EVOLUTION 33 



With respect to Spencer's method it may be claimed that 

 it is philosophical inasmuch as he himself considered 

 his whole system to be, and entitled it, a system of 

 Philosophy. How then does Spencer's treatment differ 

 from Darwin's, and why is it that one method should 

 have commanded a higher degree of confidence than the 

 other ? This brings me back to the main question of the 

 influence of the philosophicaL^inethod upon -scientific 

 progress. It is with very great dif&dence that I venture 

 to handle this subject, for I have already disclaimed any 

 pretension to have been a special student of Philosophy. 

 But if the question be asked, what constitutes the philo- 

 sophical method ? — ^then the answer must depend very 

 largely upon what view we take with respect to the scope 

 of Philosophy. Here again I shelter myself under the 

 authority of Professor Sidgwick, who states that a genera- 

 tion ago the predominant opinion amongst English thinkers 

 was that the ' Science of Mind ' or of ' Man ' was ' Philo- 

 sophy Proper '.^ It is remarkable that a country which 

 produced Bacon should have taken this narrow view of 

 Philosophy — but so it was, and this no doubt explains 

 why we, as students of Natural Science, failed to recognize 

 any close relationship between Science and Philosophy. 

 It was Spencer who changed the outlook for us. To his 

 influence I have already attributed the changed attitude 

 of Science toward Philosophy, and to his influence may 

 also be ascribed the changed attitude of Philosophy 

 toward Science.^ 



Now the first conclusion of importance to Science that 

 may be drawn from Spencer's conception of Philosophy 



1 Philosophy, its Scope and Relations, p. 3S- 



• Far from restricting the scope of Philosophy to the ' Science of 

 Mind ' (thereby in former times meaning human mind), we are now- 

 beginning to recognize that mental science is as much the subject 

 of legitimate scientific experimental and observational inquiry as 

 any other branch of science : that the mode of working of the organ 

 of mind must be understood before any true ' science of mind ' can 

 be created. In other words, 'Experimental Psychology' is taking its 

 natural place among the sciences. 



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