 exists or not. He wants to know whether it is flat or round; 

 he wants to know its constituent parts and contents; and 

 by assuming that it does exist, he is able to do these things 

 with some degree of satisfaction. The illustration is silly, 

 despite the fact that solemn volumes have been written 

 on the points involved; but it does serve to show that all 

 formal systems of logic have the same faults, in that they 

 must all begin with assumptions. The scientist realizes 

 that his work has the faults of all systems in just this 

 respect. For this reason he has long since ceased to worry 

 about absolute truth. In his opinion absolute truth is a 

 metaphysical term with no more meaning than abraca- 



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