inexact 



The Days of a Man [;i92o 



Pluralism (multiplicity in unity) is as true as one- 

 ness, in the meaning given by William James's asser- 

 tion: "No one can question that the Universe is in 

 some sense one, but the whole point lies in what that 



one is." 



Science is human experience tested and set in 

 order; any belief which neither demands nor permits 

 A priori verification lies outside of Science. All propositions 

 reasoning -^^Jch cau be ptoved by deduction or even proved 

 completely belong to the realm of Expression or 

 Logic, not to Science — conclusions being involved in 

 premises. Pure mathematics, for instance, is the 

 logic of number and space, and its demonstrations, 

 however intricate, are derived from its definitions. 

 Similarly, a definition of the Universe can be framed 

 in such a way as to make its unity self-evident; in 

 fact, no other definition that is self-consistent is 

 possible; but no scientific conclusion can be deduced 

 from proof thus obtained. Details of reality — mat- 

 ter, force, and life — would be no nearer demonstra- 

 tion than before, for these we know only from the 

 coordinated results of human dealings with them. 

 Sciences Kuowledge, never complete, may be relatively 



exact and g-^act ot incxact according to the sufficiency of our 



t tipvnrt Cj lit" 



data. In no field has Science yet reached completion 

 — and it is in the nature of things impossible that it 

 ever can. It sees some things very definitely; but 

 the unknown lies as a trackless wilderness on every 

 hand. As details accumulate, generalizations are 

 possible — and even prophecy with some degree of 

 certainty. In Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, rela- 

 tive exactness prevails. The simpler the factors 

 involved, the more definite our mastery. Obstacles 

 in the relatively exact sciences are mainly our human 



C 770 3 



