CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER Xt 



SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS 



(l) The development of thought is roughly co-ordinate with that of 

 social life in general. On all sides a certain net movement in the 

 same direction may be verified. (2) The control of the physical 

 environment passes through four stages, closely comparable with 

 those of the movement of thought, (3) and the same parallelism can 

 be traced in ethics and religion, (4) and, with exceptional irregu- 

 larities, in art. (5) Political development corresponds to the 

 ethical in net result though not in all intermediate stages, (6) and 

 a corresponding net movement may be traced in the main depart- 

 ments of law and custom. (7) Progress is irregular because its condi- 

 tions do not harmonise until a High stage is reached, and because it 

 proceeds from many independent centres. - - Pp. 204-230 



PART II 

 THE CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPMENT 



CHAPTER I 



EXPERIENCE AND REALITY 



(i) To determine the significance of the development traced in Part I., 

 we have first to examine the validity of the theoretical and practical 

 order reached in the highest phase. (2) Arguments derived from 

 the nature of knowledge do not prove that reality is unknow- 

 able. (3) There is no contradiction inherent in the partial 

 interpretation of reality by the correlation of experience, though 

 the categories which are used may require re-modelling when 

 applied to reality as a whole ; (4) nor do the alleged limitations of 

 analysis provide any valid argument against the rational method. 



Pp. 233-249 



CHAPTER II 



THE VALIDITY OF SCIENTIFIC RECONSTRUCTION 



(i) We have still to establish positively the validity of scientific 

 reconstruction. (2) The hypothetical method is logically imperfect, 

 and tends to resolve itself into a descriptive method. (3) Yet 

 science is not mere description. (4) Valid generalisations are ulti- 

 mately based on a single principle, (5) which is a rule of thought, 



