162 WHAT IS SCIENCE? 



when we are trying to make converts to our views, we 

 are naturally apt to disguise differences that are irrecon- 

 cilable. 



Political discussion provides examples of this ten- 

 dency. It is clap-trap to announce portentously that 

 we all desire the welfare of the community and to pretend 

 that we differ only in our view of the best way of attain- 

 ing it ; what we really differ about is our ideas of the wel- 

 fare of the community ; we disagree as to what is the state 

 of society that forms the end of our political action. If 

 we could agree about that, our remaining differences 

 would not excite much heat. As it is, our pretence that 

 we are arguing merely about means often leads us to 

 adopt means which are obviously ill-adapted to secure 

 any of the ends at which any of the contending parties 

 aim. 



Since science must always exclude from its province 

 judgments concerning which differences are irreconcilable, 

 it can only guide practical life in the choice of means, and 

 not in the choice of ends. If one course of action is more 

 " scientific " than another, that course is better only in 

 the sense that is a more efficient means to some end ; 

 from the fact that it is indicated as a result of scientific 

 inquiry, it is quite illegitimate to conclude that the action 

 must necessarily be desirable. That conclusion follows 

 only if it can be proved that the end, to which the action 

 is a means, is desirable ; such a proof must always lie 

 wholly without the range of science. The neglect to 

 observe this distinction is responsible for much of the 

 disregard, and even actual dislike, of their study in its 

 application to practical life of which men of science so 

 often complain. It was seriously urged in recent years 

 that science, being responsible for the horrors of modern 

 warfare, is a danger to civilization ; and I am told that 

 many manual workers are inclined to regard science with 

 hostility because it is associated in their minds with the 



