The recent development of physical science / by William Cecil Dampier Whetham.

  • Dampier, William Cecil Dampier, Sir, 1867-1952.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The recent development of physical science / by William Cecil Dampier Whetham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    parts and aspects of it do not fail to correspond with each other, it serves the double purpose of introducing order into what would otherwise be mental confusion, and of helping us to make systematic use of the resources of Nature. Confronted with the mystery of the Universe, we are driven to ask if the model our minds have framed at all corresponds with the reality ; if, indeed, there be any reality behind the image. Such a question is a proper study of philosophy, but need not necessarily be answered for the model to be made or used. The whole problem mankind has to face undoubtedly includes this fundamental ques- tion of the ultimate nature of reality, which would enter into a complete explanation of every fact, even of those which we regard as the simplest. This general aspect of the problem is the subject of that branch of philosophy known as Metaphysics. But, if we confine our attention to the phenomena which our senses apprehend, and, thus restricting our inquiry, examine our mental picture of Nature and the relation of its parts to each other, testing their correspondence or want of correspondence, we are studying Natural Science. The limitation indicated has not always been observed, and the name of Natural Philosophy survives to remind us that Natural Science is but one part of the whole of conceivable knowledge.