96 THE EXPERIMENTAL THEORY 



with the fact that &quot; truth &quot; is an abstract noun, 

 summarizing a quality presented by specific affairs 

 in their own specific contents. 



Ill 



I have attempted, in the foregoing pages, a de 

 scription of the function of knowledge in its own 

 terms and on its merits a description which in 

 intention is realistic, if by realistic we are content 

 to mean naturalistic, a description undertaken on 

 the basis of what Mr. Santayana has well called 

 &quot; following the lead of the subject-matter.&quot; Un 

 fortunately at the present time all such undertak 

 ings contend with a serious extraneous obstacle. 

 Accomplishing the undertaking has difficulties 

 enough of its own to reckon with ; and first attempts 

 are sure to be imperfect, if not radically wrong. 

 But at present the attempts are not, for the most 

 part, even listened to on their own account, they 

 are not examined and criticised as naturalistic at 

 tempts. They are compared with undertakings of 

 a wholly different nature, with an epistemological 

 theory of knowledge, and the assumptions of this 

 extraneous theory are taken as a ready-made stand 

 ard by which to test their validity. Literally of 

 course, &quot; epistemology &quot; means only theory of 

 knowledge; the term might therefore have been 

 employed simply as a synonym for a descriptive 



