2 THE ANATOMY OF SCIENCE 



ence/ Mach" says, "Every philosopher has his 

 own private science and every scientist his pri- 

 vate philosophy," intimating that both are 

 rather crude affairs. May we not make of these 

 two a blend, retaining a little of the creativeness 

 of science, even with some of its naivete, and of 

 the breadth of philosophy, even with some of its 

 scepticism ? 



To give any sort of historical account of the 

 development of scientific concepts would re- 

 quire more space than is allotted to these pages 

 and a competence far surpassing my own. What 

 I shall attempt to present will be a kind of con- 

 temporaneous cross section showing the inner 

 structure of science. Such a presentation must 

 of necessity have a somewhat personal bias. I 

 know that I shall say many things that have 

 been said before, often by authors unknown to 

 me, but I shall console myself with the hope that 

 one or two of the things that I say here will, in 

 their turn, be said again. 



I should have liked to use the word 'meta- 

 physics' in the title of this book, but there are 



1 "These kinds of contemplation should therefore be al- 

 ternated and taken by turns, so that the understanding 

 may be rendered at once penetrating and comprehensive." 

 Francis Bacon, Novum Organum. 



2 Ernst Mach, Erkenntniss und Irrtum. 



