Hours in a Library, Volume 2: New Edition, with AdditionsStephen, Leslie
History
Hours in a Library, Volume 2: New Edition, with Additions
Stephen, Leslie
English literature -- History and criticism
By which sense is made
Subservient still to moral purposes,
Auxiliar to divine;
the 'dull eye' of science will light up; for, in observing natural
processes, it will carry with it an incessant reference to the spiritual
processes to which they are allied. Science, in short, requires to be
brought into intimate connection with morality and religion. If we are
forced for our immediate purpose to pursue truth for itself, regardless
of consequences, we must remember all the more carefully that truth is a
whole, and that fragmentary bits of knowledge become valuable as they
are incorporated into a general system. The tendency of modern times to
specialism brings with it a characteristic danger. It requires to be
supplemented by a correlative process of integration. We must study
details to increase our knowledge; we must accustom ourselves to look at
the detail in the light of the general principles in order to make it
fruitful.
The influence of that world which 'is too much with us late and soon' is
of the same kind. The man of science loves barren facts for their own
sake. The man of the world becomes devoted to some petty pursuit without
reference to ultimate ends. He becomes a slave to money, or power, or
praise, without caring for their effect upon his moral character. As
social organisation becomes more complete, the social unit becomes a
mere fragment instead of being a complete whole in himself. Man becomes
The senseless member of a vast machine,
Serving as doth a spindle or a wheel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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