38 IRRITABILITY 



no cause at all. It is scarcely necessary for further comments 

 upon the value of the conception of cause for the scientific expla- 

 nation of a state or process. If we do not seek to introduce 

 into exact science the antiquated symbols which have become use- 

 less and belong to a primitive phase of development of human 

 thought, there cannot be a moment's doubt that a strict scientific 

 analysis in whatever field of investigation it may be carried on can 

 consist only in the study of all the conditions concerned in a state 

 or process. If this is done, then the work of exact research is 

 accomplished. Further problems do not exist. The use of super- 

 fluous terms or symbols for the definition of things would be in 

 opposition to the fundamental principle, already brought forward 

 by Kirchhoff, especially for mechanics, namely, that of formulat- 

 ing comprehensively and in the simplest manner the processes 

 which take place in nature. 



At first glance one might be tempted to find an incompleteness 

 in the observation and description, when a conditional standpoint 

 is adopted. It might be thought that conditionalism were a 

 purely formal method of observation, and only considered the 

 interdependence of things, but not the properties, the nature of 

 the objects themselves. Regarded more closely, however, it is 

 seen that this objection does not hold good. For what is a 

 condition ? 



A condition is in itself a thing of quite distinct properties. 

 The properties of a thing are, however, determined by the specific 

 combination of conditions which characterize the thing. The 

 conditions by which a thing, that is to say, a state or process, is 

 determined, are identical with its being and nature; in other 

 words, they are the thing itself. Purely formal relations without 

 essence would be altogether an absurd fiction not in accord with 

 reality, and which even the science of mathematics does not 

 acknowledge, for we cannot have a conception without concrete 

 content, just as in nature we do not find a form existing inde- 

 pendently of a thing. Every thing is equal to the sum of all its 

 conditions and depending upon the uniform constancy in accord- 

 ance with natural laws is solely determined by its conditions. 



