The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-16
The Defects of the Scientific Method.

| This has been called the golden age OF
| science. 1t is pointed out that traditions,
| legends, and theories are giving way every
] year to statements based on careful OBJ
servation and recorded facts. The scientific
| method, at first used only in the sphere of
material things, is now applied to art, his
tory, criticism, and matters social and re-
! ligious. The nineteenth century. like every
other in the history of the world, has asked
Plato's question, What is truth? % and has
| returned a new answer. 1t is this: What
soever can be proved"
This is. perhaps. the greatest possible
proof that we are living in a marvellous
age of transformation. Unlii the beginning
of the present century, little heed was
given to the necessity of absolute proof.
Authority. rather than investigation, was
regarded as the best reason fer belief. Men
were continually told that there were
things which they were not expected to
understand. that the senses were untrust-
worthy. and the human reason was utterly
inadequate to the perception of truth 1t
is only within one generation that the de-
3
become general. and homer. doubt been
looked upon as creditable.
But there is a danger in this new way OF
thinking. albeit it is less serious than tina;
of credulity. It appears when the seem
tific method is applied to psychological.
moral. and social problems. The scientific
mind is slow to understand that the laws
precisely similar TO those which govern the
evolution of the animal: and that there is
Just as much difference between the higher
law of morality and that Of self interest
that there is between the life of frog
lodyte, and that OF the higher animals. In
a word, 1t sometimes fails to recognize the
infinite possibilities OF progress This world
is still in the making, and nobody knows
what may happen in the future, when the
development of the human being along
moral and intellectual lines shall have
reached its next stage. II Is Just as great
a mistake for the bigoted scientist 10 as
sumo that evolution has ceased. and he
has discovered all the laws there are as
for the religious fanatic to assert that there
never was any evolution. and that a GER
tain number of people are predestined TO
go to heaven and all the others to be cast
into outer darkness. We know that the
family relation is higher, more in accord
ance with some divine ideal, than savage
promiscuity; that the tribal standard of
duty is higher than that of the unattached
nomad; that a thoroughly civilized govern
ment is better for the governed than the
primitive tribal Justice; and 1t is logical to
suppose that as man has evolved from one
of these stages to another. he Will evolve
as time goes on a higher and higher form
OF civilization, preserving individual free
dom while uniting more and more closely
the interests of all members of society.
Some scientific pessimists have argued
that because there are degenerates in our
day (eyen whole classes of people with
standards OF living which might be called
decadenO, society as a whole is decayIng,
and that no further progress is possible. It
is not necessary to assume this. 1t is quite
possible that the civilization of the future
may go back and borrow some OF the feat
ures of the savage tribe. Some primitive
communities are governed by laws most
eminently correct from a moral point of
view, and others, by twisting these same
laws the wrong way. have made for them.
selves customs utterly barbarous The lat
ter are the degenerates of the savage
world. For example, community in
which every man. woman, and child be-
lieves in obeying the dictates If conscience
is generally comfortable place to live in;
but II the nature becomes warped and the
conscience morbid, the condition OF things
is anything but pleasant. II Won -
correct to state that obedience d.
best impulses was the cause OF sue. .-- m
happy state OF things: the cause lay in a |
disordered condition of the mind and |
nerves.
Evolution has not ceased. and altruism |
is as genuine motive for human action rs |