Science and the modern worldWhitehead, Alfred North
Religion
Science and the modern world
Whitehead, Alfred North
Science
There is no easy single solution of the practical difficulties of
education. We can, however, guide ourselves by a certain simplicity in
its general theory. The student should concentrate within a limited
field. Such concentration should include all practical and intellectual
acquirements requisite for that concentration. This is the ordinary
procedure; and, in respect to it, I should be inclined even to increase
the facilities for concentration rather than to diminish them. With the
concentration there are associated certain subsidiary studies, such as
languages for science. Such a scheme of professional training should be
directed to a clear end congenial to the student. It is not necessary to
elaborate the qualifications of these statements. Such a training must,
of course, have the width requisite for its end. But its design should
not be complicated by the consideration of other ends. This professional
training can only touch one side of education. Its centre of gravity
lies in the intellect, and its chief tool is the printed book. The
centre of gravity of the other side of training should lie in intuition
without an analytical divorce from the total environment. Its object is
immediate apprehension with the minimum of eviscerating analysis. The
type of generality, which above all is wanted, is the appreciation of
variety of value. I mean an aesthetic growth. There is something between
the gross specialised values of the mere practical man, and the thin
specialised values of the mere scholar. Both types have missed
something; and if you add together the two sets of values, you do not
obtain the missing elements. What is wanted is an appreciation of the
infinite variety of vivid values achieved by an organism in its proper
environment. When you understand all about the sun and all about the
atmosphere and all about the rotation of the earth, you may still miss
the radiance of the sunset. There is no substitute for the direct
perception of the concrete achievement of a thing in its actuality. We
want concrete fact with a high light thrown on what is relevant to its
preciousness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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