SCIENTIFIC ABSTRACTION 113 



in the atoms of the stone, its potential value 

 might be almost incalculable. If, finally, I 

 knew what lies hidden behind the appearance 

 of atoms, and energy, and all the other 

 physical and chemical appearances in the 

 stone, I could completely adjust myself to it. 

 Its teleological relations to me would be 

 entirely transformed : it would be wholly a 

 part of myself, and the end of my scientific 

 study of the stone would be completely 

 attained. 



We can in thought abstract from, or leave 

 out of account, the teleological determination 

 of our experience, and treat the external 

 world as if the appearances in it existed 

 entirely apart from their teleological relations 

 to ourselves. In scientific thought we actually 

 do make this abstraction, leaving out of 

 account the fact that all our scientific ideas 

 are human ideas, the product of human 

 development, and gradually evolved to meet 

 human needs. We can also regard human 

 activity in relation to the external world as 

 simply the action of one self-existent thing 

 on other self-existent things, without any 

 regard to the teleological determination of 



