Science and the modern worldWhitehead, Alfred North
Religion
Science and the modern world
Whitehead, Alfred North
Science
This situation has its dangers. It produces minds in a groove. Each
profession makes progress, but it is progress in its own groove. Now to
be mentally in a groove is to live in contemplating a given set of
abstractions. The groove prevents straying across country, and the
abstraction abstracts from something to which no further attention is
paid. But there is no groove of abstractions which is adequate for the
comprehension of human life. Thus in the modern world, the celibacy of
the medieval learned class has been replaced by a celibacy of the
intellect which is divorced from the concrete contemplation of the
complete facts. Of course, no one is merely a mathematician, or merely a
lawyer. People have lives outside their professions or their businesses.
But the point is the restraint of serious thought within a groove. The
remainder of life is treated superficially, with the imperfect
categories of thought derived from one profession.
The dangers arising from this aspect of professionalism are great,
particularly in our democratic societies. The directive force of reason
is weakened. The leading intellects lack balance. They see this set of
circumstances, or that set; but not both sets together. The task of
coördination is left to those who lack either the force or the character
to succeed in some definite career. In short, the specialised functions
of the community are performed better and more progressively, but the
generalised direction lacks vision. The progressiveness in detail only
adds to the danger produced by the feebleness of coördination.
This criticism of modern life applies throughout, in whatever sense you
construe the meaning of a community. It holds if you apply it to a
nation, a city, a district, an institution, a family, or even to an
individual. There is a development of particular abstractions, and a
contraction of concrete appreciation. The whole is lost in one of its
aspects. It is not necessary for my point that I should maintain that
our directive wisdom, either as individuals or as communities, is less
now than in the past. Perhaps it has slightly improved. But the novel
pace of progress requires a greater force of direction if disasters are
to be avoided. The point is that the discoveries of the nineteenth
century were in the direction of professionalism, so that we are left
with no expansion of wisdom and with greater need of it.
Wisdom is the fruit of a balanced development. It is this balanced
growth of individuality which it should be the aim of education to
secure. The most useful discoveries for the immediate future would
concern the furtherance of this aim without detriment to the necessary
intellectual professionalism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account