Natural Philosophy

The beginning of the twentieth century is marked by a sudden rise of interest in philosophy. This is especially manifest in the vast growth of philosophic literature. The present movement, it is noteworthy, is by no means a revival proceeding from the academic philosophy traditionally represented at the universities, but has rather the original character of natural philosophy. It owes its origin to the fact that after the specialization of the last half century, the synthetic factors of science are again vigorously asserting themselves. The need finally to consider all the numerous separate sciences from a general point of view and to find the connection between one's own activity and the work of mankind in its totality, must be regarded as the most prolific source of the present philosophic movement, just as it was the source of the natural philosophic endeavors a hundred years ago.

But while that old natural philosophy soon ended in a boundless sea of speculation, the present movement gives promise of permanent results, because it is built upon an extremely broad basis of experience. The laws of energy in the inorganic world and the laws of evolution in the organic world furnish mental instruments for a conceptual elaboration of the material provided by science, instruments capable not only of unifying present knowledge, but also of evoking the knowledge of the future. If it is not permissible to regard this unification as exhaustive and sufficient for all time, yet there is still so much left for us to do in working over the material we have on hand from the general points of view just mentioned, that the need for systematizing must be satisfied before we can turn our gaze upon things more remote.

The present work is meant to serve as the first aid and guide in the acquisition of these comprehensive notions of the external world and the inner life. It is not meant to develop or uphold a "system of philosophy." Through long experience as a teacher the writer has learned that those are the best pupils who soon go their own way. However, it is meant to uphold a certain method, that is, the scientific (or, if you will, the natural scientific), which takes its problems, and endeavors to solve its problems, from experience and for experience. If, as a result, several points of view arise that differ from those of the present day, and consequently demand a different attitude toward important matters in the immediate future, this very fact affords proof that our present natural philosophy does not lead away from life, but aims to form a part of our life, and has a right to.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

PART I

GENERAL THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE 11

1. The Formation of Concepts 11

2. Science 13

3. The Aim of Science 13

4. Concrete and Abstract 16

5. The Subjective Part 17

6. Empirical Concepts 18

7. Simple and Complex Concepts 19

8. The Conclusion 24

9. The Natural Laws 28

10. The Law of Causation 31

11. The Purification of the Causal Relation 34

12. Induction 38

13. Deduction 40

14. Ideal Cases 44

15. The Determinateness of Things 47

16. The Freedom of the Will 50

17. The Classification of the Sciences 53

18. The Applied Sciences 57

PART II

LOGIC, THE SCIENCE OF THE MANIFOLD, AND MATHEMATICS 61

19. The Most General Concept 61

20. Association 63

21. The Group 65

22. Negation 68

23. Artificial and Natural Groups 69

24. Arrangement of the Members 75

25. Numbers 78

26. Arithmetic, Algebra, and the Theory of Numbers 79

27. Co-ordination 80

28. Comparison 82

29. Numbers 85

30. Signs and Names 86

31. The Written Language 89

32. Pasigraphy and Sound Writing 92

33. Sound Writing 96

34. The Science of Language 97

35. Continuity 101

36. Measurement 107

37. The Function 109

38. The Application of the Functional Relation 112

39. The Law of Continuity 113

40. Time and Space 118

41. Recapitulation 124

PART III

THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES 127

42. General 127

43. Mechanics 128

44. Kinetic Energy 132

45. Mass and Matter 136

46. Energetic Mechanics 138

47. The Mechanistic Theories 140

48. Complementary Branches of Mechanics 144