Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

     Acumen."

So Far From Science Being Irreligious, As Many Think, It Is The   Neglect

Of Science That Is Irreligious--It Is The   Refusal To Study The

Surrounding Creation That Is Irreligious. Take A Humble Simile. Suppose

A Writer Were Daily Saluted With Praises Couched In Superlative

Language. Suppose The   Wisdom, The   Grandeur, The   Beauty Of    His Works,

Were The   Constant Topics Of    The   Eulogies Addressed To Him. Suppose Those

Who Unceasingly Uttered These Eulogies On His Works Were Content With

Looking At The   Outsides Of    Them; And Had Never Opened Them, Much Less

Tried To Understand Them. What Value Should We Put Upon Their Praises?

What Should We Think Of    Their Sincerity? Yet, Comparing Small Things To

Great, Such Is The   Conduct Of    Mankind In General, In Reference To The

Universe And Its Cause. Nay, It Is Worse. Not Only Do They Pass By

Without Study, These Things Which They Daily Proclaim To Be So

Wonderful; But Very Frequently They Condemn As Mere Triflers Those Who

Give Time To The   Observation Of    Nature--They Actually Scorn Those Who

Show Any Active Interest In These Marvels. We Repeat, Then, That Not

Science, But The   Neglect Of    Science, Is Irreligious. Devotion To

Science, Is A Tacit Worship--A Tacit Recognition Of    Worth In The   Things

Studied; And By Implication In Their Cause. It Is Not A Mere Lip-Homage,

But A Homage Expressed In Actions--Not A Mere Professed Respect, But A

Respect Proved By The   Sacrifice Of    Time, Thought, And Labour.

Nor Is It Thus Only That True Science Is Essentially Religious. It Is

Religious, Too, Inasmuch As It Generates A Profound Respect For, And An

Implicit Faith In, Those Uniformities Of    Action Which All Things

Disclose. By Accumulated Experiences The   Man Of    Science Acquires A

Thorough Belief In The   Unchanging Relations Of    Phenomena--In The

Invariable Connection Of    Cause And Consequence--In The   Necessity Of    Good

Or Evil Results. Instead Of    The   Rewards And Punishments Of    Traditional

Belief, Which People Vaguely Hope They May Gain, Or Escape, Spite Of

Their Disobedience; He Finds That There Are Rewards And Punishments In

The Ordained Constitution Of    Things; And That The   Evil Results Of

Disobedience Are Inevitable. He Sees That The   Laws To Which We Must

Submit Are Both Inexorable And Beneficent. He Sees That In Conforming To

Them, The   Process Of    Things Is Ever Towards A Greater Perfection And A

Higher Happiness. Hence He Is Led Constantly To Insist On Them, And Is

Indignant When They Are Disregarded. And Thus Does He, By Asserting The

Eternal Principles Of    Things And The   Necessity Of    Obeying Them, Prove

Himself Intrinsically Religious.

Add Lastly The   Further Religious Aspect Of    Science, That It Alone Can

Give Us True Conceptions Of    Ourselves And Our Relation To The   Mysteries

Of Existence. At The   Same Time That It Shows Us All Which Can Be Known,

It Shows Us The   Limits Beyond Which We Can Know Nothing. Not By Dogmatic

Assertion, Does It Teach The   Impossibility Of    Comprehending The   Ultimate

Cause Of    Things; But It Leads Us Clearly To Recognise This Impossibility

By Bringing Us In Every Direction To Boundaries We Cannot Cross. It

Realises To Us In A Way Which Nothing Else Can, The   Littleness Of    Human

Intelligence In The   Face Of    That Which Transcends Human Intelligence.

While Towards The   Traditions And Authorities Of    Men Its Attitude May Be

Proud, Before The   Impenetrable Veil Which Hides The   Absolute Its

Attitude Is Humble--A True Pride And A True Humility. Only The   Sincere

Man Of    Science (And By This Title We Do Not Mean The   Mere Calculator Of

Distances, Or Analyser Of    Compounds, Or Labeller Of    Species; But Him Who

Through Lower Truths Seeks Higher, And Eventually The   Highest)--Only The

Genuine Man Of    Science, We Say, Can Truly Know How Utterly Beyond, Not

Only Human Knowledge But Human Conception, Is The   Universal Power Of

Which Nature, And Life, And Thought Are Manifestations.

We Conclude, Then, That For Discipline, As Well As For Guidance, Science

Is Of    Chiefest Value. In All Its Effects, Learning The   Meanings Of

Things, Is Better Than Learning The   Meanings Of    Words. Whether For

Intellectual, Moral, Or Religious Training, The   Study Of    Surrounding

Phenomena Is Immensely Superior To The   Study Of    Grammars And Lexicons.

Thus To The   Question We Set Out With--What Knowledge Is Of    Most

Worth?--The Uniform Reply Is--Science. This Is The   Verdict On All The

Counts. For Direct Self-Preservation, Or The   Maintenance Of    Life And

Health, The   All-Important Knowledge Is--Science. For That Indirect

Self-Preservation Which We Call Gaining A Livelihood, The   Knowledge Of

Greatest Value Is--Science. For The   Due Discharge Of    Parental Functions,

The Proper Guidance Is To Be Found Only In--Science. For That

Interpretation Of    National Life, Past And Present, Without Which The

Citizen Cannot Rightly Regulate His Conduct, The   Indispensable Key

Is--Science. Alike For The   Most Perfect Production And Highest Enjoyment

Of Art In All Its Forms, The   Needful Preparation Is Still--Science. And

For Purposes Of    Discipline--Intellectual, Moral, Religious--The Most

Efficient Study Is, Once More--Science. The   Question Which At First

Seemed So Perplexed, Has Become, In The   Course Of    Our Inquiry,

Comparatively Simple. We Have Not To Estimate The   Degrees Of    Importance

Of Different Orders Of    Human Activity, And Different Studies As

Severally Fitting Us For Them; Since We Find That The   Study Of    Science,

In Its Most Comprehensive Meaning, Is The   Best Preparation For All These

Orders Of    Activity. We Have Not To Decide Between The   Claims Of

Knowledge Of    Great Though Conventional Value, And Knowledge Of    Less

Though Intrinsic Value; Seeing That The   Knowledge Which Proves To Be Of

Most Value In All Other Respects, Is Intrinsically Most Valuable: Its

Worth Is Not Dependent Upon Opinion, But Is As Fixed As Is The   Relation

Of Man To The   Surrounding World. Necessary And Eternal As Are Its

Truths, All Science Concerns All Mankind For All Time. Equally At

Present And In The   Remotest Future, Must It Be Of    Incalculable

Importance For The   Regulation Of    Their Conduct, That Men Should

Understand The   Science Of    Life, Physical, Mental, And Social; And That

They Should Understand All Other Science As A Key To The   Science Of

Life.

And Yet This Study, Immensely Transcending All Other In Importance, Is

That Which, In An Age Of    Boasted Education, Receives The   Least

Attention. While What We Call Civilisation Could Never Have Arisen Had

It Not Been For Science, Science Forms Scarcely An Appreciable Element

In Our So-Called Civilised Training. Though To The   Progress Of    Science

We Owe It, That Millions Find Support Where Once There Was Food Only For

Thousands; Yet Of    These Millions But A Few Thousands Pay Any Respect To

That Which Has Made Their Existence Possible. Though Increasing

Knowledge Of    The   Properties And Relations Of    Things Has Not Only Enabled

Wandering Tribes To Grow Into Populous Nations, But Has Given To The

Countless Members Of    These Populous Nations, Comforts And Pleasures

Which Their Few Naked Ancestors Never Even Conceived, Or Could Have

Believed, Yet Is This Kind Of    Knowledge Only Now Receiving A Grudging

Recognition In Our Highest Educational Institutions. To The   Slowly

Growing Acquaintance With The   Uniform Co-Existences And Sequences Of

Phenomena--To The   Establishment Of    Invariable Laws, We Owe Our

Emancipation From The   Grossest Superstitions. But For Science We Should

Be Still Worshipping Fetishes; Or, With Hecatombs Of    Victims,

Propitiating Diabolical Deities. And Yet This Science, Which, In Place

Of The   Most Degrading Conceptions Of    Things, Has Given Us Some Insight

Into The   Grandeurs Of    Creation, Is Written Against In Our Theologies And

Frowned Upon From Our Pulpits.

Paraphrasing An Eastern Fable, We May Say That In The   Family Of

Knowledges, Science Is The   Household Drudge, Who, In Obscurity, Hides

Unrecognised Perfections. To Her Has Been Committed All The   Works; By

Her Skill, Intelligence, And Devotion, Have All Conveniences And

Gratifications Been Obtained; And While Ceaselessly Ministering To The

Rest, She Has Been Kept In The   Background, That Her Haughty Sisters

Might Flaunt Their Fripperies In The   Eyes Of    The   World. The   Parallel

Holds Yet Further. For We Are Fast Coming To The   _Dénouement_, When The

Positions Will Be Changed; And While These Haughty Sisters Sink Into

Merited Neglect, Science, Proclaimed As Highest Alike In Worth And

Beauty, Will Reign Supreme.

There Cannot Fail To Be A Relationship Between The   Successive Systems Of

Education, And The   Successive Social States With Which They Have

Co-Existed. Having A Common Origin In The   National Mind, The

Institutions Of    Each Epoch, Whatever Be Their Special Functions, Must

Have A Family Likeness. When Men Received Their Creed And Its

Interpretations From An Infallible Authority Deigning No Explanations,

It Was Natural That The   Teaching Of    Children Should Be Purely Dogmatic.

While "Believe And Ask No Questions" Was The   Maxim Of    The   Church, It Was

Fitly The   Maxim Of    The   School. Conversely, Now That Protestantism Has

Gained For Adults A Right Of    Private Judgment And Established The

Practice Of    Appealing To Reason, There Is Harmony In The   Change That Has

Made Juvenile Instruction A Process Of    Exposition Addressed To The

Understanding. Along With Political Despotism, Stern In Its Commands,

Ruling By Force Of    Terror, Visiting Trifling Crimes With Death, And

Implacable In Its Vengeance On The   Disloyal, There Necessarily Grew Up

An Academic Discipline Similarly Harsh--A Discipline Of    Multiplied

Injunctions And Blows For Every Breach Of    Them--A Discipline Of

Unlimited Autocracy Upheld By Rods, And Ferules, And The   Black-Hole. On

The Other Hand, The   Increase Of    Political Liberty, The   Abolition Of    Laws

Restricting Individual Action, And The   Amelioration Of    The   Criminal

Code, Have Been Accompanied By A Kindred Progress Towards Non-Coercive

Education: The   Pupil Is Hampered By Fewer Restraints, And Other Means

Than Punishments Are Used To Govern Him. In Those Ascetic Days When Men,

Acting On The   Greatest-Misery Principle, Held That The   More

Gratifications They Denied Themselves The   More Virtuous They Were, They,

As A Matter Of    Course, Considered That The   Best Education Which Most

Thwarted The   Wishes Of    Their Children, And Cut Short All Spontaneous

Activity With--"You Mustn't Do So." While, On The   Contrary, Now That

Happiness Is Coming To Be Regarded As A Legitimate Aim--Now That Hours

Of Labour Are Being Shortened And Popular Recreations Provided--Parents

And Teachers Are Beginning To See That Most Childish Desires May Rightly

Be Gratified, That Childish Sports Should Be Encouraged, And That The

Tendencies Of    The   Growing Mind Are Not Altogether So Diabolical As Was

Supposed. The   Age In Which All Believed That Trades Must Be Established

By Bounties And Prohibitions; That Manufacturers Needed Their Materials

And Qualities And Prices To Be Prescribed; And That The   Value Of    Money

Could Be Determined By Law; Was An Age