The doctrine that nature is inherently rational was acostly one. It entailed the idea that reason in man is an outside spec- tator of arationality already complete in itself. It deprived reason in man of an active and creative office; its business was simply to copy, to re-present symbolically, to view agiven rational structure. Ability to make atranscript of this structure in mathematical formulas gives great delight to those who have the required ability. But it does nothing; it makes no difference in nature. In effect, it limits thought in man to retraversing in cognition apattern fixed and complete in itself. The doctrine was both an effect of the traditional separation between knowledge and action and afactor in perpetuating it. It relegated practical making and doing to asecondary and relatively irrational realm.