224 THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE 



tive philosophy and fail to contrast the limitations and 

 the permanent achievements of science; no connection 

 with past thought is drawn and the probable aspects 

 of future thought are not shown. Indeed, no mention 

 is made of the prime fact that human thought has been 

 concerned with these fundamental problems for so 

 many centuries, and methods of scientific attack are 

 so limited in number, that no new theory or hypothesis 

 can be developed; witness our present return to Car- 

 tesianism. At most, what we call modern thought is 

 but a recrudescence of past thought dressed in new 

 clothing. The see-saw of the time-worn antinomies 

 constantly recurs. Since the historical and critical 

 attitude toward science is almost wholly neglected, the 

 student enters his life work innocent of the limitations 

 and powers of his science; practiced in modern text- 

 books and ignorant of the masters of the subject. 

 Some teachers of science realize this vaguely and ad- 

 vise their students to take a minor in philosophy. Now 

 the philosophers, not knowing science, have introduced 

 certain emasculated courses under the name of scien- 

 tific philosophy or scientific methods for just such 

 students. One has merely to read the texts used and 

 learn the views of the expositors to find that the texts 

 are written, and the courses delivered, by men who 

 know nothing of science at first hand. Thus the course 

 merely discourages the student and gives him a con- 

 tempt for philosophy as a juggling of words and quite 



