Thus, whatever may be the scientific value of a circumstantial account of the spot which we call the north pole, it will in all probability be a value incalculably inferior to that of a discovery which would inaugurate the era of complete combustion of fuel and of abated smoke nuisance in Chicago. Again, we cannot imagine a discovery in the historical portion of linguistic science that would equal Jenner's invention of vaccination in value to the human race. A final demonstration and formulation of the precise method of evolution up to date would be immeasurably inferior in value to such projection of the process of evolution into the future that the present generation of men would be enabled and induced to secure for the next generation a single step of advancement toward the ultimate realization of maximum welfare. In general, no truth held apart from other truths and unrelated to them is as valuable as any truth brought into connection with the other truths with which it belongs.
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Sociology has been promoted by increased attention to the fact that all knowledge is mediate. No knowledge is self-sufficient. Each kind of knowledge plays its rôle, but its value is the value of the service which it renders in the economy of human existence. It is therefore principal or subordinate—primary or secondary—essential or incidental—but never absolute. Knowledge ranks with knowledge according to the part which each species of knowledge performs in procuring life larger in any dimension, or richer in any quality. That knowledge is of capital value which contributes to the intensifying or harmonizing of human life in its essential elements.
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It would be a most unscholarly procedure to enter upon an argument to prove that one science, or one branch of knowledge is worthy and another unworthy of human pursuit. No detail of knowledge distinct enough to present unsolved problems to the human mind is too insignificant for the scholar's attention, so long as the problem remains unsolved. Every science may therefore make incalculably valuable contributions to the final art of life, provided that the results of each science are brought into correlation with the results of all the rest. The perception to which attention is called is not that one science deserves more sincere respect than another, but that all kinds of knowledge belong together at last, and that they can attain their proper dignity
