312 



SCIENCE. 



edge. The distinction is therefore fundamental, and 

 should be recognized as really as other differing facts. 



These may be regarded as extreme cases, and it may 

 be said that the point of transition, or the boundary line 

 between the non-scientific and the scientific may not be 

 clearly determined. Be it so ; the claims of science re- 

 quire exactness of knowledge to the extent to which the 

 exactness may be obtained by observation or reasoning, 

 and to which the facts themselves fix the standard. And 

 though perfection is the standard and aim, the knowledge 

 of a sufficient number of related facts constituting a syste- 

 matic knowledge, or knowledge sufficiently " generalized, 

 systematized, and verified," for the comprehension of the 

 relations and laws pertaining to such facts, may be re- 

 ceived as evidence of scientific attainment, and capacity 

 for intelligent progress. A man may possess a practical 

 knowledge of carpentry, by which he may perform work, 

 when a frame is " laid out," without the scientific knowl- 

 edge of the principles, rules or methods by which such 

 work is planned ; much less without the higher mathe- 

 matical and mechanical knowledge of architecture. 



Another point of distinction claims attention. The 

 term science is used in both a general, and a special or 

 restricted sense. Either the whole body or aggregate 

 of facts throughout the whole range of phenomena, re- 

 lations, laws and applications, is referred to comprehen- 

 sively, as " The classification of all science " ; or, a branch 

 or sub-science is referred to specially, as " The Science 

 of Chemistry." Frequently a special science is recog- 

 nized by the form of statement implying that to which 

 reference is made, the term science being used by meton- 

 omy for a science, or a particular branch of general 

 science, thus: "Science [chemistry] teaches that all 

 masses of matter are made up of elements which had 

 previously been isolated or separate." Or this : " Science 

 [the science of the conservation of the forces] teaches 

 that a certain quantity of heat may be changed into a de- 

 finite quantity of mechanical work ; this quantity of work 

 can also be re-transformed into thesame quantity of heat 

 as that from which it originated." It may be added that 

 the term science is sometimes used in an indefinite sense, 

 or without precision, as "a man of science", — one who 

 possesses a wide range of knowledge. 



These distinctions between knowledge and science, be- 

 tween non-scientific and scientific knowledge, and be- 

 tween the special and general significations of the term 

 science, being recognized, it remains only to give such 

 forms of definition as shall meet the requirements of the 

 case. The following are believed to be sufficiently pre- 

 cise : 



i. Science ("special or particular) is a system of phen- 

 omena, principles, relations and laws pertaining to a spe- 

 cial subject. 



2. Science (general or universal) is the aggregate of 

 special sciences. 



Many attempts have been made to classify the various 

 sciences. The conception that they are naturally related, 

 intimately, or more remotely, having general or spe- 

 cial connections, has led to such arrangement of 

 these in departments and groups as has accorded with 

 the fundamental principles upon which they have 

 been conceived to be allied. And since science con- 

 sists chiefly of the facts, phenomena, laws, and 

 principles, material or immaterial, which pertain to be- 

 ing, or the forms in which being is known, it is evident 

 th.it schemes of classification will be adopted accordii g to 

 the systems of philosophy maintained by those who con- 

 struct them. All classification will hence be observed to 

 conform in general principles of structure to one or 

 another of the three following systems of philosophy 

 with respect to existence, or entities, viz. : Spiritualism, 

 Materialism or Dualism. The first, which includes Ideal- 

 ism, rejects the doctrine of material essence, mind only 

 being held to be fundamental and real— the outer world 

 only phantasmic or apparent, or as held by some, matter 



being a mode or manifestation of mind. The second re- 

 jects the doctrine of a spiritual entity — the mind or spirit 

 being held to be a phenomenon of matter ; force, life and 

 mind being but properties, or special manifestations of 

 matter. Both the above systems are monistic, one sub- 

 stance, or essence, only held to exist. The third main- 

 tains the real existence of both matter and spirit in es- 

 sential connection, yet distinct and unlike, not only in 

 essence, but in their laws of development and modes of 

 action — two related yet diverse processes. This may be 

 termed Dualistic Realism, in contradistinction to the 

 Monistic Realism predicated of each of the two former 

 systems above mentioned. 



But so diverse and even contradictory, in important re- 

 spects, are many of these schemes of classification, that 

 the question may be asked with pertinence, is any unex- 

 ceptionable classification possible ? Indeed.it has been 

 admitted by men of high scientific standing that the most 

 perfect c'assification will contain some incongruities and 

 minor imperfections ; and that a system substantially cor- 

 rect may, notwithstanding, contain something which is 

 artific al, or merely theoretic. An apparent incongruity 

 may be explained by the fact that several of the sub- 

 sciences bear relations to different and widely separated 

 sciences as to their fundamental characteristics, as will 

 be observed in the scheme of the writer of this article. 



A few diverse schemes are here given to illustrate the 

 fact that one's philosophy will determine his principles 

 of classification. 



The fundamental principle of Oken, a German philoso- 

 pher, is, that " Mathematics is the universal science," and 

 holding the transcendental idea that Mathematics is zero, 

 equal to nothing (o), has constructed his scheme to em- 

 brace three general classes, viz. : i. Mathesis, the doc- 

 trine of the whole ; 2. Ontology, erroneously defined to 

 be " the doctrine of the pkcno7/iena of matter," or what 

 seems to be, consistently enough with his doctrine of 

 Idealise ; 3. Biology, all orders of life and mind. In- 

 cluded in class first he has two groups : 1st. Pneuma- 

 togeny, the doctrine of immaterial totalities; subjects 

 arranged in the following order : Primary Art, Prim. 

 Consciousness, God, Prim. Rest, Time, Polarity, Motion, 

 Man, Space, Point, Line, Surface, Globe, Rotation. 

 Group 2d, under the term Hylogeny, defined to be " the 

 doctrine of material totalities," includes the following : 

 Gravity, Matter, Ether, Heavenly Bodies, Light, Heat 

 and Fire. Included in Ontology he has Rest, Centre, 

 Motion, Line, Planets, Form, Planetary Systems, Comets, 

 Condensation, Simple Matter, Elements, Air, Water, 

 Earth, Mineralogy, Geogony. etc. Other divisions of 

 this anomalous system are here omitted. The author has 

 conceived of a phenomenal process, which is given under 

 the term Ontology, but which, so far as it represents the 

 facts, pertains to cosmogony. It will be observed, more- 

 over, that the place of geogony, to represent a consecu- 

 tive order, is at the point where the genesis of the earth 

 is given, if it can be found. But this system is based upon 

 the fundamental principle of mathematics, which, accord- 

 ing to the author, is zero = o ; for, as it is assumed, 

 " Mathematics is the universal science of forms without 

 substance." Such a system of nothings, consisting of 

 terms, names and propositions, without realities, may 

 well be termed Idealistic Nihilism ! 



The philosophy of Hegel is founded upon the theory 

 that the essence of the universe is a process of thought 

 from the abstract to the concrete. His classification is 

 based upon Logic, as its fundamental principle, instead 

 of Mathematics, which is Oken's, with which it otherwise 

 well corresponds. A quotation from President Hopkins, 

 that " Classification is a law of forces, not a law of logic," 

 may here be given as a sufficient answer to Hegel's 

 principle. 



The method of M. Compte.the author of " The Positive 

 Philosophy," gives what he calls "The one rational 

 order," as follows: Mathematics (including mechanics), 



