Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/509

Till-; I'UINUPIjK OK LKAST MOTION, I t'.l.". the economy that gives value to science. What is wanted is not economy in the abstract but a wise economy, i.e., an economy limited and denned by the more fundamental con- sideration of effectiveness. A wise economy implies the keeping the end in view so steadfastly that only such means are employed as the end requires for its attainment ; it means putting essentials before accessories according to a principle of Order ; it means the keeping of Economy within the limits of clearness, so that there shall be no obscurity due to economising what is essential or relevant.and no obscurity due to the intrusion of the accidental and irrelevant. The true nature of economy is given only in the light of the more fundamental requirements of clearness, continuity, method, and it is only in subordination to these that it finds its true meaning. 1 Descartes saw all this with masterly clearness nigh three centuries ago. He realised, with true mathe- matical instinct, the value of the economy of thought, but he gave it its true subordinate place. Above all clearness as to one's starting-point, then method, lastly economy in the application of the method. I do not pretend to have done full justice to the admirable, though unsatisfactory treatise of Avenarius. But I am con- vinced that its merits whatever they may be cannot save the principle of Economy from being relegated to a second rank among the principles that express the unity of the Scientific Consciousness. What is fundamental in the Scientific Consciousness is not a striving after economy, but a striving after Clearness, Method and Fidelity to Fact. It is the effort to think clearly and deeply that yields the economical virtues of simplicity, relevancy and precision. 1 On the directionless character of all these abstractly conceived principles, with special allusion to the principle of least action or least resistance, see James Ward, Naturalism and Ai/iioxticixni, vol. i., pp. 205, 275 ; vol. ii., pp. 26. 88, 290.