Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
(4) Culture socializes. It adds to our competitive life, to our
personal ambitions and self-seeking, an unselfish pleasure, a pleasure
which we can share with all, and which needs to be shared to be best
enjoyed. Nothing binds men together more joyously and with less
likelihood of friction than their common love of the beautiful. All
classes and all peoples, men of whatever trade or interests, may learn
to love the same scarlet of dawn, the same stir and heave of the sea,
that Homer loved and fixed in winged words for all men of all time.
From whatever land we come we may thrill to the words of English
Shakespeare or Florentine Dante, to the chords of German Wagner and
Italian Verdi, to the colors of Raphael and Murillo, to the noble
thoughts of Athenian Plato, Roman Marcus Aurelius, and Russian Tolstoy.
Our opinions differ, our interests diverge, our aims often cross; but
in the presence of high truth and beauty, fitly expressed, our
differences are forgotten and we are conscious of our essential unity.
Prejudices and provincialisms crumble, personal eccentricities fade,
barriers are broken, all sorts of fanaticisms and frictions are choked
off, under the influence of a widespread cultural education. What is
most important in cultural education? Wisdom and beauty are vague
words; and to make our discussion practical we must indicate what in
the ideal curriculum. It is a matter of relative values, since nearly
every study is of some worth; and the detailed decision as to subjects
and methods must be left to the expert on pedagogy. But to present
the general needs that education must meet falls within our province.
In addition, then, to the particular vocational education which is
to fit each man for his specific task, in addition to that physical
development which must always go hand in hand with intellectual growth,
in addition to that moral-religious training and that preparation for
parenthood, of which we shall later speak, we may mention three
important ideals to be grouped under our general conception of culture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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