Perfect Science

If psychology was a perfect science, “It has become an exact science, because its phenomena have been brought under laws comprehending the whole of the causes by which the phenomena are influenced” according to Mills, it could be probable to predict human acts. The interesting thing to consider, is that Mills describes a perfect, or exact science is based off the collection of data, and the interpretation of results which would lead to the probability to predict human behaviors. However, the pre-existing knowledge or the sudden realization of the prediction prior to the act would affect the person about to act. This realization could make the individual see, perhaps, another option or thought process. Mills even acknowledges this in his writing A System of Logic, “The actions of individuals could not be predicted with scientific accuracy, were it only because we cannot foresee the whole of the circumstances in which those individuals will be placed”. The complexity of human thought processes is something that Mills writes about at length in his writings. The variables of situations alone would make predicting human actions impossible, and with the different views on right and wrong moral and immoral, ethical and unethical, there is no way to accurately predict human actions. Also, knowing about the prediction, in my opinion, would influence the action being made. With other sciences, such as astronomy, as Mills states “It could not become exact until not only the general course of the planetary motions, but the perturbations also, were accounted for” the planets (inanimate) will move predictably and continuously, and they have no control over their motion. Taking into consideration the ethical schools of thought, and the immeasurable differences in values amongst individuals, the is no way to accurately state what people will do in situations.