Moreover, it is desirable to have a sufficient knowledge of mathematics
to enable one to handle experimental data.

The consideration of such facts as these sometimes leads men to raise
the question: Should psychology affiliate with philosophy or with the
physical sciences? The issue is an illegitimate one. Psychology is
one of the philosophical sciences, and cannot dispense with reflection;
but that is no reason why it should not acknowledge a close relation to
certain physical sciences as well. Parts of the field can be isolated,
and one may work as one works in the natural sciences generally; but if
one does nothing more, one's concepts remain unanalyzed, and, as we
have seen in the previous section, there is some danger of actual
misconception.


[1] "Psychology," Preface.




CHAPTER XVIII

ETHICS AND AESTHETICS

71. COMMON SENSE ETHICS.--We may, if we choose, study the actions of
men merely with a view to ascertaining what they are and describing
them accurately. Something like this is done by the anthropologist,
who gives us an account of the manners and customs of the various races
of mankind; he tells us _what is_; he may not regard it as within his
province at all to inform us regarding _what ought to be_.