In the history of human inquiry philosophy occupies the position not of one science nor of the queen of sciences but, to use an image due to the late J.L. Austin, of the initial central sun, seminal and tumultuous. From time to time it throws off some portion of itself to take station as a science - a planet cool and self-regulating and progressing steadily to wards a final state. But the initial discipline has, and continues to have, little of the character of the sciences it has spawned, such as mathematics, physics and mathematical logic. One of the many ways in which philosophy differs from such sciences is that it cannot be regarded as a discipline with set bounds and a defined subject matter, for philosophical issues continually arise anew in every area of human endeavour. Whenever human being set themselves to think seriously about a given area, problems are likely to arise which can only be dealt with at the philosophical level.