448 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



set up in opposition to more refined systems . The defenders of 

 " common-sense " have been numerous in the history of 

 philosophy ; but their theories have scarcely survived longer 

 than those of the less common non-sense which they attacked. 



Are we then reduced simply to the avoidance of all such 

 subjects ? We are debarred from accepting any one of the 

 numerous solutions offered us ; we are debarred even from 

 denying all possibility of knowledge, which would be the most 

 consoling way of getting rid of the incubus. We may of course 

 affirm that knowledge is impossible, but the moment we begin 

 to give reasons for this opinion we find ourselves as hopelessly 

 involved in absurdity as any of those system-mongers whom we 

 profess to despise. What escape is there from this impasse? 

 Must we simply put our tails between our legs and run to some 

 more agreeable subject of contemplation ? 



Let us at all events first take a look round. When rational 

 knowledge dawned among the Greeks, the universe presented 

 to the eye of the philosopher a medley of incoherent facts 

 and events ; and he knew not what logical weapons were 

 suitable to reduce them to order. Centuries, nay millennia, 

 had to elapse before it was finally proclaimed and accepted that 

 observation and experiment were the only methods by which 

 truth could be attained ; and that truth could not be attained 

 by instinct, or by emotion, or by diving into the recesses of 

 one's own soul. It is difficult now to appreciate the state of 

 mind of those living prior to this revolutionary discovery ; but 

 to them it was far from obvious that the deliverances of the 

 senses were more trustworthy than those of " thought " or 

 emotion, or inspiration. The organisation of human know- 

 ledge soon followed : the natural sciences differentiated out 

 from philosophy ; and justified their methods so abundantly 

 that the conviction ultimately arose that only through the 

 medium of science could true knowledge be attained. 



The discovery of the proper methods to find truth was 

 certainly not less momentous in the history of civilisation than 

 was the discovery of fire. Before the initiation of this epoch, 

 all was vague and uncertain. Men attacked the most formid- 

 able of problems with the most futile of weapons. They sought 

 for the origin of the universe with logical instruments which 

 could not have explained the simplest fact of common life. 

 There was a total disproportion between the objects at which 



