60 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



of Scientific Thought. There we were from the be- 

 ginning able to give a simple and intelligible account 

 of the aim and purpose of all scientific reasoning ; this 

 consisted in the application of one and the same method 

 to all objects and events of Nature as they exist or have 

 existed in the past. This method was the simple method 

 which begins with observation and proceeds through de- 

 scription and clear definition, to measurements, and ulti- 

 mately to calculation : only to the extent that the latter 

 and highest process viz., that of calculation has be- 

 come applicable, has it been found possible to deal not 

 only with present and past phenomena and occurrences, 

 but also to some extent to foretell the future, or to 

 penetrate with our knowledge into those recesses of 

 nature which are, through distance in time and space, 

 through magnitude or minuteness, unreachable by actual 

 % observation. 



49. It is not possible to comprise all successful philoso- 



sensusas phical thought within an equally simple formula. This 



tophilo- r M J 



sophicai defect may be traced to two definite causes. The first of 



methods. 



these is the fact that no general consensus exists regard- 

 ing the method of philosophy, such as exists with regard 

 to the methods of science. The methods of the latter, 

 though their logical nature has been variously defined, 

 are nevertheless so simple in their application that little 

 time need be spent by the student of science in learning 

 them. The best way of acquiring a knowledge of them 

 is practice itself. This gives such proficiency that even 

 the greatest minds that have applied these methods 

 with unfailing success have not generally spent much 

 time in giving an account of the processes of thought 



