ABSTRACT
Since William James and pragmatism, one thing seems clear: that a person orders his world, in perception as well as in thought; that there are always alternative possible orders and that the use or selection of one rather than another reflects the purposes at work in the context. This holds from the simplest act of identification to the elaborate patterning of a discipline, or classification of groups of disciplines. Some of the underlying dichotomies that have kept science and the humanities apart have been slowly evaporating, under the heat of scientific progress, refinement of methods, and philosophical analysis. For example, that science deals with what is objective and humanities with what is subjective reflects the old Cartesian dualism of matter and spirit. Distinctions are important and necessary, but they are geared to context and purpose. Distinctions are made to clarify, but too often they stay to tyrannize.
