The development of intelligence in the modern world, as in Greece, has
two sides: on the one hand, a working-free from the restrictions which
theology or the State or other social authorities imposed; on the other
hand, positive progress in knowledge of nature and of human life. Under
its first aspect it is known as the growth of rationalism; under its
second aspect, as the growth of science and education. We cannot
separate the development into two periods, the one negative, the other
positive, as was convenient in the case of Greece. The negative and the
positive in the modern world have gone on contemporaneously, although
the emphasis has sometimes been on one side and sometimes upon the
other. We may, however, indicate three periods as standing out with
clearly defined characteristics.
(1) The Renaissance, in which the Greek spirit of scientific inquiry
found a new birth; in which the discovery of new continents stimulated
the imagination; and in which new and more fruitful methods of
investigation were devised in mathematics and the natural sciences.
(2) The period of the Enlightenment, in which the negative aspect of the
process reached its sharpest definition. The doctrines of revealed
religion and natural religion were criticised from the standpoint of
reason. Mysteries and superstition were alike rejected. General
intelligence made rapid progress. It was the "Age of Reason."
(3) The Nineteenth Century, in which both the natural and social
sciences underwent an extraordinary development. The doctrine of
evolution has brought a new point of view for considering the organic
world and human institutions. Education has come to be regarded as both
the necessary condition for the safety of society and as the right of
every human being; Science, in large measure set free from the need of
fighting for its right to exist, is becoming constructive; it is
assuming increasingly the duty of preserving human life and health, of
utilizing and preserving natural resources, of directing political and
economic affairs.
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