The Function of Method 95 



functional interaction of the two be emphasised. If, to make the 

 matter clearer, we think of the conventional limitations familiar 

 to us in the pictorial representations of reality ; of the temporal 

 limitations in the subjective impression of music, or in the objec- 

 tive representation of sculpture ; or of the local and temporal 

 limitations which are forever conditioning man's realisations of 

 his ethical ideals, we are forced to recognise the fact that there 

 are aspects of reality which escape the imprisonment of the 

 material, and overtones of meaning which are too delicate or 

 evanescent for a material not finely tuned to respond to such 

 harmony. 



It is this very uncertainty as to how far he has attained insight 

 into the real meaning of things, this lack of accuracy and com- 

 pleteness in the way in which humanity reveals or attains its ends 

 and purposes, that leads man to seek something other than the 

 material by means of which he may estimate the success of his 

 endeavour or measure up his attainment with the ideal that he 

 has set up before himself to realise. Hence it comes about in 

 every sphere of life our activity is ultimately regulated by some 

 standard, is directed to some end, and is, by the very nature of 

 experience, bound to deal with material more or less inadequate 

 for the purpose. In every phase of the common experiences of 

 our common life there is the search for the permanent in the 

 changing, for the universal underlying the particular, for the 

 truth that is the core of fact, for the ideal that is at the heart of 

 the real. 



The function of standard is closely connected with this Janus- 

 like activity of finding the ideal in the real and the real in the 

 ideal. Retrospectively, a standard is a basis for the criticism of 

 our achievement ; from the point of view of present experience, 

 it is an instrument for the control of our activity; and prospec- 

 tively, the standard is an inspiration for the shaping of our ideals 

 and purposes. 



There remains the consideration of the question of the rela- 

 tion of standards of the two great philosophical ideas underlying 

 this whole treatment of method and materials. 



(i) Evolution. Genetically, a standard emerges as soon as an 

 activity is raised to the level of an idea, as soon as the material 

 becomes spiritualised, as soon as practice is idealised and recon- 

 structed into theory. The necessity of standard-seeking and of 



