The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science

had its birth with Greeks; and among the Greeks Thales was the earliest
exponent known to us
In this general characterization science and philosophy are not
discriminated. But the word ‘curiosity’ somewhat trivializes that inward
motive which has driven men. In the greater sense, in which it is here
used, ‘curiosity’ means the craving of reason that the facts discriminated
in experience be understood. It means the refusal to be satisfied with
the bare welter of fact, or even with the bare habit of routine. The first
step in science and philosophy has been made when it is grasped that
every routine exemplifies a principle which is capable of statement in
abstraction from its particular exemplifications. We are American, or
French, or English; and we love our modes of life, with their beauties and
their tendernesses. But curiosity drives us to an attempt to define
civilization; and in this generalization we soon find that we have lost our
beloved America, our beloved France, and our beloved England. The
generality stands with a cold impartiality, where our affections cling to
one or the other of the particulars.
An examination of Aristotle’s Law of Gravitation exemplifies this
abstractive process inherent in science. The Law involves a classification
of the things around us. There are the heavy bodies with the property of
tending downwards, and there are the other elements such as flames,
with the intrinsic nature that they tend upwards though they are
component things on the Earth’s surface. These upward moving things