336 PART V. WORKING STAGE. 



sense. His office is to adduce as large an array as possible 

 of salient facts and factors bearing on his special problem, and, 

 beyond this, to indulge in incidental excursions only. 



171. (h) ORIGINAL GENERALISATIONS. Provided ge- 

 neralisations are at least in some measure original, they fall 

 outside the purview of science, unless, indeed, they serve the 

 important purpose of testing a theory. In fact, the more strik- 

 ingly novel an enquiry, the more valuable is it likely to prove. 



Here are some rules relating to the cultivation of originality. 

 These should be supplemented by the methodological aids men- 

 tioned in connection with the promotion of economy (Con- 

 clusion 10), accuracy ( 124), resourcefulness ( 135), and 

 self -training ( 86) : 



In a given direction improvements, discoveries, and inventions may 

 be effected (pre-supposing thorough training, long practice, and full up-to- 

 date information) by (1) our striving to become conscious of, or/and directing 

 attention to, e.flr., disadvantages, defects, deficiencies, absence of stand- 

 ardised methods and products, errors, confusions, unnecessary com- 

 plexity and wastefulness, or series of facts and activities not inherently 

 correlated or connected or not subsumed under a general or universal law, 

 and discrepancies between the real and men's ideal (economic, moral, in- 

 tellectual, hygienic, and sesthetic), be these generally admitted, easily 

 noticed, accidentally discovered, or perceptible on deliberate and systematic 

 individual and collective examination; then (2) inquiring where such and or 

 cognate improvements, inventions, and discoveries already exist, and apply- 

 ing or adapting them, and developing them to the furthest; and, where 

 (2) is inadequate, (3) ascertaining with meticulous care the precise defects, 

 etc., the general principles in removing such, and the known or likely 

 methods which are applied or applicable in connection with these prin- 

 ciples, and proceeding or inducing others to proceed, accordingly ; further- 

 more, by (4) examining the degree of each quality and its relations, 

 applying the dialectical Conclusions 27 and 28, and examining closely or 

 remotely related facts or activities akin in some respect, with a view 

 to conceivable or practicable improvements, inventions, and discoveries; 

 (5) fully profiting by ideas due to careful classification, to accident, -to 

 special and exceptional circumstances, and to novel or apparently insigni- 

 ficant facts, inventions, and discoveries; (6) applying the methods of 

 systematic examination, generalisation, deduction, and application; and 

 (7) seeking to invent or discover by the above methods new or ad- 

 ditional ways of satisfying given wants or creating others of a desirable 

 character. 



Defects and imperfections should be in this manner brought 

 to the focus of consciousness and systematically dealt with. 

 The noiseless typewriter is a recent instance of the application 

 of this method; stainless steel is another. 



172. (/) AUTOMATICALLY INITIATED AND METHOD- 

 ICALLY DEVELOPED GENERALISATIONS. In Section XIII 

 it was shown that we cannot with advantage generalise every 

 statement; but this should not deter us from habitually gen- 

 eralising, since we may be sure that, whilst we should thus 

 make many misses, we shall also make many unforeseen hits. 

 Wherever, for instance, we reach some conclusion regarding a 

 single fact, several facts, or a class of facts, we may with profit 

 attempt to generalise these at least to related facts or classes 



