SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL UT NUNC 37 



and its organs shows that this true universal is quite incom- 

 plete and must be implemented with a world of universals 

 ut nunc. Man is a good enough example, for in one sense he 

 is the being which we know best, while in another sense we 

 know least of him. We know him best because of our internal 

 experience; but in terms of external experience we know the 

 lower forms of life far better even though these, from the former 

 point of view, are by far the more obscure. Now the situation 

 is such that while we may be definitely certain about some 

 things we come to know from internal experience, as soon as 

 we try to narrow down our knowledge of living things in terms 

 of external experience, then even our simplest terms, such as 

 " protoplasm " or " genes," though their related conceptions 

 have some basis in experience, are in the main " logical fictions " 

 in even Lord Bertrand Russell's sense of this term. 



Nevertheless, we should not wholly identify logical fictions 

 with our universals ut nunc. The fictions are not intended 

 to have that kind of resemblance to true universal natures. 

 Logical fictions are symbolic constructions whereas the uni- 

 versals ut nunc are names and bear a real verisimilitude to 

 natures. 



When all is said and done, however, it still remains that the 

 bulk of our knowledge remains provisional and in constant 

 need of implementation. That such is the status of our knowl- 

 edge is not itself mere theory. It is a well established fact. The 

 history of science proves that we may be quite certain of our 

 uncertainties, i. e., of the provisional nature of most of our 

 knowing as regards things in their ultimate concretion, and 

 therefore of the fact that most of our universals are ut nunc. 

 We are definitely certain that two is an even number and even 

 of what a circle is (no matter how little the calculator may 

 care about this) ; and that if an even number is taken from an 



essential one and a good one in precisely this sense, was never intended to be a 

 complete definition. From the standpoint of completion, much remains to be said 

 about what man is, and much of what we know in seeking to determine more fully 

 what man is will remain provisional. 



