[Letter to Editors]

A SCIENTIFIC statement is essentially an expression of relations derived from and applicable to experience: it is therefore easy to determine whether a statement is scientific or not by considering its relation to experience. Dr. Waddington's statement “The real good cannot be other than that which has been effective, namely, that which is exemplified in the course of evolution”, is clearly not derived from experience, for it does not express anything found by observation. Nor is it applicable to experience; when we try to apply it to any actual ethical problem (for example, “Is it morally good to bomb German cities ?”) it is found to be useless.