196 PART IV. PREPARATORY STAGE. 



(b) Knowledge of a concrete and a less universal character, 

 such as that embodied in science generally and in methodology. 

 Not only is a thorough grounding in the principal sciences 

 indispensable to him who desires to pursue any science in parti- 

 cular, but he must keep in touch with new discoveries. Unless 

 he compasses the former, he is almost certain to produce second- 

 rate work, lacking as he does the generous background for all 

 thorough researches which is so conspicuously present in our 

 best thinkers ; and unless he attempts the latter, his knowledge 

 will not only be antiquated but will become to some extent 

 useless through being, if not forgotten, imperfectly related to 

 the latest phases of development. For this reason the specialist 

 cannot be too particular in keeping abreast of the knowledge 

 of his time. What he loses thereby, will be amply compensated 

 by the stimulus and assistance he will receive. Narrow con- 

 centration is unmethodological, and leads to over-specialisation 

 and to trivial generalisations. The harmonious development and 

 interaction of all the sciences and arts can only be secured by 

 each specialist having a regard and a care for the whole ; and, 

 in fact,' the ablest specialists are precisely those whose swe'ep 

 of interests recognises no limits. The possession of extensive 

 and up-to-date knowledge of scientific and other data, should 

 be therefore presupposed in all scientific inquirers. 



(c) Knowledge more especially of those sciences which have 

 a more or less close bearing on the subject of our investigations. 

 After what we have stated under (6), this is too manifest to 

 need elaborating. If we take a provincial view of our theme, we 

 are likely to miss its profounder implications. Any one, for in- 

 stance, interested in any of the cultural sciences e.g., anthro- 

 pology, psychology, education, aesthetics, ethics, economics, 

 law, politics should be to a certain extent interested in all, 

 and in his own department seek to do justice to each of them. 

 Owing to the scanty store of sifted knowledge in the past, 

 there was once a legitimate tendency to pay little attention to 

 all but an infinitesimal arc of a subject ; but with the impressive 

 growth of that store, the methodological demand becomes more 

 and more insistent that the specialist's horizon should be as 

 extended as circumstances permit. (See 73.) 



(d) Knowledge of the special subject investigated, whence 

 many "suggestions may be derived. This knowledge is vital, 

 since the vast aggregate of relatively valid generalisations and 

 observations traceable to others requires to be fitted into the 

 structure of our own results. Unless therefore we are familiar 

 with our subject as known in our day, we are likely to squander 

 much time in arriving at conclusions already established, and 



they bear the greatest total resemblance. The number of general names in 

 a language, and the degree of generality of those names, afford a test of the 

 knowledge of the era and of the intellectual insight which is the birthright 

 of any one born into it." (Bain, quoted by Mill, Logic, bk. 4, ch. 3, 1.) 



