Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/235

Rh remain unimpaired. Mr.Spencer believes that man's nature should be unfolded for the sake of making him a complete liver—we believe that man's nature should be unfolded for its own sake, for what there is in it of power for goodness, for what he, the man, can become by loving reality and by serving his fellow-beings. These ideas are essentially different; as much so as the culture-idea, of humanism and the useful idea of philanthropism. It should be understood, however, that we are not restating, in slightly different language, this culture-idea which humanism advocates. The word culture labors under the misfortune of being either too indefinite or too narrow. It means nothing, or it stands for general æsthetical development. The cultured man is thought of more from the side of mind and taste than from the side of moral excellence. The true education-idea embraces the development of the entire man, and any system which aims at else than this or less than this is defective in theory, and will be defective in practice. Let us interpret Mr.Spencer's language, not in itself alone, but in its connections, and as related to the entire course of his argument. "How to live—that is the essential question for us; not, how to live in the mere material sense only, but in the widest sense. The general problem, which comprehends every special problem, is, the right ruling of conduct in all directions, under all circumstances: in what way to treat the body, in what way to treat the mind, in what way to manage our affairs, in what way to bring up a family, in what way to behave as a citizen, in what way to utilize all those sources of happiness which Nature supplies; how to use all our faculties to the greatest advantage of ourselves and others; how to live completely; and this, being the great thing needful for us to learn, is, by consequence, the great thing which education has to teach."By the aid of this fundamental position Mr.Spencer sets forth the kind of material which he believes best qualified to educate man. "Our first step is to classify, in the order of their importance [italics the writer's], the leading kinds of activity which constitute human life." Mr.Spencer gives the following classification: I. Those activities which directly minister to self-preservation. II. Those activities which, by securing the necessaries of life, indirectly minister to self-preservation. III. Those activities which have for their end the rearing and discipline of off-spring. IV. Those activities which are involved in the maintenance of proper social and political relations. V. Those miscellaneous activities which make up the leisure part of life, devoted to the gratification of the tastes and the feelings." This classification, so far as it is to be made the basis of educational endeavor, I can not but regard as fundamentally defective. It proceeds from a confusion of primary necessity with primary value. Mr.Spencer, in commending his classification, says, "The actions and precautions by which, from moment to moment we secure personal safety, must clearly take precedence of all others." Admitted, on a proper interpretation of this word precedence.