Conduct and its disorders : biologically considered / by Charles Arthur Mercier.

  • Mercier, Charles Arthur, 1852-1919
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Conduct and its disorders : biologically considered / by Charles Arthur Mercier. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    parts of two or more sets. But if the chessmen are systematically arranged in their places on the board, we can see at a glance, not only whether they are all there, but if not, precisely what piece is missing; whether any are redundant, and if so, what are the redundant pieces; whether all belong to one set, and if not, what pieces are intruders. Similarly with the systematic arrangement of knowledge, which consti¬ tutes science. The systematic arrangement enables us to see at a glance whether, and in what respects, our knowledge is defective ; whether we have confused the knowledge of one thing with the knowledge of another; and what the relations and bearings are, of one part of our knowledge with another. Science, then, is knowledge that is organised or systematised ; and this book is an attempt to organise and systematise our knowledge of human conduct. Until conduct has been investigated on a systematic plan, it is premature to declare that it is not subject to law; for only by systematic investigation are laws discovered. In one department of conduct, systematic investigation has been pursued for generations; and though there is much controversy as to what the laws are, no political economist has any doubt, that in the production and distribution of wealth, the conduct of mankind does conform to certain natural laws. I do not pretend to investigate conduct in general with anything approaching the thoroughness with which the production and distribution of wealth has been examined. In the establishment of every science, two stages are recognisable. The first stage is to collect facts, to classify and arrange them ; the second