The Interpretation of Experience 7 1 



(2) There is in the second place the question as to ivhy we 

 perform an action. From this point of view there is involved 

 the consideration of motive, impulse, habit, and the adjust- 

 ment of ideas for and against a certain course of action or the 

 formation of a particular habit. Such a series of problems comes 

 partly within the sphere of Ethics and partly within that of 

 Metaphysics. 



(3) Lastly there is the problem of hoiv we do anything. Be- 

 yond the fact of the action, there is the question of its method. 

 It is not always enough to do a thing: it must be done in a cer- 

 tain way. There are questions of technique, of the selection of 

 one standard method from various possible activities, of the 

 subordination of means, of the formation of habits of skill, ac- 

 curacy, precision, rapidity, of the function of facility, beauty, 

 and truth in the doing of anything, and the development of power 

 and control. Such are some of the problems which belong to 

 the sphere of Methodology. 



It makes no difference at what point we take our experience: 

 we will always find some aspect of it that presents itself in the 

 form of a problem to be solved. Were this not so, our whole 

 existence would be passed upon the level of the mere instinctive 

 performance of certain physical actions and in the habitual repe- 

 tition of a limited number of comparatively simple psychological 

 states. There would be no necessity for thought in the daily 

 round and in the common task. To-day would repeat yesterday 

 with no appreciable alteration. To-morrow would require no 

 thought, for it would be but the replica of to-day. Thus the dull 

 monotony of existence would run its course. 



But that is not the character of our daily lives. We have but 

 to stop to analyse any of the thousand and one situations in which 

 we find ourselves between sunrise and sunset to realise that our 

 doings are not all regulated and decided beforehand ; that we 

 cannot predict with certainty that such and such a situation will 

 prove to be of such and such a character and have a result which 

 we can accurately prophesy. Every hour of the day has its un- 

 known factors of experience, upon which we cannot depend, and 

 which will modify our actions in ways which cannot be foreseen. 

 Just as on a large scale the decisive situations in our lives cannot 

 be seen afar off like tiny clouds on the horizon, so in a more 



