28 PART L-THE PROBLEM. 



he is not concerned about finding the truth; he hesitates and 

 vacillates ; he is unmethodical ; he occupies his time in brooding 

 and speculating, in grumbling or fumbling; he does not attack 

 the problem with sufficient energy; he has not learnt to con- 

 struct or to follow a lengthy train of reasoning; he jumps to 

 conclusions ; he is without resource ; he is not sufficiently 

 cautious; memory plays him false, and he forgets much; he 

 takes no accurate notes, nor does he make sure of his facts; 

 and so on, and so on. 1 



Every competent observer will corroborate the statement 

 that average persons exhibit some or many of the defects 

 above mentioned, defects which bring into relief the need of a 

 methodology. It is evident, then, that thinking in conformity 

 with scientific standards is most rare among the scientifically 

 untrained, and it is at least a problem worth examining whether 

 proper methodological training, which is now curiously con- 

 spicuous by its absence, would not mend matters materially, 

 if not radically. It is difficult to see why defects such as those 

 enumerated in the preceding paragraph could not be eradicated, 

 and the corresponding desirable qualities firmly implanted. 

 Indeed, it is as unreasonable to anticipate that the untrained 

 thinker will be equal to the task of thinking effectively as that 

 he will not become expert in this direction when adequately 

 trained. The very growth to an illimitable extent of scientific 

 methods affords further presumptive evidence in favour of the 

 assumption that methodological thinking is a socio-historic and 

 pan-human product. 



Let us now study the man who is "scientifically" trained, 

 in order to enable us to determine what distinguishes him from 

 the scientifically untrained adult. 



SECTION IV. THE SCIENTIFICALLY TRAINED INDIVIDUAL. 



8. The theory and the practice of the sciences are com- 

 monly assimilated by the student in the course of practical 

 scientific work and reading. He surmises that his teachers 

 proceed in certain ways, and imperceptibly he glides into those 

 ways himself. Hence, since the material of the sciences differs 

 notably in respect of composition and complexity, and since 

 the stages in their development also diverge widely, it is not 

 to be expected that the traditionally determined pursuit of some 

 particular science will unlock the secret of the general scientific 

 method. In some sciences, as in physiology, the facts are 

 relatively complicated, whilst in others, as in molar mechanics, 

 they are comparatively simple, and likewise the advanced stage 



1 Corresponding defects, equally due to absence of right habits, account 

 for imperfect morals. The individual is as dependent here on inventions 

 and discoveries as in engineering or chemistry. 



