登陆注册
15513800000070

第70章 CHAPTER V(8)

It applies only in so far as the principles of competitive enterprise control the selection of the personnel, and even then only with exceptions. There is no intention to depreciate the work of those many eminent scholars, of scientific animus and intellectual grasp, whose endeavours are given to this range of inquiry. Its application, indeed, is intended to reach no farther than may serve to cover the somewhat tactful and quietistic attitude of the moral sciences in the universities. As they are cultivated in the great seminaries of learning, these sciences are commonly of a somewhat more archaic complexion than the contemporary material sciences; they are less iconoclastic, have a greater regard for prescriptive authority and authenticity, are more given to rest their inquiry on grounds of expediency, as contrasted with grounds of cause and effect. They are content to conclude that such and such events are expedient or inexpedient, quite as often and as easily as that such are the causes or the genetic sequence of the phenomena under discussion. In short, under this official leadership these sciences will have an attitude toward their subject of inquiry resembling that taken by the material sciences something like a century ago.

To the credit of this academic leadership in the social sciences, then, it should be said that both the leaders and their disciples apply themselves with admirable spirit to these inquiries into the proper, expedient, and normal course of events; and that the conclusions arrived at also shed much salutary light on what is proper, expedient, and normal in these premises. Inquiries carried on in this spirit in the field of human institutions belong, of course, in the category of worldly wisdom rather than of science. "Practical" questions occupy these scientists in great part, and practical, or utilitarian, considerations guide the course of the inquiry and shape the system of generalizations in these sciences, to a much greater extent than in the material sciences with which they are here contrasted. An alert sense of the practical value of their inquiries and their teaching is one of the chief requisites for official recognition in the scientists who occupy themselves with these matters, and it is one of the chief characteristics of their work. So that, in so far as it all conforms to the principles of competitive business, the line of demarcation between worldly wisdom and theoretical validity becomes peculiarly indistinct in this province of science. And, it may be remarked by the way, the influence of this academic science, both in its discipline and in its tenets, appears to be wholly salutary; it conduces, on the whole, to a safe and sane, if not an enthusiastic, acceptance of things as they are, without undue curiosity as to why they are such.

What has here been said of the place and use of the scientist under the current r間ime of competitive enterprise describes what should follow from the unrestrained dominion of business principles in academic policy, rather than what has actually been accomplished in any concrete case; it presents an ideal situation rather than a relation of events, though without losing touch with current facts at any point. The run of the facts is, in effect, a compromise between the scholar's ideals and those of business, in such a way that the ideals of scholarship are yielding ground, in an uncertain and varying degree, before the pressure of businesslike exigencies.

NOTES:

1. Cf. also J. J. Chapman, paper on "Professional Ethics," in University Control, as above, for an estimate of the inefficiency of academic opinion as a corrective of the executive power on his head.

2. "The lambs play always, they know no better, They are only one times one."3. "He was a trusted and efficient employee of an institution made possible and maintained by men of great wealth, men who not only live on the interest of their money, but who expend millions in the endowment of colleges and universities in which enthusiastic young educators... find lucrative and honourable employment." -- Editorial on the dismissal of Dr. Nearing, in the Minneapolis Journal, August II, 1915.

同类推荐
  • 野处类稿

    野处类稿

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说须赖经

    佛说须赖经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 事宜须知

    事宜须知

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 樊山政书

    樊山政书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 金刚寿命陀罗尼念诵法

    金刚寿命陀罗尼念诵法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 那年那美好

    那年那美好

    一次恒星大爆炸,造就就}了宇宙黑汨洞,一颗白矮星进入了黑洞,开始了漫长的飞行,……地球上,周天宇正在河边散步……
  • 我的神眼我的妞

    我的神眼我的妞

    异能是什么,异能只是一个工具,并不是成功的必然,只有内心强大的人,才有可能获得成功。
  • 现实仙王

    现实仙王

    纪宁重生于异世,历经各种磨难后修成仙王后,离奇返回现实,但一身修为却疯狂减到炼气巅峰
  • 星梦时空

    星梦时空

    2000年后的地球,科技发达,在2013一位农村无知的少女,在一场意外,生命就嘎嘣,在潜意识里,穿越了,(确实奇葩)到2000年后的世界,不用我说,看看吧!
  • 恶魔校草驾到:甜心校花逃不掉

    恶魔校草驾到:甜心校花逃不掉

    『新书发布』『甜心驾到:校草别太坏』第一次偶遇,就将甜心校花苏夏的行礼撞倒,霸道恶魔校草竟不道歉,随后便在一个班级,因为记住了苏夏而一见钟情,所以就强行吻了苏夏,苏夏大骂流氓啊,结果便被容泽强行抱住……………关键的还是看书所写的吧,我是作者林荫雨第一次写作望多多指教,有什么写的不好的地方或者建议尽管提出来,雨儿是初二的学生更文有些慢还望见谅
  • 暮春之令

    暮春之令

    架空汉朝,和亲公主去世,公主身边大龄未婚女史归汉遇见真爱的故事。
  • 来自远方的帝国

    来自远方的帝国

    来自欧洲的骑士,属于他乡的智者,能否帮助一位穿越的男爵君临整个大陆?强国并起,诸雄争霸,宗教的狂热,战争的碰撞,权谋的晦暗,共同铸就了时代的荣光。我叫欧文·里尔德拉,我是一位领主,领土是所有阳光普及之地!他轻轻地合上了书,五十年的刀光剑影,六十次的伟大战役,都随着这位老人的动作而被尘封到还散着墨香的书卷中。千百年后,这书卷,或遗失,或散落,或丢弃。直到有一天,它被重新发现。早已失去名字的它,被欣喜若狂的历史学家冠以一个不朽的名字。《来自远方的帝国》
  • 咖啡的味道只有我们知道

    咖啡的味道只有我们知道

    深爱太伤人,要把自己的心毫不保留地放出去,受苦了也只能自己承受,可要是不放,能知道他是对的吗?
  • 中国妇女生活风俗(中国风俗文化集萃)

    中国妇女生活风俗(中国风俗文化集萃)

    本书分为八部分,分别阐述了妇女的原始生活状态、进入妇女生活的历史误区、妇女婚前的生活规范、妇女婚姻缔结的礼俗等内容。
  • 覆世八玉

    覆世八玉

    在奇妙的姻缘下拜入梦寐以求的师门,最终发现原来一切都是别人一手策划下的阴谋,心爱的女子梦系他人,自己却几乎错过真命之人,父母的深仇,师父的血恨,诸般加诸在自己身上的恩怨情仇。当你身不由己时,是在无奈中悔恨,还是逍遥的顺性而为?