Scientific Philosophy. 219 



with a body of major propositions. It is found that 

 in the course of the evolution of mind minor propo- 

 sitions are discovered first, and major propositions 

 are reached only by the combination of minor propo- 

 sitions ; that always in the search for truth the minor 

 proposition comes first, and that no major proposition 

 can ever be accepted until the minor propositions 

 included therein have been demonstrated. 



The error in the metaphysic philosophy was the 

 assumption that the great truths were already known 

 by mankind, and that by the proper use of the logical 

 machine all minor truths could be discovered, and all 

 errors eliminated from philosophy. As metaphysic 

 methods of reasoning were wrong, metaphysic phi- 

 losophies were false ; the body of metaphysic phi- 

 losophy is a phantasmagoria. 



The Origin of Scientific Philosophy. 



While metaphysic philosophers have been playing 

 with their logical kaleidoscopes, another body of 

 philosophers have been at work gathering the ma- 

 terials for the philosophy of science. Their method 

 is to collect facts and to discover their relations, and 

 they accept no conclusions that are not reached by 

 this method. All other conclusions they hold as 

 undetermined or indeterminate. 



And now must be given a definition of science. 

 Science is the discernment, discrimination, and classifi- 

 cation of facts, and the discovery of their relations of 

 sequence. This is a simple statement, but for its full 

 comprehension a little illustration may be necessary. 



