Page:The Idealistic Reaction Against Science (1914).djvu/30

 1. Agnosticism as the Consequence of the Traditional Mathematical Method. — Agnosticism was the logical outcome of a prejudice which had become more and more deeply rooted in thought from the time of the Renaissance on: a prejudice which affirms that there is no other form of knowledge save that of which we have the perfect model in mathematical physics. The rich results yielded by the quantitative method of studying natural phenomena which modern science had opposed to the fruitless multiplication of hypothetical qualities led to over-estimation of this type of knowledge: everything which could not be comprised in this scheme, everything which from its very nature could not be comprehended within the narrow limits of a precise formula, was for ever banned from the domain of knowledge. Even Kant could not wholly shake off this prejudice; for although the intuition of genius taught him to discern beyond the realm of mathematics and physics that of aesthetics and moral values, he yet considered them as being beyond the pale of true knowledge, and as belonging to the domain of feeling, contemplation, and faith. Positivism with its apotheosis of the scientific method, with its claim to give a comprehensive explanation not merely of natural reality, but also of ethics and aesthetics, by constructing the whole sphere of philosophy on scientific principles, carried this prejudice