58 The Higher Usefulness of Science 



The general character of our task may be thus indi- 

 cated, but this does not mean that we are plunging into 

 a discussion of Bergson's philosophy. As a matter of 

 fact we shall have very little to say directly about 

 Bergson and his teachings. What the outcome of our 

 discussion will be may be indicated by this formal state- 

 ment: The doctrines of human brotherhood and of the 

 golden rule, which in essence have marked flood tide of 

 ethical aspiration with all the most advanced peoples 

 of the earth, find at least as much sanction in the data 

 of biology, if all these data be treated with logical 

 consistency, as have the doctrines of mechanistic deter- 

 minism and survival of the fittest. 



Science, with biology in the lead, has advanced to 

 the point of having produced overwhelming evidence 

 that man in the whole scope of his being, is part of 

 nature. This advance has given rise to a great ques- 

 tion, not yet answered; that, namely, as to what the 

 constitution of nature must be because man is a part 

 of it. An answer of this question is, I think, one of the 

 supreme needs of our era; and a point upon which 

 emphasis should be laid is that a large part in the solu- 

 tion of the problem must be played by science if the so- 

 lution is ever to be reached. I must guard against being 

 misunderstood here. My statement that science must 

 play a large part in solving the problem should not be 

 taken to imply that according to my view science can do 

 the whole business. I am decidedly not one of those 

 who regard science as everything. What I mean is 



