Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/146

 132 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Philosophy and Modern Culture. Our modern life, if we study it in its society talk, and in that faithful reflection of popular feeling and taste which our journals supply, exhibits much of coarse feeling, of affected tasle, of superficial and half-erro- neous ideas. If a man wants to feel justly and nobly, avoiding on the one hand the apathy which leaves the spirit inert, and on the other hand the exaggeration which deprives it of its equilibrium, if he wishes to avoid crude judgments on books and other works of art, he must inspect things more closely than the many are wont to do, so as to discover in what true worth resides. And this inspection, carried out thoughtfully and thoroughly, forms a part of philosophic investigation.

In the juster scale of emotional appreciations which the study of philosophy seems fitted to develop there is one ingredient which deserves special recognition reflect- ive humor. It may seem the height of paradox to say that philosophic reflection con- duces to a fuller enjoyment of that quiet fun with which, according to our most humorous playwright, the world is teeming. Nevertheless philosophy, just because she boldly peers into the very heart of things, just because she ruthlessly tears of the mask and shows us their real visage, may train us, if only we have the natural endow- ment, to detect incongruities, absurdities, and so to garner food for quiet laughter, where the unphilosophic man sees nothing amusing. It may help us in many an hour of quiet detachment to view the whole scene of human life about us as one-half a comedy.

The same philosophic habit of mind, the determination to examine things to the bottom, so as to get at their real significance and value, which helps to perfect our emotional life, will aid in the cultivation of the highest type of volition. A philosophic spirit leads a man to brush off the artificial traditional respect which, like mildew, gathers about the aims of life, and to see just where the highest good is to be reached. No one can be said to possess culture who has not thought seriously about life's ends. And no one who wants to think seriously about these can fail to derive profit from a careful study of that branch of philosophy which is specially concerned with them, viz., ethics. You cannot be said to have made the value of your aims perfectly clear to yourself until you have thought about such a question as this : Is the true rational end of conduct happiness for oneself and for others, so far as a man can further this ; or does it consist in something which lies near this, it is true, but differs profoundly from it, let us say in the growing perfection of our nature, and preeminently in the forma- tion of a beautiful and strong moral character ? To think about life's ends in this large way is to think ethically.

In its influence on the growing mind and character, philosophy tends to develop and to perfect our individuality. Philosophy can be and is studied and assimilated in a great many different ways, and, as a result, philosophic minds present much variety. The reason of this is, not merely that philosophy is so many-sided, presenting to the choice so many alternative views, but because, being an interpretation of experience, it makes so subtle and so profound an appeal to the sources of personality within us. It is certain that our temperament and innate tendencies do as much as the particular tenets of our teachers in determining the special directions of our philosophic thought.

Much of the old prejudice of men of science against " dreamy metaphysics " is out of date. The great characteristic of the movement of philosophic thought during the last two centuries is its growing respect for the realities of experience.

We are not forced to concede that philosophy yields only perfectly useless knowl- edge. It is only so long as you take utility in a narrow sense, insisting on a direct and obvious gain, that philosophy politely declines to meet your demands. JAMES SULLY, "Philosophy and Modern Culture," in the Fortnightly Review, January, IQOO.

Sociology in Secondary Schools. Three answers to the question whether it is opportune to introduce sociology in the most advanced classes of the secondary schools.

I. Dr. E. Delbet says: The goal of education, which, for Comtean philosophy, is to prepare individuals to live in the environment by which they are surrounded, can be attained by one means only, i. e., instruction as comprehensive as possible in the essential elements of the hierarchy of sciences, culminating in social science and ethics.