4(i2 AMBROSE J. MCNICHOLL 



as being intrinsically incomplete and insufficient, unless per- 

 fected by faith as Christian philosophy. Others, especially in 

 Italy and France, turn for inspiration to the Augustinian and 

 Platonic tradition of Christian antiquity, and are somewhat 

 skeptical of the dialectical and scientific approach of the Aristo- 

 telian mind as continued, for instance, in Thomism. A rather 

 similar mentality seems to show itself in those who advocate 

 the removal of logic and metaphysics from the academic course 

 of philosophy, on the ground that the students' natural logic 

 and rudimentary metaphysics are sufficient to enable them to 

 devote themselves to the study of ethics and theology. 



Summing up the results of this scanty survey of some of the 

 more recent trends of thought, in their relation to the problem 

 of scientific knowledge, it appears that for the Physicalists and 

 Analysts, the only knowledge worthy to be called scientific is 

 either physical science, or logic, as including the analysis of 

 linguistic forms. This is, of course, to deny that philosophy, as 

 traditionally conceived, is a science, and to identify science as 

 such, uni vocally with one of its particular forms. More moder- 

 ate positions, however, are now finding favor among some of 

 the Analysts, who admit the relevance of metaphysical and 

 ethical investigations. 



The phenomenological school would seem, at first, to be a 

 form of rigid intellectualism, and to defend the traditional idea 

 of scientific knowledge; but the more significant Phenomen- 

 ologists today have been concerned to employ the method given 

 them by Husserl to investigate the world of existence, of values, 

 of common human experience, or of the subconscious. In such 

 regions, intuitive rather than scientific knowledge is sought, 

 especially since it deals with what is so very contingent and 

 individual. 



Other philosophical trends, such as Existentialism, Histori- 

 cism, Vitalism and the like, evidence a general devaluation of 

 intellect at the expense of the other faculties, and a rejection of 

 the greco-mathematical ideal of knowledge as not adapted to 

 life and as remote from actuality. The world of nature is 

 abandoned to the scientist; metaphysics, when not confused 



