60 NATIONAL TRENDS IN BIOLOGY 



system of philosophy, into which just enough metaphys- 

 ics succeeded in creeping to justify the criticism that, in 

 spite of all good intentions, he had not been able to dis- 

 entangle himself completely from the habits of thought 

 to which his critics were happily accustomed. 



*Tragmatism distinguishes itself at once from the syn- 

 thetic philosophy in that it is nonsystematic. Instead of 

 an interest in a formulated body of knowledge, it appears 

 to possess an insatiable desire to determine practical 

 choices. Given a problem of conduct, the solution un- 

 known; what shall the line of action be? Here one per- 

 ceives a strictly scientific situation that emphasizes the 

 practical value of the hypothesis. The problem is to find 

 a satisfactory path into a new region. And the answer 

 that pragmatism gives is : trust to luck and your past ex- 

 perience. The truth,' says James, 4s the hypothesis that 

 will work.' 'The truth,' says Dewey, if I rightly appre- 

 hend him, 'is the hypothesis that you can work with.' 

 There is a suggestion of permanency, of stability, of 

 future significance in the latter phrase that makes it, 

 to my mind, more felicitous. But I do not care to dwell 

 on that point. What comes closer to my purpose is to 

 point out that here is no faith in final causes, here is 

 no suspicion even of that innocuous phantom, the un- 

 knowable. Here is no distinction between science and 

 philosophy — if indeed pragmatists are philosophers, in 

 spite of the fact that, in one form or another, they fill 

 several chairs of philosophy now in our universities. 

 Here is a faith that facts will tell their tale — will in- 



