72 The Concept of Method 



limited scene, we cannot say what the hour will bring forth, nor 

 say with assurance that we shall actually do thus and so because 

 thus and so are what we would like to do or think we ought to 

 do. There is always some unknown phase of the general situa- 

 tion, some aspect of the environment that we have overlooked or 

 have been unable to calculate^ — some factor that is not a constant 

 but a function. 



What then is the individual to do in the face of such uncer- 

 tainty? Is he to be absolutely without guidance? Are there no 

 rules to help him to meet the difficulty and solve the problem? 

 That is the first thought that enters one's head. Here is a 

 problem in arithmetic which can be solved by remembering a 

 certain formula or rule. Here is a problem that arises in actual 

 teaching in my classroom ; I want something that will solve the 

 problem. What is more natural than that I should seek some rule 

 that will give me the key to the situation with the same ease 

 with which the formula gave me the answer to the mathematical 

 difficulty. 



Let us see, however, whether, like the old woman in the fairy- 

 tale, we are not in our unthinking haste wishing something we 

 shall later have to wish undone. What would such a method of 

 getting answers to our problems involve? Would it not mean 

 that each situation would have its rule ? I sym-bolically represent 

 the first twenty-six of to-day's experiences by the letters of the 

 alphabet, and find that of these A, B, D, F, G, H, I, etc., repre- 

 sent experiences in which there is some element of problematic 

 uncertainty. Suppose that I believe the best method of solving 

 such problems is by rule. What is the result? Will I not have 

 to know the rules for solving situations A, B, D, F, G, H, I, etc.? 

 But how am I to know that I have really situation A or D or H ? 

 Will not that involve a multiplicity of minute rules which, simply 

 because life is so complex, I can never hope to learn? Further, 

 if I represent to-morrow's experiences by A^, B^, C^, D^, E^, F^, 

 G^, H^, P, etc., how can I know that the rules which solved situa- 

 tions A, D and H, will also solve A\ D^ and H^? The very fact 

 that in the course of a week's experience I find myself in situa- 

 tions A, A\ A^ A^, A*, etc., is in itself a proof that the exact 

 situation never twice confronts me. Therefore I should have to 

 have a rule for every situation, or else a formula so general that 



