THE AIM AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 143 



an " apperceptive system." They may be apperceived by 

 means of any concept drawn from any other context of 

 experience, and if by means of this concept the actual 

 particulars of experience are systematised, the " end " of the 

 process will have been reached. But if the process has been 

 of the kind intended by the term scientific, it will have the 

 further property of leading to other determinations of the 

 Objective, and these further determinations are the actual 

 achievements of Science, and its " end," therefore, from the 

 universal point of view. Since primary facts present them- 

 selves for the most part in series, the most useful method of 

 determining the Objective consists in correlating terms of 

 these series with the members of the number series the 

 property of this series being that single members of it can be 

 substituted for combinations of other members in accordance 

 with definite laws easily applied. By means of such combina- 

 tions it is often possible to characterise simply the relations 

 between things, and to ascertain what changes in terms of 

 relations can be regarded as complete expressions of those 

 relations. Such cases typify the ideal of the scientific process 

 which is actually exhibited in a large number of grades, which 

 nevertheless are sharply distinguished from the processes by 

 which the Objective itself is recognised a fact which is 

 claimed in support of the view of the unique character of the 

 latter. 



In virtue of this feature our doctrine presents a contrast 

 with the pragmatist theories of Science which regard the 

 primary facts and secondary constructions as merely different 

 stages of a homogeneous productive process to which it is 

 impossible to assign either a lower or an upper limit. 



Finally, it may be claimed that the concept here 

 defended avoids the error contained in the theories of Science 

 given by other writers, which have been justly criticised 

 because they fail to represent the actual relations between 

 hypothesis and fact. My concept allows the hypothesis 



