The Science of the Future

Abstract

“The Science of the Future” is in many ways an essay standing apart from all the rest of The Philosophy of Living Experience. Because of this, we have suggested that it adds a dimension to the work which makes its broadest concern something other than the contemporary problem of philosophy. In it, Bogdanov takes the reader back to the matter of philosophy and life after the fashion of the introductory essays. This time, however, it is done with a view toward predicting the future of both and the outcome of the relationship between them. The basic effect which the chapter has on the rest of the work is the addition of an ultimate statement on the historical role of philosophy which is, by extension, a statement on the ultimate meaning and significance of empiriomonism as well. We find, however, that this effect arises from a discussion of something other than philosophy itself. The topic under consideration in “The Science of the Future” is actually the future of knowledge, and, at the bottom, the essay is an argument regarding the probable future relationship between knowledge and life. We find, then, that knowledge, which comprises both philosophy and science, is Bogdanov’s greater concern and that, for him, the historical role of philosophy can only be known within the greater context of the future of knowledge. We are told, in effect, that while the problem of philosophy holds man’s attention in the present, it will not always be so, for philosophy is not that form of knowledge with which man must ultimately be most concerned.