THE DISCOVERY OF LAWS 71 



for the purposes of science that they should do so as for 

 the purposes of practical life. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION 



But why do they predict ? We return once again to 

 the question which we cannot avoid. The final answer 

 that I must give is that I do not know, that nobody knows, 

 and that probably nobody ever will know. The position 

 is simply this. We examine our past experience, and 

 order it in a way that appears to us most simple and satis- 

 factory ; we arrange it in a manner that is dictated by 

 nothing but our desire that the world may be intelligible. 

 And yet we find that, in general, we do not have to alter 

 the arrangement when new experience has to be included. 

 We arrange matters to our liking, and nature is so kind 

 as to recognize our arrangement, and to conform to it ! 

 If anyone asks, Why, what kind of answer can we possibly 

 give ; how can we explain why the universe conforms to 

 our intellectual desires ? 



Here we inevitably touch upon profound problems, 

 which lie far beyond the scope of this little book. I can 

 only say that, for myself, none of the answers that have 

 been offered seem satisfactory explanations, or even 

 explanations at all ; they raise more questions and more 

 difficult questions than they answer. But it may be 

 well to draw attention to two considerations that have to 

 be taken into account in any discussion of the matter. 

 The first has been mentioned several times before. It 

 must always be remembered that science does not 

 attempt to order all our experience ; some part of it, 

 and the part perhaps that is of most importance to us as 

 active and moral human beings, is omitted altogether 

 from the order. And it is very hard to say whether 

 we omit it because we know that we cannot order 

 it in the same manner as that which forms the 



