10. Meaning of should, first of all, do some clear thinking about the word "cause." Most people have hazy ideas about it. Quite commonly it is thought of as that which brings a thing into exist ence; but that is onlv another wav of saving that a cause of any event is something which causes it to be. We cannot accept such a definition.
As a matter of fact, we know very; little about real causes, that is, those forces which bring change into the world. All we know is that under certain condi tions certain things always have happened; that cer tain events are always followed by certain others. We know, for example; that a kettle of cold water placed over a fire will. soon give us the phenomenon of boiling. The first phenomenon—fire—is the cause of the second phenomenon—boiling. Our mind, be ing still curious, asks why the water boils ; what is the cause of it. We discover that many substances ex pand when heated, and we call this fact a scientific law. Then we say water boils because the heated water at the bottom of the kettle, being lightest, rushes to the top. But the scientific mind is still curious. VVhy does beat make water or any other substance expand? To find an answer to this question, the mind goes into a realm of speculation which we need not en ter.
You are thinking when you are seeking for the causes of phenomena.
By cause is meant that phenomenon or combina tion of phenomena which observation and experience have shown always to be followed by the phenomenon you are studying. To make your thinking clear and "scientific," you must beware of conventional explana tions and be certain of your facts. The well-known belief in some quarters that a "wet" moon indicates rain, or that a dry spell cannot be broken until tbe moon changes, is not the product of clear or scientific thinking. Furthermore, the memories of the people who believe such things are no-t to be trusted, as they fail altogether to note or remember the occasions when their so-called "law" did not work.
Definition of word "science" is very loosely used in everyday speech. It is derived from a Latin word meaning "to know" and is com monly applied to any kind of knowledge which is be lieved to be exact and precise. A favorite dictionary
definition is "classified knowledge." Let us get a clearer idea of what the word means.
As we have already shown, we do not understand any event or phenomenon unless v,-e lmow its cause. Until we get at the cause we cannot explain anything in a way satisfactory to ourselves or to other people. The word "explain" might properly be defined as fol lows: To make any fact or occurrence intelligible by showing what caused it. And the word "under stand" means: To perceive or grasp a phenomenon (that is, fact, event or occurrence) in all its impor tant causal relationships.
I have purposely used some so-called scientific phrases in the foregoing paragraph, for I want the reader to become familiar with them. They are con venient tools of expression when one wants to be ex act, and are not at all difficult- to understand. The word "phenomenon" (of which the plural is phenom ena) the reader will fmd frequently in scientific treatises. It comes from a Greek word meaning "to appear." The meaning is very broad. Anything which affects the senses and so makes an im pression upon the mind is a phenomenon. To the scientist any object or occurrence is a phenomenon, whether it be usual or unusual, ordinary or extraordi nary. It is the scientist's word for thing or happen ing.
A science is any body of knowledge in a given field so arranged or classified that the phenomena can be understood. The goal of science is understanding, and a man is doing scientific work when Ile is search ing for the causes of phenomena. If he is merely collecting facts and classifying his knowledge of them, he may be a statistician or historian or annalist, but not a scientist, for he may not be seeking to explain or interpret the facts. The real aim of science is to ex plain phenomena by discovering their causes. His tory is a science, therefore, in so far as it points out why certain events took place. The historian who merely tells what happened in certain years, without undertaking to make clear why events happened as they did, is a narrator or annalist, not a historian in the scientific sense.