The Great Ideas Today 1961

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dyn^^l^c new work which focuses the wisdom

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THE GREAT IDEAS Editors-in-Chief: Robert

Justice William

M.

Hutchins and Mortimer

J.

Adler

Cmouglas tells why democracy

new rfatidns while noted journalist Peregrine Wdrsthprnp disagrees in The Great is

best fdriibe

Debate of the Year the Etlltors examine

.our

exciting times 1n the light of the Great Ideas

Mark Van Doren, Gilbert

Cant, George P. Grant, Edward MShils, Walter Sullivan explore t^e^newest^cagtribu^pns in the arts and sciences Also aertinent works by Einstein, Toy n bed, Deifiey amd Moliere Experts

$895

Here

is

tool. It

an absolutely new, gleaming educational does not supplement the news; but, by

viewing our current

life

against the rich, fasci-

nating backdrop of 2500 years of

makes

and experience, the first time— intelligible." it

the

human thought

news-I think Clifton

"Man

has never stood more

at the

present

moment

in

for

Fadiman

need of ideas than

of history.

Without the

introduction of the proper ideas into popular

minds, our philosophers and statesmen may be powerless to save us. Books such as The Great Ideas Today, therefore, ought to be in every

American home." Steve Allen

seeks to focus the wisdom of the great books and the light of the great ideas on the significant and urgent problems of today. Its aim is to illuminate, in depth, not merely to report,

71he Great Ideas Today

and developments. volume will discover for himabout the self that Thucydides did not write just Peloponnesian War, but about war and peace in

the year's events

The reader of

this

general; that Machiavelli's advice to a Florentine prince applies with equal validity to a Central American dictator; that John Stuart Mill's observations about politically immature peoples and about gov-

ernment illuminate the current debate about the new nations in Africa; that the Federalist Papers, written was at the time the government of the United States established, provide a significant

American presidential

commentary on

the

election in 1960. In each case,

the reader, will perceive the

permanent features of

the political scene, and, doing so, will better understand the developments in the world today.

We often feel bewildered by contemporary happenings because they appear to be such chaotic mixtures of chance,

human

caprice,

and grim

necessity.

But a deeper look changes the picture and makes it more intelligible. The problems of the day become less

puzzling

when seen

in the larger perspectives

provided by the accumulated wisdom of mankind. We must ask Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Montesquieu, Locke, and Mill for their comments

on the front page stories of the year. That is exactly what The Great Ideas Today does. The reader will find how rich and various are the answers which the great authors give as he II

of this

examines

book the many passages from

in Parts

I

and

their writings

which are either quoted or referred to because of their striking relevance to the contemporary scene. continued on back flap

1

Part

III

of The Great Ideas Today consists of five

full-scale essays written

by leading authorities about

current developments in the arts and sciences. These well-illustrated, highly readable essays contain ex-

tensive reviews of important

commentary and

criticism,

new works,

and

interesting

a full range of biblio-

graphical material.

The Great Ideas Today

also contains four perti-

nent great works chosen on the basis of their rele-

vance to the people, ideas, and events of today. this year consist of three significant

Those chosen for

in the form of esDewey, and Toynbee. and one of

twentieth-century contributions says by Einstein,

Moliere's most enjoyable comedies.

Adapted from

the foreword

CONTENTS PART THE GREAT DEBATE OF THE YEAR I

Is democracy the best form of government for newly formed nations? The Case For Democracy: Justice William O. Douglas The Case Against Democracy: Peregrine Worsthorne

PART II THE EDITORS REVIEW THE YEAR An

analysis of three developments in world affairs

PART III THE YEARS DEVELOPMENTS ARTS AND SCIENCES Literature by

IN

THE

Mark Van Doren

Physical Sciences and Technology

by Walter Sullivan

and Law by Edward A. Shils and Medicine by Gilbert Cant Philosophy and Religion by George P. Grant

Social Sciences

Biological Sciences

PART IV FOUR GREAT WORKS ALSO INCLUDED Experience and Education by John Dewey Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein The School for Wives by Moliere Three Essays by Arnold J. Toynbee

66-

Printed in U.S.A

THE GREAT IDEAS TODAY

1961

THE

GREAT IDEAS TODAY 1961

WILLIAM BENTON

Publisher

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, INC Chicago London '

•

Toronto

•

Geneva

©1961 By Encyclopaedia

Britannica, Inc.

Copyright under International Copyright Union

Pan American and Universal Copyright Conventions by

All rights reserved under

Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. Printed

in the

U.S.A.

The following works in this volume are reprinted under the arrangements listed below: Experience and Education by John Dewey. Reprinted by permission of Kappa Delta Pi, owners of the copyright.

The Special and General Theory by Albert by Robert W. Lawson. Copyright 1920 by Henry Holt & Company.

Relativity,

Einstein, Ph.D., trans,

Copyright 1948 by Peter Smith. Reprinted by permission of Peter Smith.

The School for Wives b\ Moliere. From

EIGHT

PLAYS BY MOLIERE, trans,

by Morris Bishop. £ Copyright 1957 by Morris Bishop. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

Three essays: "Does History Repeat Itself?" "The Unification of the Worid and the Change in Historical Perspective," and "Civilization on Trial." From Civilization on Trial by Arnold J. Toynbee. Copyright 1948 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

The Great Ideas Today 1961

Editors

Editors-in-chief

Executive Editor Contributing Editor Assistant Editor Picture Editor

Editorial A ssistants

Robert M. Hutchins Mortimer J. Adler Peter

C

.

Wolff

Milton Mayer Paul

M.

Gilchrist

Pierce G. Fredericks

Mary F. Blansfield Desmond J. FitzGerald

Departmental contributors The Great Debate of the Year

William o. Douglas Peregrine Worsthorne

The Years Developments

in the

Literature

Physical Sciences and Technology Social Sciences Biological Sciences

and Law

and Medicine

Philosophy and Religion

Arts and Sciences

Mark Van Doren Walter SulHvan

Edward A.

Shils

Gilbert Cant

George

P.

Grant

Foreword book is the first in a series of volumes designed to supplement Great Books of the Western World. To be published annually, The Great Ideas Today seeks to focus the wisdom of the great books and the light of the great ideas on the problems of the day. Its aim is to illuminate, not merely to report, the year's events and developments. As its title indicates, The Great Ideas Today brings the perennial into contact with the current, in order to reveal the timeless and abiding elements which are always present in the contemporary and the

This

transient.

were once called "the classics." As the pages to is a misnomer; for "classics" in its usual connotation refers to dead languages and dead books — the cultural achievements of antiquity, chiefly of archaeological interest. While the great books do represent the outstanding literary achievements of our Western civilization over the last twenty-five centuries, they are as alive today as when they were written. That is the true mark of their greatness. The ideas they deal with — and that is why they are the great ideas — constitute the intellectual implements which thinking men in every century must employ in order to understand the changing world in which they live. It is precisely because they are timeless in this way that the great books and the great ideas are always

The

great books

follow will amply demonstrate, that

so timely, always so relevant to the present.

The reader of

this

volume

will

discover for himself that Thucydides

did not write just about the Peloponnesian War, but about

peace

in general;

war and

that Machiavelli's advice to a Florentine prince

applies with equal vaHdity to a Central

American

dictator; that

John

Stuart Mill's observations about politically immature peoples and

about the government of dependencies illuminate the current debate about the new nations in Africa; that the Federalist Papers, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay at the time the government of the United States was established, provide a significant commentary on

American

presidential election in 1960. In each case, the reader, otherwise be attentive solely to the novelty in current problems or events, will perceive the permanent features of the political scene, both in domestic and in foreign affairs; and, doing so, he will be

the

who might

better able to understand the

We

new developments

in the

world today.

often feel bewildered by contemporary happenings because, on

the surface, they appear to be such chaotic mixtures of chance,

human

and grim necessity. But a deeper look at them changes the picture and makes it more intelligible. The political and social problems

caprice,

vu

of the day become less puzzling when they are seen in the larger perspectives provided by the accumulated experience and wisdom of the race. That accumulated experience and wisdom is available to us in the great books, but we must also make the effort to apply it to our

We must ask Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, and Mill for their editorial comments on the Montesquieu, the year. That is exactly what The Great Ideas stories of front page Today has attempted to do. The reader will find how rich and various are the answers which the great authors give, as he examines, in Parts I and II of this book, the many passages from their writings which are either quoted or referred to because of their striking relevance to the contemporary scene. What is true of current events in the world of affairs is also true of current developments in the arts and sciences. Here, too, the great books shed light. The latest scientific discoveries lose some of their mystery when they are seen as part of a continuous scientific tradition. New departures in philosophy and theology become more intelligible current concerns.

when they And,

are related to the traditional discussion of the great ideas.

similarly,

literature

contemporary achievements

take on their true proportions

against the great

ards for

all

works of poetry and

in the field

when they

fiction that

of imaginative are measured

provide the stand-

times.

Part III of

The Great Ideas Today consists of

five essays

about

current developments in the arts and sciences: in the physical sciences

and technology, in the biological sciences and medicine, in the social sciences and law, in philosophy and theology, and in imaginative literature. These essays aim not only to help the reader of the great books become cognizant of recent advances in the major fields of inquiry and creative thought, but also to deepen his understanding and appreciation of them by setting them against the background of the great books and the great ideas. He will find, in each of the major fields covered, guidance for further study, in the form of recommended readings that select the most significant of recent works published and refer him to passages in the great books and the Syntopicon. The publication of an annual supplement to Great Books of the Western World provides an opportunity to make additions to the works included in that set. Part IV of the present volume contains four such additions — three

significant

twentieth-century contributions in the

form of essays by Einstein, Dewey, and Toynbee, and one of Moliere's most enjoyable comedies. In subsequent years, we will follow the same principle in supplementing the great books set by adding to it other works of permanent worth and interest. We hope that this volume succeeds in extending the living world of the great books and the great ideas. If it does, then this volume and those to follow will deserve to stand beside Great Books of the Western World on the library shelf.

THE EDITORS Vlll

Contents

A

Foreword

vii

note on reference style

xi

PART THE GREAT DEBATE OF THE YEAR I

Is

democracy the best form of government for the newly formed nations?

1

The case for democracy: William O. Douglas

5

The case against democracy: Peregrine Worsthorne

47

PART II THE EDITORS REVIEW THE YEAR

An

analysis of three developments in

world

THE year's DEVELOPMENTS

affairs

77

PART III IN THE

ARTS AND SCIENCES Literature by

Mark Van Doren

Physical sciences and technology by Walter Sullivan Social sciences and law by

Edward A.

143

189

Shils

245

and medicine by Gilbert Cant Philosophy and religion by George P. Grant

291

Biological sciences

337

PART IV ADDITIONS TO THE GREAT BOOKS LIBRARY

Dewey

379

The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein The School for Wives by Moliere

421

Toynbee

529

Experience and Education by John Relativity:

Three Essays by Arnold

J.

ix

479

-

PICTURE CREDITS Adrian 149 (left): Agfa-Brovira 144: Ron Appelbe 541: Eve Arnold — Magnum 137, 394 Fabian Bachrach 155 (right): Marc & Evelyne Bernheim 23, 44, 50, 52, 54, 99 (top & bottom): Ian Berry -Magnum 88, 91: The Bettman Archive 93 (upper left), 380, 540, 558 (center right), 559 (left); M. D. Bianchi, Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1924, 177: Braun from P. I. P. 364: Robert Breon,

(bottom):

173

Jr.,

J.

Brodie — Camera

Press— Pix 64: Dan Budnik — Magnum 182 Courtesy of the California Institute of Technology 198: Camera Press -Pix 31, 35, 45: Phyllis Cerf 165: Comedie Fran?aise 493, 501, 510, 519, 522: Paul Conklin-Pix 60, 62; Howard Coster 151 (left): George Cserna 174: Culver 57. 81, 255. 256, 257, 260. 267, 270, 271, 292,

406

(left

&

right),

422

480, 483, 530, 535,

(left),

537, 545, 552, 553, 558

(left,

center

left, right),

559 (center left, center right) Agence Dalmas-Pix 16: Roy Doty 432-33, 448-49; Elliott Erwitt- Magnum 300, 362;

Morgan

167

Fitz

(center):

Larry Fried -Pix

Wayne Miller- Magnum

Moore — Camera Press — Pix 69; Joe Munroe 135 Hans Namuth 170; New York Public Library 90; New York Times 103 (top & bottom), 107, 110. 118. 119

(left

& right).

Museum

of Art 559

Magnum

1

38. 264:

(right):

Vaughn Gray 80

Camera

left).

347; Marc Riboud — Magnum Alan Richards 130; Ian Russell

Press

—

Pix 59

Reprinted from Science by permission of the

W. F. Libby 232: Brian Seed 172 (center): Sheed & Ward, Inc. 361; Sam Shere — Pix 129; Silverstone- Palmer 9; Courtesy of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research 295 (left & right): Sportsman 316; Ruth Standinger 151 (right): Dennis Stock publisher and the author

— Magnum

140:

Pierre

(right):

R.

14:

Lotte Jacobi

Black Star 171 (top): Alfred A. Knopf 155 (center): Edward Leigh 357

Magnum

43: Marineland of the Pacific 323;

8:

Kryn Taconis — Magnum 93 (right); U.C.L.A. Department 340 (top); United

Press International 95, 127, 252

Johnson 157; Bern Keating-

Star

Photographic

382

(right):

Indian Information Service

— Black

Unknown by Walter

(right)

Haas -Magnum 424; G. D. Hackett £ Copyright by Philippe Halsman 370: Hamaya— Magnum 126; Harvard University 200; Declan Haun-Pix 311; HausnerThe New York Times 303; A. Blakelee Hine 153 181

Streit

the

Burt Glinn-

Ernst

167

Courtesy of the

Random House 80 (upper

Sullivan 206

Douglas Glass. London 149

142; Pennsylvania

(right);

Pirandello Estate 171 (bottom); Pix 249

Mark Gerson 161, 172 (top): Gevaert, from Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, Simon (left):

120

Guido Organschi — Scope

From Assault on

Schuster, 1960, 183: Clint Giese 155

398, 407;

248; David

274

&

387. 393,

With permission of the publisher J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tubingen, Germany, from Marianne Weber, Max Weber: ein Lebensbild, 1926,

Eli

179

&

right),

Wallach 172 (bottom): Arthur W.

Wang

Wide World

(left):

(left,

right).

302. 321

Color

,

(left

72, 114, 122, 133, 207

209, 214, 219, 223, 252 (center),

365; John Wiley

&

Sons, Inc. 341

,

346

illustrations

"Africa — Land of Contrast"

Black Star

fol.

— Emil

Schulthess —

84

"Great Ideas of Western

Man" — Courtesy

Container Corporation of America

fol.

404

of

I

A

note on reference style

Books of the Western World For example, "Vol. 39, p. 210b" refers to page 210 in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which is Volume 39 in Great Books of the Western World. The small letter "b" indicates the page section. In books printed in the following pages, passages in Great

Inare

referred to by volume, page number, and page section.

single

column, "a" and "b" refer to the upper and lower halves of

the page. In books printed in double column, "a" and "b" refer to the

upper and lower halves of the left column, "c" and "d" to the upper and lower halves of the right column. For example, "Vol. 53, p. 210b" refers to the lower half of page 210, since Volume 53, James's Principles of Psychology, is printed in single column. On the other hand, "Vol. 7, p. 210b" refers to the lower left quarter of the page, since Volume 7, Plato's Dialogues, is printed in double column.

XI

PART

I

THE GREAT DEBATE OF THE YEAR

Is

the best

democracy

form of government

for the

newly formed nations?

The case for democracy:

William

The case against democracy: peregrine

o.

douglas

worsthorne

editors encountered remarkably Thetopic for the of

Great Debate

little difficulty

the Year: Is

in

choosing the the Best

Democracy

Form

of Government for the Newly Formed Nations? This is not to say that no important events occurred during the past

year other than the emergence of

many independent

nations. Obvi-

American pilot Francis Powers was tried in Moscow for his ill-fated U-2 flight; national conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties met to choose candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States; John F. Kennedy was elected President in November, 1960, by the narrowest of margins; Premier Khrushchev attended the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in the fall of 1960 and 4emanded the reorganization of its secretariat; Cuba drifted ever more surely ously, they did:

into the Soviet orbit, especially after the unsuccessful invasion of

Cuba by

exiled anti-Castro

Cubans

in the spring

of 1961.

no other event suggested a topic for debate as important as the emergence of many new sovereign nations. Provocative questions can be raised, of course, concerning each of the events mentioned. Should the United States engage in spying? Is the present method of choosing candidates for the presidency the best available one? Should the electoral college be reformed? Is the United Nations doomed to failure? What should the United States do about a Soviet satellite state 90 miles from its border? Interesting as these questions are, none of them seemed to involve as clear a conflict of principles as the question about democracy for the new African nations. The editors, therefore, undertook to have this question debated in the light of the great tradition of political Nevertheless, the editors

felt

that

ideas.

Freedom came

mighty rush that leaves no doubt that numbered. Seventeen new, independent nations came into being in Africa; sixteen of them were admitted to the United Nations during the session of the General Assembly in the fall of 1960 (Mauritania's admission to the United Nations was vetoed by the U.S.S.R.). to Africa in a

the days of colonialism

on

that continent are

Introduction

The coming of independence to a great part of Africa did not mean, however, that the continent was peaceful. A bloody war raged in the former Belgian Congo, the French- Algerian strife continued unsettled, and the heavy foot of Portuguese colonialism stamped out the faint stirrings of a movement for independence in Angola. No wonder, then, that the world anxiously eyed each new nation as it emerged from colonial bondage. The anxiety reflected the ever-present Cold War: With which side of that gigantic struggle would the new state align itself? Observers in the democratic West had an additional worry, even if a new nation indicated that, at least for the time being, it intended to vote with the West or to remain neutral. That worry had to do with the stability and viability of the new nation's government. Each of the new African states received its tutelage in matters of government from its former colonial ruler, whether that happened to be Great Britain, France, or Belgium. Each of them, therefore, adopted a form of government which, at least on paper, imitated the republican and democratic forms of government in Britain, France, and Belgium. But will democratic government modeled after these European forms work successfully in Africa? That is the question which has been raised again and again, especially in the light of such events as the Congolese war, and the apparent quick deterioration of nominally democratic governments, such as that of Ghana, into dictatorships. Here is the point of departure for our two antagonists. Mr. Justice Douglas and Mr. Peregrine Worsthorne agree that democracy is ideally the best form of government and that each nation — in Africa or elsewhere—should eventually enjoy it. Both, therefore, would like to see the eventual establishment of strong and dedicated democratic governments in the new African nations. But Justice Douglas and Mr. Worsthorne profoundly disagree on the immediate steps to be taken toward the ultimate goal of democratic government for the new nations.

Justice Douglas maintains that the only to institute

it

way

to achieve

democracy

is

at once. If a nation waits until conditions are ideal before

never become democratic, for there it is not now safe to let the people run their own government. On the contrary, says Justice Douglas, democracy is so strong a form of government and has so many intrinsic safeguards that all of the new nations should adopt it now. On the other hand, Mr. Peregrine Worsthorne believes that the peoples of the new nations will more surely gain internal freedom, and a meaningful voice in their government, if proper account is taken of the dangers that attend a country whose government is in form, but not in fact, democratic. Undemocratic outrages of the worst kind are taking place and will continue to take place in these countries, although they are democracies in name. Democracy will be blamed for these outrages. As a result, these countries will turn away from it and fall easy prey to the totalitarianism of communism or fascism.

becoming a democracy, then

it

are always reasons to be found

will

why

THE GREAT DEBATE, INTRODUCTION Both debaters speak with great authority and conviction. Each marshals impressive arguments for his side. The resolution of the issue is, perforce, left with the reader. The editors hope that the reader will not dismiss the issue as unresolvable and as one which does not concern him. The issue concerns all of us. There may be no more important task facing the nations of the West than that of successfully transplanting their ideas of individual freedom and the remainder of the world.

human

dignity to

WILLIAM

O.

DOUGLAS

The case for democracy

The nature of democracy The self-governing community

7

Universal suffrage

11

Forms of representative democracy

15

Safeguards of democracy

19

1 1

of powers

19

powers

26

Special provisions for special situations

29

The separation and

dilution

Division of legislative

The

loyal opposition

36

Freedom

42

1 1 1

The Honorable WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, has had a long and varied public career. Born in Minnesota in 1898, he was graduated from the Columbia Law School in 1925. After teaching for several years in the Columbia and Yale law schools, he was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1936 and served as its chairman for two years. President Roosevelt nominated him to the Supreme Court

in

1939. Mr. Justice Douglas has traveled widely and has written a

number of books about

his travel experiences.

works on natural

life.

A

number of works,

including the recent

He

is

also the author of several

lifelong interest in civil liberties

A

is

evidenced by a

Living Bill of Rights.

I

THE NATURE OF DEMOCRACY The self-governing community

Democracy,

unlike refrigerators and steel mills,

commodity.

come

a

way

of life, contagious

to see its potentials for the spirit

slowly in

new

lands. It

democracy

If

It is

may

is

not an exportable

among those who have

and mind of men.

take a long, long time for

It

full

takes root

flowering.

have a steady growth, it needs teachers who can and enlighten the minds of oncoming the perils as well as the opportunities in democratic is

to

specialize in political education

generations to

experiments.

The

task of educating leaders of these

new

nations has

been long delayed. The task of establishing among those nations institutes of political education so that thousands trained in the philosophy of a free society will be graduated each year has hardly started.

The undertaking is vast and complicated. It will require years, indeed decades, of patient and unremitting work. Yet if the roots of democratic institutions take hold, the ultimate creations will be exciting. Self-government within systems that make room for all minorities and for all the diversities among people is destined to be the achievement of all mankind. Every people must start sometime; and with advanced planning, the start of none need be long delayed. Montesquieu said: 'The people are extremely well qualified for choosing those whom they are to entrust with part of their authority. For though few can tell the exact degree of men's capacities, yet there are none but are capable of knowing in general whether the person they choose is better qualified than most of his neighbours."^ My visit to Persian villages in 1950 illustrated the point. Prime Minister Mossadegh passed a law designed to introduce democracy into the villages. Persian villages have never known democracy in their long history, nor have they ever performed municipal functions in the Western sense. They were a species of private property, owned down to the community bathhouse by the landlord. Mossadegh introduced democracy at the grass roots in an indirect way. The Parliament passed the "20 per cent law," under which the rent of each sharecropper was reduced by that percentage. The amount so determined .

1

The

.

.

Spirit

of Laws, Vol. 38, pp. 4d, 71c

THE GREAT DEBATE for each village

was then divided

into

two equal

parts:

one half being

remitted to the tenant and the other half being set aside for use by his village.

Most landlords evaded

those that did set a powerful force

the law, but in

operation.

some complied, and The existence of the

made the villagers eager to use it. So they elected from members of a village council — the first in Persian history. I was present at some of these village meetings. The people were virtually all illiterate. Yet they knew their neighbors; they knew whom to trust; they knew who the ablest in the village were. Their selections of council members were wise ones. The ones chosen would serve the village fund

their midst

village interests.

Once

it

man that he should actively participate in makunder which he is to live, democracy is on the way.

occurs to a

ing the decisions

The democratic

activist believes that democracy represents a value which should be defended and extended. No attack on democracy can hide the fact that it can be replaced only by a system that substitutes coercion for persuasion, one that replaces the individual's choice with

the choice of

The

some

habits of

ruler.

most of the world run against active participation

self-government. But those habits are being broken. is

Our own

in

history

a history of breaking the inner shackles of habit. But our history

is

not necessarily a unique path. Outsiders tend to overlook the ties that have long held the people

of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa together. Sometimes tribe. It

may have been was the

it

was a

a landlord system or a princely state. In large

That is true in Vietnam as it was in Vietnamese — probably 90 per cent — are Buddhists. Their Buddhism fuses several religions — Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and ancestor worship. The cult of the ancestor is the predominant element; it permeates Vietnamese family and social life. Some say that the familial tradition and the tribal tradition are antidemocratic. But democratic beginnings can be made even where tribe or family is the dominant influence. A national figure is needed— a areas of Asia

China.

PERSIAN VILLAGERS

WITH LANDLORD Though almost all are

illiterate,

the villagers

have acted wisely in

public affairs

The

it

family.

large majority of

NEHRU OF INDIA In some new nations,

a leader to

command

the loyalties

of all the people — a father symbol — is necessary

command loyalties and be the father symbol. Ngo Dinh Diem has filled that role in South Vietnam just as Nehru did in India. Where there is leadership and the mucilage of ties born of custom, leader to

religion, race or language, a start

toward a democratic society can

be made. People who cannot read have obvious limitations when it comes to being informed about public issues and about candidates for office. Yet modern radio establishes an effective line of communication between candidates and the masses. The mechanics of the ballot present no great obstacle. Election officials can be trained. That was done in India; and it resulted in smoothly operating polling places. Symbols for the separate parties or candidates can be used. In India bullocks were the symbol for the Congress Party, the peepul tree for Socialist, a thatched hut for Praja, a locomotive for Republican, an elephant for Scheduled Castes, etc.

The 1951-52

general election in India

was extended over a period

of 17 weeks; the one in 1957 was completed in ten weeks. There were

26 parties in the 1951-52 general elections and 25 in the 1957 election. Nearly 200 million people voted. By 1957 there had been many byelections and several state elections, the experience of the people increasing with each. In 1957 the three leading parties were the Congress Party that polled 48 per cent of the vote, the Praja Socialist that polled 30 per cent, the Communist that polled 9 per cent. No electorate ever has the comprehension to understand, much less to solve, all problems. A few issues may be understandable, such as war versus peace. Or again, the need of more water in arid lands, food

THE GREAT DEBATE shortages, the lack of doctors, the need of medicines, nurses, hospitals

— these

are issues that illiterate people

graduates.

The

may

see as clearly as college

of course, do not have the same range of

illiterate,

understanding on some issues as the educated citizens have. The nuances of the difference between socialized medicine and medical

may be more Examples can be

services rendered on the basis of private enterprise

apparent to the educated than to the

illiterate.

multiplied. in political competence between and the uneducated is one only in degree. Montesquieu says that the people can choose generals and judges for they have "better information in a public forum than a monarch in his palace. But are they capable of conducting an intricate affair, of seizing and improving the opportunity and critical moment of action? No; this

Yet, on analysis, the difference

the educated

surpasses their

abilities. "^

The modern world presents problems too intricate for solution by any but experts. The waste material from nuclear reactors is one example. It is presently being stored in large quantities by those who have mastered nuclear fusion. It has a half-life up to 1,000 years. No vote by any electorate in any country in any world could intelligently resolve the question of its disposal. All that any vote could do would be to express confidence in the ability of one candidate as against the other to solve the problem in a way that would best safeguard the electorate's interests. As Hegel said, even if "the people in a democracy resolve on a war, a general must head the army."^ There are many issues on which the electorate in the modern world cannot vote intelligently, e.g., the efficacy of a common market that has no history of actual performance; the damage done to soil, food, and lands by insecticides; the impact of automation and the manner of treating the labor

Rousseau

common

said:

it

displaces.

"Wise men,

if

they try to speak their language to

own, cannot possibly make themselves understood. There are a thousand kinds of ideas which it is impossible to translate into popular language. Conceptions that are too general ."^ and objects that are too remote are equally out of its range. Since modern societies pose problems that only experts can reduce to intelligible form, elections more and more become mere expressions of confidence in a particular candidate, even where the electorate is highly educated and therefore presumably intelligent and well-inthe

herd instead of

its

.

.

formed. Literacy and intelligence are not synonymous. race have no measurable relationship.

why

leave the

management of

2 Ibid., p. 4d 3

Philosophy of History-, Vol. 46,

4 The Social Contract, Vol. 38,

10

p.

p.

173b

401c

To

return to

Intelligence and

my

Persian village,

village affairs to the landlord

when

the

William O. Douglas villagers

know

their

needs and can pick from among their

own

ranks

the ones to carry out their desires?

nations have the capacity to manage There is no valid excuse for denying them that minimum measure of democracy. At least that much of selfgovernment they should have.

The peoples of newly emerging

their village or municipal

affairs.

Universal suffrage

Democracy nary

men

has had able advocates. Thucydides said that "ordiusually manage public affairs better than their more

who

gifted fellows" since "those

mistrust their

content to be less learned than the laws. lieved that

democracy

sires

.

."^

.

own

cleverness are

Others have long be-

tyranny — the result, Plato said, of drink-

."^ wine of freedom. The argument pro and con about democracy Euripides summed it up in a dialogue:

ing "too deeply of the strong

.

.

is

an ancient one.

Herald: A poor hind, granted he be not all unschooled, would from his toil to give his mind to politics. .

still

be unable

.

more hostile to a city than a despot; where he is, there place no laws common to all, but one man is tyrant, in keeping and in his alone the law resides, and in that case equal-

Theseus: Naught are in the

whose

.

ity is at

is

first

an

end."^

Herodotus took up the same debate: Otanes: The rule of the is wont to commit.

many

... is free

from

all

those outrages which a king

Megabyzus: There

is nothing so void of understanding, nothing so wantonness, as the unwieldy rabble.^

full

of

his only chance of fulfillment — the realizaand equality. There is, moreover, a flexibility in the concept of democracy which will fit varying needs. It is a form of government which — under built-in controls — any people with resolution can manage. What do we mean by "democracy"? The image created in the minds of people of the Western world by the word "democracy" is quite different from what prevailed in the ancient city-states of Greece or from what has sometimes been referred to as the democracy of the mob. Lincoln's democracy, which he extolled in his Gettysburg Address — "government of the people, by the people, for the people" — states the ideal. Lincoln's democracy envisioned that within broad limits everyone had the franchise. Moreover, Lincoln's democracy was not the "town hall" type. The people acted

Democracy

offers

man

tion of freedom, justice,

5

History of the Peloponnesian War, Vol.

6 The Republic, Vol. 7

8

6, p.

425b

412a p. 262a

7, p.

The Suppliants, Vol. The History, Vol. 6,

5,

pp. 107d-108a

u

THE GREAT DEBATE through representatives. in principle

The

The government was

but representative

in

a republic

— democratic

form.

some form of representative government "democracy" we talk about when we ask a form of government that is suitable for the newly emerg-

universal franchise and

are the ingredients of the

whether

it

is

ing nations.

Aristotle discussed the danger of turning the

masses — "for

their folly will lead

them

power over

into error,

and

to the

their dishon-

— "for a state in esty into crime" — and the danger of not doing so which many poor men are excluded from office will necessarily be full of enemies."^ Centuries later — in 1821 —Chancellor Kent spoke much more dogmatically when he expressed the classic position against universal suffrage — the danger of giving the vote to "men of no property" and to "the crowds of dependents connected with great manufacturing and commercial establishments and the motley and undefinable population of crowded ports" and to "every man that works a day on the road or serves an idle hour in the militia."^^ The principle of universal suffrage does not mean that every person must be entitled to vote. The mentally incompetent are not granted the franchise. Minors are customarily excluded. Most states require voters to be 2 1 years of age. Alaska lowered the voting age to 1 9, Georgia and Kentucky, to 18. People convicted of infamous crimes are denied the franchise. Up to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 — long after Lincoln's Gettysburg Address — the right of women in the United States to vote was not guaranteed by the Constitution. Today twenty states impose some form of a literacy test on voters; and those tests have been sustained against charges of unconstitutionality so long as they are not used as devices to discriminate against classes of voters, e.g., members of a particular race.^^ Many states have had property qualifications for voters. Five states — Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia — still have poll taxes. Today nine states in this country bar paupers from voting. What is the standard by which limitations on the franchise should be tested? It is, I think, a simple one: if— in fact — a person can handle his own affairs, then he should participate in the disposition of public affairs. Exclusion of children and the mentally incompetent is justified. The exclusion of women is based on nothing more than tradition. The perpetual disenfranchisement of felons — allowing no room for rehabilitation—seems unjust. Literacy tests are often earnestly pressed. The government of Sir Roy Welensky in Rhodesia has long argued for a multi-racial political system based on qualifications in order to vote. That system would

9 Politics, Vol. 9, p. 479c The People Shall Judge (Chicago: University of The Science of Right, Vol. 42, pp. 436d-437c.

10

1

1

12

Chicago Press, 1949), Vol.

See United States Reports, Vol. 360 (October Term 1958). Lassiter Board of Elections, pp. 45-54.

v.

1, p.

569. Cf. Kant,

Northampton County

William O. Douglas

give Europeans a majority at the

start. In the end it would give Africans defended on the grounds of literacy and competency, not race. Literacy tests can be and often are advocated by those who want to maintain the leverage of the status quo. But they are difficult to defend except in terms of expediency. In terms of principle they are not

control. It

is

warranted.

The exceptions to universal suffrage, diverse and important as they may be in a particular environment, do not destroy the principle stated by Jefferson

in the

Declaration of Independence:

We

hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal: endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed .... that they are

Those who say that democracy is not appropriate as a form of government suitable for newly emerging nations repudiate the principle

who are secure in their own who want a change. Adam of view concerning our own

of "the consent of the governed." Those status

quo usually look askance

at those

Smith stated a jaundiced British point Founding Fathers:

The persons who now govern

the resolutions of

tinental Congress, feel in themselves at this

what they

call their

Con-

moment

a degree of importance which, perhaps, the greatest subjects in Europe scarce feel. From shopkeepers, tradesmen, and attornies, they are become statesmen and legislators, and are employed in contriving a new form of government for an extensive empire, which, they flatter themselves, will become, and which, in-

deed, seems very likely to become, one of the greatest and most formidable that ever was in the world. Five hundred different people, perhaps, who in different ways act immediately under the Continental Congress; and five hundred thousand, perhaps, who act under those five hundred, all feel in the same manner a proportionable rise in their own importance. ^^

"Consent of the governed" is an ethical principle. It rests on the worth of the individual. It assumes there are no inferior people who are to have no voice in the selection of their rulers. It asserts that citizens of these new nations, who have always been under some totalitarian regime, should have a chance to become skilled and

dignity and

responsible in the exercise of the franchise.

"Consent of the governed" is sturdy common sense. It rejects which seek to prove that giving the vote to grown men and women is no different from giving it to children, or that both the poor and the mad are identically incapable of political participation. strained metaphors

But the reach of the idea is broader. It looks forward to a time when the free development of each individual is the condition for the free development of all men. Some new nations have had promising starts under universal suffrage. India — a heterogeneous country of 400 million people — is the conspicuous example. Burma — a smaller nation of 18 million, made up 12

The Wealth of Nations, Vol.

39, p. 270c-d

13

THE GREAT DEBATE of numerous communities — is another. The literacy rate in these countries is low. In India it averages from 20 to 25 per cent. Yet people, though illiterate, may nevertheless be intelligent. Their choice of

Nehru's government

India and of

in

U

Nu's

Burma

in

indicates dis-

criminating choices.

The uninformed nature of

the electorate

however, sometimes

is,

taken as the excuse for depriving people of voting rights. In 1958 when Mohammed Ayub seized control of Pakistan, that nation

was operating under a written constitution that provided uniThere were numerous political parties on the national Corruption was common; and many high officials were sus-

versal suffrage.

scene.

pected of using their offices to line their own pockets. Party leaders were also charged with bribing voters. These were the excuses for the

Even after the "scoundrels" had been removed from democracy was drastically limited. A community was defined as a group of eight to ten thousand people. It was made small so that the members would be likely to know each other and thus be able to make an intelligent choice of the person to represent them in municipal aflPairs. But the voters were disenfranchised in the selection of all officials above the municipal level. Ayub concluded that the voters had such narrow horizons, such little knowledge of state or national needs dictatorship. office,

ELECTION REGISTRATION IN

INDIA

The political competence of the largely people has increased with each election illiterate

that they could not

make

lect officials for the

cials at the

In

among candidates running

intelligent choices

for the higher offices. Municipal officials

— elected

by the people — se-

next higher level; the latter in turn

name

the

offi-

next level, and so on.

Pakistan

it

seemed

that

Plato's formula

"He who

was being followed;

has a mind to establish a State must go to a democracy as he would to a bazaar at which they sell [constitutions], and pick out .

.

.

."^^ What Ayub did was to select a limited the one that suits him form of democracy; yet it is at least a start toward self-government. And this constitution went further than those of some other new coun.

.

.

tries.

India followed Thucydides,

who endorsed

popular rule and said

that "if the best guardians of property are the rich,

and the best

counsellors the wise, none can hear and decide so well as the many; .

.

that

.

all

these talents, severally and collectively, have their just

place in a democracy. "^^ This reflected the

wisdom of John

was Nehru's highly Stuart Mill

principled stand.

who emphasized

He

the need

through education and experience in community or national affairs of taking people "out of the narrow circle of personal and family selfishness, and accustoming

the lic

them to the comprehension of joint interests, management of joint concerns — habituating them to act from pub-

or semi-public motives, and guide their conduct by aims which

unite instead of isolating 13

The Republic, Vol.

them from one another."^^ These can include

7. p. 4()9c

14 History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 6, 15

14

On

Liberty, Vol. 43, p.

320b

p.

520b

William O. Douglas

service

on

juries, participation in municipal affairs,

membership

in

voluntary groups, and the myriad of activities that add up to the "po-

education of a free people." Universal suffrage performs an indispensable function in a republican form of government. "It is essential to such a government" Madison said, "that it be derived from the great body of the society, litical

not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favoured class of

it;

other-

might aspire to the rank of rewise a handful of tyrannical nobles publicans, and claim for their government the honourable title of re.

.

.

public."i6

Forms of representative democracy Government through representatives is

both a necessity

in the

modern state and the crucial device for the distribution of power. Through it, minority interests, which the majority might not always respect, are safeguarded. The distribution of power is achieved largely by three devices: the separation of powers, the variation of the selection and tenure accorded the various positions, and the absolute prohibition of some action. Before those controls are considered, the forms of representative democracy should be noted. Most of the newly emerged nations have written constitutions that

provide for the direct election of

members of

the legislature.

Some

have an upper house whose members are named differently. Malaya has a Senate, a majority of the members being appointed by the Chief

some members being appointed but The Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) has produced a variant form. Twothirds of its Senate are elected by "representatives of provincial, muExecutive. Nigeria has a Senate,

the

majority being selected by lower legislative assemblies.

and rural authorities" while the rest are elected "from economic, social and cultural groups; selected in part from the most representative groups of this kind and in part for reasons of special individual competence." Features of the latter kind of representative democracy had counterparts in our own nation. The United States Constitution — as adopted and as it operated until the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1 9 1 3 — provided for the selection of Senators by the state legislature, not by the people. The grant to state legislatures to choose our Senators was rationalized on two grounds: it was thought that this device would favor "a select appointment" and give "to the State governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government as must secure the authority of the former, and may form a convenient nicipal

between the two systems."^'' not at the beginning have a direct election of a President and Vice-President. Originally, their choice was an independent, uncon-

link

We did

16

The

Federalist, \o\. 43, p. 125c-d

17 Ibid.,

p.

189b

15

THE CONGOLESE SENATE IN SESSION "Government

through representatives is

.

.

in

.

a necessity the

modern state"

trolled act of an Electoral College.

The

selection of President

and Vice-

President by an Electoral College was put on several grounds

some of

which sound familiar when accounts of Pakistan's "democracy" are read. One reason was that "A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations."^^ Another reason was to "promise an effectual security" against the "mischief" of "tumult and disorder" attendant on popular elections. The integrity of the electors against foreign intrigue

was thought to be assured (1) by making their dependent on "an immediate act of the people of America": and (2) by giving the Electoral College a "transient existence." It was thought that this indirect method of election afforded "a moral certainty that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications."^^ With the appearance of American political parties, the Electoral College began to perform merely a perfunctory role. The party system itself became a device by which universal suffrage was disciplined. While in law only a few states bind their electors to follow the popular will, in practice and tradition the Electoral College makes no independent choice. The Constitution of the Malagasy Republic vests the executive function in a President who is elected for a term of seven years. He is chosen by an electoral college composed of (a) members of the national assembly: (b) members of the Senate: (c) members of provincial councils: and (d) delegates of municipal and rural assemblies elected by those assemblies, the number of delegates to correspond

or corrupt influence office

"proportionately" to the 18 Ibid., p. 205c 19 Ibid.,

16

p.

206b-c

number of

inhabitants.

William O. Douglas

India's executive

power

is

vested

in the

President

a term of five years by an electoral college

members of

the

who

is

composed of

two Houses of Parliament and assembly of the states.

chosen for elected

(a)

(b) elected

members

of the legislative Article II of our Federal Constitution gives the choice of federal judges, not to the people, but to the President with the advice and

consent of the Senate. Mill thought that "Of all officers of government, those in whose appointment any participation of popular suffrage is "^o Only one-fourth of our the most objectionable are judicial officers. states vest the selection of state judges in the governor or legislature; the rest of our states provide for the election of judges by the voters. system, however,

not in vogue in the

new

nations.

Under

This

latter

their

constitutions judges are appointed by the executive branch: and

is

once appointed they usually are made "irremovable," as the constitutions of the Republic of Cameroun and the Republic of the Ivory Coast state it. Mill believed that "no executive functionaries should be appointed by popular election: neither by the votes of the people themselves, nor by those of their representatives," because, as he put it, "The business of finding the fittest persons to fill public employments ... is very laborious, and requires a delicate as well as highly conscientious ."^^ discernment. We leave this function in the federal system to the President, who acts with the advice and consent of the Senate. He names members of the Cabinet, members of various agencies, ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and federal judges. In our states so-called cabinet posts are .

.

generally elected. But below that level the executive has the appointing power. In the

of government are

Universal

newly emerged nations the various functionaries

named by

suff'rage

the executive.

need not reach down

to that level of expertise.

however, important that the people choose the main officials. For as Aristotle said, "when the democracy is master of the votingpower, it is master of the constitution. "^^ The extent to which the "direct" election of a leader and of legislators by the people will be successful will not necessarily depend on their literacy or prior experience. It will turn on the quality of the leadership that commands their loyalties. Men like Nehru and U Nu have been symbols of honesty and integrity, as well as symbols of national aspirations. Where there is leadership of that quality, people It

is,

rise to their responsibilities.

Hegel made the point that elected

officials

represent not a particular

interest: they are there to "vindicate the universal interest

in is

.

.

.

their

meant to be a living body in which all members deliberate common and reciprocally instruct and convince each other." That not always what happens. Yet we know from our own experience

assembly

is

20 Representative Government, Vol. 4?>. p. 4\?>d 22 The Athenian Constitution, Vol. 9, p. 556d

21

Ibid., p. 4\2a.

17

THE GREAT DEBATE that the ical

lawmaker "acquires and develops

sense, tested by his experience.

a managerial and polit-

.''^3 .

.

Legislative assemblies elected by the people have their evils and

any form of government. But as Mill afflicts bureaucratic governments, and which they usually die of, is routine. ... In the profession of government, as in other professions, the sole idea of the majority is to do what they have been taught; and it requires a popular government to enable the conceptions of the man of original genius among them to prevail over the obstructive spirit of trained mediocrity. "^^ Yet "freedom cannot produce its best effects, and often breaks down altogether, unless means can be found of combining it with trained and skilled

spawn

their bureaucracies like

pointed out:

"The disease which

administration. "2^

Representative democracy through the various forms

it

can take

gives that opportunity at the municipal, the provincial, and the national level.

Even Egypt and Indonesia grant the people the right to vote only municipal elections. Morocco does the same, though its municipal councils are mainly advisory. In 960 Morocco let both men and women over 2 years old vote. For villages or municipalities of 7,500 people or less, nine council members were elected. That number inin

1

1

creased proportionately until in communities over 225,000 in size, 5 1 council members were chosen. Above that level, these three governments withhold that right, trusting only a dictatorship. its

Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem has had municipal elections since independence. In 1961 it had its first presidential election. In the

voted

Philippines, though the people, since independence, have

they were denied the right to vote in muUnder the Spanish regimes, which long ruled the Islands, the people were not trusted to vote at any level of government. The ruler named the governors of the provinces; and they in turn named the members of the village councils. Resistance to the grant of the franchise in municipal elections was great. The conservatives shook their heads, saying the people were not yet ready for that responsibility. But a group of Filipinos (organized as the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and aided by Dr. James Yen of the International Mass Education Committee) had awakened the people in some 100 villages in the Islands to the needs of modern village development. As a result of that awakening, the political pressures for a grant of the franchise mounted. There has been a similar awakening throughout the underdeveloped in national elections,

nicipal elections until 1960.

The Asian and African experiments show that universal suffrage can be immediately granted to the people at least in municipal elections. Nations that trust only a dictatorship miss a great opportunity to start their people on the path to self-government. Those

continents.

23 Philosophy of Right, Vol. 46, p. I03b-c 24 Representative Government, Vol. 43, pp. 364d-365a 25 Ihid., p. 365b-c

18

William O. Douglas

not trust the people to choose their rulers can always find convenient excuses to withhold the franchise from them. The difference in viewpoint is age-old. But the principle of "the consent of the governed" will not be long denied in these revolutionary times without setting into operation forces of disintegration within a nation. The ideas of our own Declaration of Independence are so powerful a ferment in underdeveloped areas that an effort to thwart them will only feed the cause which the Communists champion. The reason for relying on the principle of "the consent of the gov-

who do

erned"

not,

is

however, to thwart Communist strategy.

belief that

all

telligence to

It is

a sound

places confidence in the people. It expresses the peoples, given a chance, will have the insight and in-

principle because

it

manage

"the power which

is

their

own

affairs.

It is true,

as Mill said, that

strongest tends perpetually to

become

the sole

power."26 However, this tendency is no barrier to the inauguration of representative forms of democracy, but merely indicates the problem with which the architects of any new system must deal.

II

SAFEGUARDS OF DEMOCRACY The separation and

dilution

democratic theory Thecommon good and act

is

munity.

The aims and

ing them, will

of powers

that the majority will

have a vision of the

in the best interest of the particular

com-

objectives, as well as the procedures for attain-

change from time to time as new needs arise and as the

wisdom of the people is the vision of a ruler or years than likely to be a better guide over the

wisdom of

the people grows. Certainly the

a family.

Yet the problem is not solved by turning every political decision over to a "town hall" or even to the majority. The Federalist spoke of "the confusion and intemperance of a multitude," adding that "In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob."^ The sheer weight of numbers in a law-making group creates its own special problems. "In the first place, the more numerous an assembly may be, of whatever characters composed, the greater is to be the ascendancy of passion over reason. In the next place, the larger the number, the greater will be the proportion of members of limited information and of weak capacities. "^ But the objection to majority rule strikes even deeper. While the will of the majority is a safeguard against types of tyranny, even ma-

known

26 1

Ibid., p.

376a

Vol. 43,

p.

2 Ibid.,

p.

173a-b

181b

19

THE GREAT DEBATE must be restricted to prescribed procedures where the life, property of an individual is threatened. A "pure democor liberty racy," according to Madison, gives rise to abuses by the majority

jorities

— "there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual."^ One protection is the separation of powers. The Declaration of the Man of 1789 (preface to the French Constitution of 1791) "Every society in which ... the separation of powers is not determined has no constitution." Aristotle made the classic statement of separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.^ Madison referred to the joinder of legislative, executive, and judicial power in the same hands "whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective" as "the very definition of tyranny."^ Montesquieu said that all would be lost were "the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public resolutions, and of Rights of

said that

trying the causes of individuals."^

Madison thought the legislative power more likely than the others to become dominant, first because its constitutional powers are most extensive and less susceptible of precise description and second because

it

"alone has access to the pockets of the people.

.""^ .

.

Men

were often condemned, exiled, imprisoned, or executed, and their property confiscated by a legislative act. Such acts are called bills of attainder and are proscribed in our Constitution. If penalties are to be fastened on the citizen, the regular judicial procedures (with all their safeguards including right to counsel and to jury trial) must be followed. The vicious effects of bills of attainder greatly influenced the provision in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776, that "the legislative and executive powers of the state should be separate and distinct from the judiciary." Legislatures were sometimes vindictive and punished an act which, when committed, had violated no ordinance. We ban those laws as ex post facto. India's and Malaya's constitutions have comparable

Ex post facto laws are engines of tyranny since today's innocent act is tomorrow's crime — should the government have an end to serve by making it such. provisions.

A

legislature

may

represent a religious group that uses governmental

power to wreak vengeance on religious minorities. Our First Amendment protects the conscience of the individual and his right to worship as he pleases;

and it prohibits the "establishment" of any church, such as was done in our colonial days when the Church of England was the official church in some colonies, supported by taxation. The Malaya Constitution has comparable provisions, with the exception 3

lhid.,p. 51c-d Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 498b-502a,c. The Federalist, Vol. 43, p. 153d

4 See 5

6 The Spirit of Laws, Vol. 38, 7

The Federalist, Vol. 43,

20

p.

p.

70a

15 Id

William O. Douglas

any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the Muslim religion" may be regulated by law. The Indian Constitution has broad provisions guaranteeing the free exercise of religion and banning the collection of taxes to be spent for religious

that "propagation of

purposes. Nigeria provides, inter alia, that no religious denomination shall be prevented from providing "religious instruction" in any place of education "maintained wholly" by that denomination. Nations that are emerging from French colonial rule usually have less explicit guarantees as to freedom of conscience and religion. But the basic

guarantee

is

usually present.

the Constitution of the Republic

Thus

of the Ivory Coast states that government "shall respect all beliefs." The Republic of Cameroun declares for "separation of Church and State."

Majorities sometimes went on "lynching bees." The rule of law is designed for guilty and innocent alike. The police under majority rule may prove as noxious as poHce under a dictator or king. Power is a heady thing, even when its source is majority rule. Montesquieu said that "every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry To prevent this abuse, it is nechis authority as far as it will go. essary from the very nature of things that power should be a check .

to

.

.

power."^

police have been a notorious example. They tend to become a law unto themselves. Hence we have provided that a person, when arrested, must be taken without unreasonable delay before a magistrate so that his detention, if it continues, is a public affair. In this country that matter is governed by statute; in India and in Malaya it is em-

The

bedded

in the Constitution.

Our Constitution provides

for a "speedy" trial of criminal cases. Nigeria requires a judicial hearing "within a reasonable time." By reason of our Fourth Amendment — which is duplicated in most

— police

cannot ransack a house or business office or automobile first get a warrant from the magistrate. The police throughout history have taken short cuts, using torture and numerous ingenious devices to compel suspects to confess. Since everyone has a breaking point, coercion produces untrustworthy admissions of guilt. Moreover, burning, stretching, beating, abusing defenseless people are affronts to human dignity. Our Fifth Amendment outlaws any compulsion to produce admissions used against the citizen in a states

at will.

They must

criminal prosecution.

Most of

the newly emerged nations leave this

A

few put protective provisions in their Thus Nigeria provides that "no person shall be subtorture," and that no defendant in a criminal case shall be

matter to legislative control. constitutions.

jected to

compelled to take the stand.

Our Fifth Amendment protects property as well as life and liberty. One man's land cannot be taken by government and granted to another person. The taking must be for a "public purpose." No matter who the 8

The

Spirit

of Laws, Vol. 38,

p.

69b-c

21

THE GREAT DEBATE property owner pensation."

is, if

his property

is

taken, he must be paid "just

The Republic of Cameroun has

com-

a provision comparable

Like provisions are found in the constitutions of nations that were colonies under England. India has a variation in a recent amendment that makes the amount of compensation depend on a legislative to ours.

determination not subject to judicial review. Our Bill of Rights has no "equal protection" clause in it. But the Fourteenth Amendment — forged in the Civil War — has one that is

The racial problems that gave rise to it are backgrounds of the newly emerged nations. The prin-

applicable to the states. reflected in the ciple of "equal

new

protection"

constitutions;

and

in

is

without exception underlined

the provisions are spelled out in

The

some

detail.

Presidential system used in this country

aration of

power between

The Constitution provides

in the

some, notably Burma, India, and Malaya,

marks a

distinct sep-

the executive and legislative branches. that

the United States shall be a

"no person holding any

member

of either

office

House during

under

his con-

tinuance in office." Similar provisions for separation of the executive

from the other branches are included in the new constitutions for the Republics of Cameroun, Malagasy, and Senegal, each of which was greatly influenced by French precedents. The cabinet or parliamentary system, in vogue in many new nations, creates a close executive-legislative relationship. That is the system that prevails in England and in most European nations. India followed that example with a slight modification in the creation of §in office of President that

is

largely sui generis.

in young inexperienced hands may prove to be the least desirable. It may result in more turbulence than progress. Even France — wise and experienced in the art of government — abused the parliamentary system so as to make every government temporary. The new French Constitution by strengthening the role

Yet the parliamentary system

of the executive produced what is popularly known in Asia and Africa as De Gaullism. That is, however, but one version of the strong executive which

we

established in our Constitution.

Those who have little faith in popular sovereignty point to Ghana where majority rule under a parliamentary system has led to great abuse. It was doubtless naive of the British to endow that nation with the Westminster system that requires a high degree of sophistication and discipline for successful operation. A separation of powers with the establishment of a strong executive such as

would have provided a greater degree of

we and the French have

stability

and yet assured

popular sovereignty.

Hamilton called the "complete independence" of the judiciary essential in a constitution that curbs legislative

power as ours does. "Limitations of this kind," he said, "can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the 22

COURT SCENE IN THE IVORY COAST "An independent judiciary [can insure] that every man

A

will

.

.

.

receive equal justice under law"

Constitution void."^ Hamilton, indeed, proclaimed in favor of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislative acts long before Marbury V. Madison was written by Chief Justice Marshall. ^^ Hamilton said that "the Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution."^^ It has been said that "The

keystone of the whole structure is, in fact, the system provided for most unique contribution to the science of government which has been made by American political genius. "^^ One basic requirement for a democratic regime is a judiciary that is free from manipulation or control by the executive or by the legislature. An independent judiciary is the rock against which all storms of passion break. It is an assurance that the conscience of the community will find expression, that every man, no matter how unpopular, will receive equal justice under law. Montesquieu sounded the alarm about joining the judiciary power with either the legislative or executive. If it were joined with the former, he said, "the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator." If the judge were joined with the executive, he stated, "the judge might behave with violence and oppression. "^^ Judges have been tyrants. The jury that acquitted William Penn of the charge of committing a nuisance was jailed by the judge. Judges were often mere instrumentalities to carry out the will of the king or dictator. The most important control over judges is the jury which makes its independent determination of guilt or innocence in criminal

judicial control — the

9 The Federalist, Vol. 43,

p.

230d

10 See United States Reports, Vol. 5

n

The

(December Term

1801), pp. 137-180.

238b 12 Charles A. Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Macmillan Co., 1939), p. 162 13 The Spirit of Laws, Vol. 38, p. 70a Federalist, Vol. 43,

p.

23

5

THE GREAT DEBATE cases or finds the facts in civil cases. The constitutions of the new nations do not provide for trial by jury, even though their background

has been British colonial rule. Some, like India, have restricted the jury system by statute to a very narrow group of cases. Trial by jury in these new nations — if it is ever used — will be one end product of

education

in

The new

government. constitutions provide, however, other safeguards against

the judiciary.

The

right to counsel

is

often recognized.

So

is

of confrontation of those who testify against the accused. sumption of innocence is commonly made explicit. In the American system

it

was thought

who

pre-

that "the great security

against a gradual concentration of the several

partment, consists in giving to those

the right

The

powers

in the

same de-

administer each department

the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. "^^ The American Federal Constitution, is, indeed, marked by a "sedulous avoidance of the concentration of great masses of power in the same hands" to use Mill's words. ^^ In this country none of the three branches has undisputed control. Mr. Justice Brandeis said: The separation of the powers of government did not make each branch completely autonomous. It left each, in some measure, dependent upon the others, as it left to each power to exercise, in some respects, functions in

and judicial. Obviously the President cannot secure full execution of the laws, if Congress denies to him adequate means of doing so. Full execution may be defeated because Congress declines to create offices indispensable for that purpose. Or, because Congress, having created the office, declines to make the indispensable appropriation. Or, because Congress, having both created the office and made the appropriation, prevents, by restrictions which it imposes, the appointment of officials who in quality and character are indispensable to the efficient execution of the law.^^

their nature executive, legislative

The

President with his veto exercises a degree of restraint on ConCongress can override a veto. Congress — being the appropriating authority — exercises a profound control over executive policy. The judiciary — by refusing to enforce unconstitutional laws — acts as a check or restraint on both the Congress and the Chief Executive. These are mere examples. The list of checks and restraints under our constitutional system is long. Those who speak for the majority are restricted in what they may do. These characteristics of the Federal Constitution apply in the main to our state constitutions. Each state, gress.

while accepting majority rule through duly elected

officials,

places

on each branch of government so that minority rights be honored, so that no branch will ride roughshod over another. Madison summarized the matter as follows:

limitations

The himself 14

The

magistrate in whom the whole executive power resides cannot of make a law, though he can put a negative on every law; nor admin-

Federalist. Vol. 43, p. 163b

Representative Government, Vol. 43, p. 4 2c 16 United States Reports, Vol. 272 (October Term 1926). Myers

1

24

will

1

v.

United States, pp. 291-292

William O. Douglas person, though he has the appointment of those who do administer it. The judges can exercise no executive prerogative, though they are shoots from the executive stock; nor any legislative function, though they may be advised with by the legislative councils. The entire legislature can perform no judiciary act, though by the joint act of two of its branches the judges may be removed from their offices, and though one of its branches is possessed of the judicial power in the last resort. The entire legislature, again, can exercise no executive prerogative, though one of its branches constitutes the supreme executive magistracy, and another, on the impeachister justice in

ment of a

third,

can

ecutive department.

In

some respects

try

and condemn

all

the subordinate officers in the ex-

1"^

the measure of

who never knew

human

rights,

seen through the

from our own. There are guarantees against all three branches of the government. Nigeria's Constitution gives anyone "unlawfully arrested or detained" a right to compensation. Banishment from the country is prohibited by many of these new charters. The "right to education" is a usual guarantee as is the "right to work." And the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) enshrines in its Constitution "the right to strike." The selective way in which old grievances are treated is illustrated by the eyes of people

self-government,

provision in the Constitution of the Republic of

crecy of correspondence shall be inviolable. It in pursuance of a decision by the judiciary."

is

different

Cameroun

that "Se-

may only be intercepted

Hobbes, who made out a case against democracy and in favor of monarchy, said that a legislative assembly might disagree with itself and produce a civil war, that orators with their power "to accuse" can destroy popular assemblies, that democratic groups have no protection against majorities or to use his words no "liberty to dissent from the counsel of the major part, be it good or bad."^^ The specific guarantees in modern constitutions go far to protect the citizen against governmerit

These

itself.

on government

restraints

reflect principles of natural law.

Jefferson reduced to one sentence centuries of thinking in terms of

when he wrote

our Declaration of Independence: endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Man has some rights, Jefferson averred, that derive from God. These are rights which no government can rightfully withhold nor, having recognized, withdraw. These rights honor the divine spark that is in every human being. Our Constitution does not express in specific terms all the human rights which should be protected. After Jefferson and Madison catalogued the most important ones and put them in the Bill of Rights, they added a catchall: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." This is more than a protection against procedural irregularities. It declares some substantive rights those values "All

men

in

are created equal; they are

.

17

The Federalist, Vol. 43,

18

Leviathan, Vol. 23,

p.

p.

.

.

154c-d

106d

25

THE GREAT DEBATE as well, e.^., freedom of

movement

within the country, ^^ and freedom

^^^ to leave the country.

designed controls over the executive, legislative, and branches are available to every new country that adopts a written constitution. What specific ones may be needful and necessary will depend on the background of the people in question, the heteroSpecially

judicial

geneity of their population, religion and custom, the dominance of tribes,

and the

like.

England's unwritten constitution

who

is

a product of 600 years of his-

homogeneous in race and language and who occupy a rather small, compact area. England's example may be the ideal. But it is not practical for the new nations who have had no prior experience in self-government. A written constitution with a clear separation of powers is for them a prerequisite. Only in that way can the reserve powers of the people be protected, the tory. It

governs people

are largely

authority of government restricted, and the rights of minorities defined.

Power needs restraints, qualifications, and conditions. Prescribed procedures are important, as means are often as important as the ends themselves. What particular restraints are needed depends in part on the peculiar problems of the particular nation.

A

written constitution

filled

with guarantees gives no assurance, of

course, that in practice rights will be recognized and proper proce-

dures followed. But a written charter serves as a rallying point in case of crises; and it establishes necessary guidelines for all departments of government and for the individual citizen as well.

Division of legislative powers Iycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, instituted as part of his reforms a ^ senate which had power equal to the King's in matters of great moment and which gave a balance between royalty and democracy. Plutarch described this reform as follows:

For the state, which before had no firm basis to stand upon, but leaned one while towards an absolute monarchy, when the kings had the upper hand, and another while towards a pure democracy, when the people had the better, found in this establishment of the senate a central weight, like ballast in a ship, which always kept things in a just equilibrium; the twentyeight always adhering to the kings so far as to resist democracy, and on the other hand, supporting the people against the establishment of absolute

monarchy. 21

The

powers between an upper and lower house country served in part a similar purpose. The Federalist states that the Senate "distinct from and dividing the power" with the House division of legislative

in this

19 See United Slates Reports. Vol. 3 14 (October Term 1941). Edwards 20 See United States Reports, Vol. 357 (October Term 1957). Kent et State, pp. 16-143 Lives. Vol. 14. p. 34d I

21

26

v.

al.

California, pp. 160-186. v. Dulles, Secretary of

William O. Douglas

of Representatives "doubles the security to the people, by requiring the concurrence of two distinct bodies in schemes of usurpation or perfidy,

where the ambition or corruption of one would otherwise be

sufficient.

"22

The Federalist advances another reason for a Senate — "the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions." A legislative body per-

forming these functions, it was thought, should "be less numerous possess great firmness," and "hold its authority by a tenure of con.

.

.

siderable duration. "23 It was believed that a body of men with long tenure would devote more time "to a study of the laws, the affairs, and the comprehensive interests of their country" and thus become better acquainted "with

the objects and principles of legislation."^^

The Federalist emphasized the evils of constant change in governIt also underscored two main evils of a rapidly changing govern-

ment.

ment: the lack of respect for the nation abroad and the lack of confidence at home:

But the most deplorable effect of all is that diminution of attachment and reverence which steals into the hearts of the people towards a political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity, and disappoints so many of their flattering hopes. No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable without possessing a certain portion of order and stability. ^^

The authors of The

Federalist pointed out that "no long-lived re-

The grant of two Senators to each what the size of the state -had the virtue of keeping the upper house small; it was also "at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual states, and

public" failed to have a Senate. ^^ state -no matter

"^'^

an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty. The House of Representatives, chosen directly by the people, was designed to have "a common interest with the people. "^^ Frequent elections — every other year — was one method of assuring it and of securing the liberties of the people. The standard used by the authors of the Constitution was— "the greater the power is, the shorter ought to be its duration; and, conversely, the smaller the power, the more safely may its duration be protracted. "^^ in the House of Representatives the Constitution expressed the democratic ideal by giving each vote "an equal weight and efficacy. "^^ The Senate was given certain powers in which the House did not share: (1) by a vote of two-thirds to agree to treaties made by the President; (2) to pass on nominations made by the President to the major

22 Vol. 43, p. 190a 23 Ibid., p. 190b Ibid., p. \90c,h

24

25 Ibid., p. 191c 26 See Ibid., p. 193a. 27 Ibid., p. 189c

28

Ihid., p.

29 30

Ibid., p. Ibid., p.

27

165d 167a 72a I

THE GREAT DEBATE public offices; (3) to

as the court that passes on

sit

The

impeachment

Senate, designed to represent "the free-

charges against holders and property owners" and other conservative interests nation, thus had important controls over executive action. officials.

in the

powers was one exclusive power granted the lower revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." Montesquieu emphasized the impropriety of the Offsetting those

house— "All nobles

in

bills for raising

When

an aristocracy levying the taxes. ^^

the people lay

the taxes, their burdens may be heavy "but they do not feel their weight. "^2 The matter was discussed in The Federalist:

The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse — that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representative of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure. ^^

The

Constitution of Nigeria has a provision requiring

bills" to originate in the

lower house. But they

may

all

"money

not originate there

except on the recommendation of the executive. Yet having been passed by the lower house and having lain before the Senate for at least a month, a

A

"money

bill"

may become law

similar provision governs

all

other

bills

without Senate approval. passed by the House in con-

secutive sessions but not passed by the Senate.

Malaya's Constitution also bars revenue measures from being introin the Senate. And only a Minister can introduce or move such a bill in the House. Enactments into law of a*"money bill" may be made by the House alone under provisions comparable to those in Nigeria's

duced

Constitution.

Burma has a legislative body composed of two chambers. One is the Chamber of Deputies. The other — approximately half the size of the Chamber of Deputies — is the Chamber of Nationalities drawn from the five states and the several territories that are included in the Union of Burma. These two chambers in Burma act conjointly. Yet restrictions are placed on the Chamber of Nationalities. It may not initiate a "money bill"; and "money bills" sent by the Chamber of Deputies to the Chamber of Nationalities are sent only for advice and recommendations which can be accepted or rejected by the former.

Thus

is

con-

of revenue matters kept out of the hands of minorities that have presented separatist and other acute problems to the central govern-

trol

ment. 31

See The Spirit of Laws, Vol. 38,

32 Ibid., p. 143b 33 Vol. 43, p. 180d

28

p.

24a-b.

William O. Douglas

In this regard, India's Constitution

is

similar to Burma's.

No "money

may be

introduced in the upper house (Council of States); and (House of the People) may accept or reject any reclower house the ommendations concerning a "money bill" made by the Council of bill"

States.

India has another innovation. is

in a

As

already noted, the executive power

The government, headed by a Prime Minister who is appointed Council of Ministers, presided over by the Prime

President, chosen by an electoral college.

parliamentary in form,

by the President.

A

is

Minister, advises the President in the exercise of his functions. Yet,

though the President is the executive, he has certain legislative powers. the two houses are not in session and "the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinances as the circumstances appear to him to require." Any law that Parliament cannot pass, the President cannot promulgate; and the laws that he promulgates must be laid before the Parliament. They cease to operate at the end of six weeks from the reassembling of Parliament, unless Parlia-

When

ment erases them earlier. There is no one formula

for division of legislative power that will fit every nation. Tribes, blocs, minority groups, the fragile quality of a particular society — these may suggest not only restrictions on legislative authority but also the assignment of one kind of legislative power to one group, another kind to a different group. Local requirements may, indeed, lead to a grant, as in India, of limited lawmaking authority to the executive. The constitutional devices are so varied and flexible that a wide range of controls over legislative procedures is available.

The problem down the path

is

not whether newly emancipated people should start

The question is what particular formula for the division and control of legislative power best fits the to self-government.

genius of a particular people.

Special provisions for special situations

Federalism

is

ever there is

an imperative necessity for some new nations. Wherea large land mass under central control, federalism

is

a sine qua non. If the outlying areas are far

local affairs

must be entrusted

to local

removed from the center, management. No government,

no matter how mature, how wise, how experienced, can administer all affairs from the center if the geographical area is as large as Austraha, Canada, India, Russia, or the United States. Local problems can be intelligently managed only at a state, county, or municipal level. Moreover, a variety of races, cultures, religions, or languages may necessitate political divisions that might not otherwise occur. Language has led to some regrouping of states within India. Religion — which resulted in Pakistan's being torn from the original India — is at 29

THE GREAT DEBATE

times a force that clamors for political divisions within one nation. There are Muslim, Christian, and pagan communities in many African

may require the drawing of state or proone nation so as to recognize these separate religious groups. That policy — though not ideal by democratic standards—may nonetheless be pursued within the general framework of a democratic form of government. When such diversities combine with a large land mass, some form of federalism is almost inevitable. Madison said that in a federal system composed of "republican members, the superintending government ought clearly to possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or monarchical innovations." He cites Montesquieu for the proposition that governments of "dissimilar principles and forms" are less adapted to "a federal coalition of any sort than those of a kindred nature .... 'Greece was undone,' he [Montesquieu] adds, 'as soon as the king of Macedon obtained a seat among the Amphictyons.' "^^ These considerations led in this country to a guarantee by the Federal Government of "a republican form of government" for each state. As Madison said, "Whenever the States may choose to substitute other republican forms, they have a right to do so, and to claim the federal guarantee for the latter. The only restriction imposed on them is that they shall not exchange republican for anti-republican Connations. Political expediency vincial lines within

stitutions

."^^ .

.

.

The central government members of the federation as well as defense.

It

(in this

country) guarantees the cpnstituent

against invasion.

It

manages foreign

affairs

provides a uniform coinage, a postal service, and

commerce moving between the members of the federamovement of people. The central government also retains power to put down insurrections within the protection for

tion as well as protection in the free

federation.

Madison

laid great

emphasis on the

latter:

In cases where it may be doubtful on which side justice lies, what better umpires could be desired by two violent factions, flying to arms and tearing a State to pieces, than the representatives of confederate States not heated by the local flame? To the impartiality of judges they would unite the aff"ection of friends. Happy would it be if such a remedy for its infirmities could be enjoyed by all free governments: if a project equally effectual could be established for the universal peace of mankind! Should it be asked, what is to be the redress for an insurrection pervading all the States, and comprising a superiority of the entire force, though not a constitutional right? the answer must be, that such a case, as it would be

without the compass of human remedies, so it is fortunately not within the compass of human probability: and that it is a sufficient recommendation of the federal Constitution, that it diminishes the risk of a calamity for which

no possible constitution can provide a cure.^^

The states 34 35 36

30

division of powers between the central government and the cannot be determined by one formula. The minimal requirements

Ibid., p.

141b

Ibid., p.

141c-d 142c

Ibid., p.

PRESIDENTS MODIBO KEITA OF MALI, KWAME NKRUMAH OF GHANA, AND SEKOU TOURE OF GUINEA SIGN A PACT CREATING AN ECONOMIC UNION Forms of confederation can help the new nations meet many of their problems

have been stated. In the United States the grant of power to the cengovernment was much more limited than what the central government enjoys in India. The difference is in terms of history. In this country the states created the Federal Government; they existed as tral

living political entities prior to the Constitution. In India the stitution created the states

and accordingly relegated them

to

Conan

in-

ferior position.

Loose forms of confederation sometimes serve special needs. In 1959 the Republic of Niger joined the Republics of the Ivory Coast, the Upper Volta, and Dahomey in organizing the Council of Entente. It meets semiannually and is presided over in turn by each of the heads of state of the four nations. It has established a customs union and a fund for financial assistance to the member states; and it concerns itself with coordination of development plans for the four countries. A similar loose federation was worked out in 1959 between the Republic of the Congo (French), the Central African Republic, and the Republics of Chad and Gabon. By 1960 a charter had been adopted by the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo (French), and the Republic of Chad granting the federal government jurisdiction over foreign affairs, defense, postal and telecommunication departments, currency, and coordination of economic matters. This federation became known as the Union of the Republics of Central Africa. The stability in the Belgian Congo may eventually be found in a form of federalism built along tribal lines. 31

THE GREAT DEBATE Whatever form of federalism is used -whether the Amencan type. the Indian type, or a looser form — the constitution should include schedules which specify in some detail the matters assigned to the states and those assigned to the federal government. Federalism is no cure-all: it creates difficult problems of its own. Yet it is often one way -perhaps the only way — whereby, to use Hegel's words, "the constitution adopted by a people makes one substance —one spirit — with its religion, its art and philosophy, or, at least, with conceptions and thoughts —

its

upon the additional its

culture generally: not to expatiate

its

influences,

ab

extra, of climate, of neighbors, of

place in the worid.'*^'

Federalism can be put in a democratic firamework by the newly emerged nations, as Burma. India, and Nigeria illustrate. Federalism may not fit other areas which though large in land mass are torn by tribal or religious animosities. For as Mill said. **Govemments must be made for human beings as they are. or as they are capable of speed."^^ fly becoming .

.

.

Several types of controls.

show how will to

versatile the

dem^

-'~*

--:~ducis of the ^^'este^^ experience. .

.

.

rocedures can be once there

is

a

walk that path.

is an island off Mafuture- whether a part of Malaya or an independent r.a::on-is still in balance. There are turbulent forces: and the Commun:s:s. always well organized, stand ready with a united front to take over. The spirit of independence from any foreign control is, however, strong. The British hy-t v: :'..cc : .:: ^ solution which some suspect, but which in essence proMae? an orderly transition. Full self-govenmient is granted the people of Singapore; and they in recent years have developed a multi-pan> s> stem. But England retains control of defense and of foreign affairs. This is an interim arrangement: but it shows how with gradual approaches a beginning of self-government can be made. It is a striking demonstration that neither Franco's Spain nor Russia's Hungan" is the alternative we need

Singapore, formerly England's Cro\^n Colony,

laya. It

is

largely

Chinese and

its

face.

Cyprus is a more dramatic illustration of the flexibility of democratic procedures once that way of life i^ c^i^^^en. Cyprus is composed of a

Greek communit> representing i' per cent of the people and a Turkish community representing about 15 per cent. The Greeks are largely urban people: the Turks, agricultural. The animosities between the two groups have been long-standing. TTie prospect the Turks faced of being under Greek rulers seemed a gloomy one. The prospect the Greeks faced of either panition of the island between the two peoples or the maintenance of a Greek regime over a rebellious Turkish minority w^as

not encouraging.

The

result

37 PhUosophy of Hiitory, Vol 46, p. 174b 38 Represriaathrr Government^ VoL 43, p. 368c

32

was

the negotiation of a constitu-

William O. Douglas tion which made a viable democratic system — though not the ideal one — out of two antagonistic groups. This 1960 Constitution recognizes both languages as "officiar*: and each community is given the right to celebrate its national holiday. A particularized Bill of Rights is included, a declaration that enumerates the rights of the citizen in much more detail than our own. There are provisions disqualifying the President or Vice-President from being either a minister in the cabinet or a

member

of the legislature.

The

be a Greek: the Vice-President a Turk. The executive power of the President is described with particularity. So is the executive power of the Vice-President. There is also a list of powers that the two exercise "conjointly." Some powers of "veto" are to be exercised either separately or conjointly. The executive powers not assigned to the President or Vice-President are exercised by a Council of Ministers, designated by the two with the stipulation that seven shall President

is

to

be Greeks and three Turks. Universal suffrage is provided for: and 70 per cent of the House of Representatives is to be elected by the Greek community: 30 per cent by the Turkish community. The members of the House are elected for five years: the President of the House is a Greek, elected by the Greek community: the Vice-President of the House is a Turk, elected by the Turkish community. The House has all legislative power, except that granted to two frage.

It

Communal Chambers,

also elected

by universal

suf-

has legislative power over religious matters: educational,

and teaching matters: personal status, etc. Its Greek members by a Greek electoral list: its Turkish members, by a Turkish electoral list. The President has the right to veto any law or decision of the Greek Communal Chamber: the Vice-President, any law or decision of the Turkish Communal Chamber. The representation of the two communities appears throughout the Constitution. Even the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General may not belong to the same community. Neither may the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Issuing Bank nor the Accountant General and Deputy Accountant General. The public service, at all levels and in all grades, is composed of 70 per cent Greeks and 30 per cent Turks. The same percentage governs the composition of the

cultural

are chosen

Commission that supervises the public service. The army must be 60 per cent Greek and 40 per cent Turkish. The same is true of the security forces. Forces stationed in a Greek community must be Greeks: and Turks must be stationed in Turkish comPublic Service

munities.

An independent judiciary is provided, the Supreme Constitutional Court being composed of one Greek, one Turk, and one neutral. Next in the hierarchy is the High Court of Justice, to be composed of two Greeks, one Turk and one neutral, the last having two votes. As to trial courts, if plaintiif and defendant belong to the same community, only judges of that community shall sit. The same is true in criminal 33

THE GREAT DEBATE where the accused and the injured person belong to the same community. If the persons mentioned are of different communities, the

suits

judges

shall

created cil

belong to both also. Separate Turkish municipalities are of the largest towns. In a Turkish municipality the coun-

in five

elected by the Turkish electors; in a

is

Greek

electors

Other

make

Greek municipality

the

the selection.

like provisions

maintain the legal and constitutional identity

of each community, establish safeguards for it and oflfer assurance that its special interests will not be overridden by the other. The two main

groups are Greeks and Turks. There are other groups also — Armenians, Maronite Catholics, and Latins. They can join either the Greek or the Turkish electoral list. But in all events they enjoy constitutional protection against discrimination both as individuals and as

The Cyprus experiment in democracy shows how a start toward self-government can be made and a separation of powers achieved, even when racial animosities and suspicions run high. A third device of utility to newly emerging countries has been

groups.

written into the Indian Constitution.

It

was feared

that

some com-

munities might be so fragile, so lacking in leadership, so swept by

passions as to bring their early experiments in democracy to disastrous ends. So the Indian Constitution provides in Articles 356 and

357 that the President, when "satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provision" of the Constitution, may take over the administration of the affairs of that state as though it were an enclave of the national government. He may not, however, suspend the courts nor exercise any judicial function. During the declared emergency, the federal parliament takes over all the legislative functions of the state. India has found it desirable or necessary to exercise that power several times since her independence. The most recent was in 1959. Kerala had elected a Communist government in 1957. By 1959 that regime had operated Soviet-style to produce great cleavages in the state and to siphon off public funds into party programs. So the central government took over Kerala's affairs until a new election could be held. A 1960 election put a coalition of Congress Party- Praja Socialist

Party in power.

A in

further device

India.

When

is

the electoral register system that England used

the people chose representatives in their local gov-

ernment, they voted only for a Muslim in a district predominantly populated by people of that belief, a Hindu where that faith was in the majority, and so on. This system

was

carried so far as to apportion

available space in universities and colleges not only

among

religious

groups but among the various castes. If the incoming class was 100, only specified numbers could be drawn from the several groups. Thus even though by scholastic standards the first 100 applicants were all

Hindus or all Muslims or all Brahmans, the best had to give way more mediocre students from other religious groups or castes. 34

for

HE MULTI-RACIAL GOVERNMENT OF TANGANYIKA' Governments can be so organized that and religious groups are represented

Old was a

all

important racial

habits are hard to break;

and when independence came there

great impetus to continue the former practices.

tionment of students, however, stitution.

is

The Supreme Court of

now

The

old appor-

prohibited by the Indian Con-

India has maintained that

if

there

are 100 openings in a college class, the best 100 must be taken though

they

all

etc. And the same democratic men and women to the state and federal

be Untouchables, Muslims,

principle prevails in choosing

parliaments.

The system of the electoral register, however, has been used and being used elsewhere. Lebanon, the small country on the Phoenician coast lying just north of Israel, is composed of three religious comis

munities: the

Muslims (Sunni and

tians (mostly Maronites).

The

Shi'a), the

Druses, and the Chris-

Christians have a slight majority; and

the Constitution requires that the President be a Maronite; the Prime

Minister must be a Sunni Muslim; and the Speaker of the

Chamber

of

Deputies must be a Shi'a MusHm. The country is divided into election districts, each one being assigned to one of the three religious groups. No one not a member of that group can represent that district. A person organizing a socialist party — as did Kamal Jumblatt, a Druse — cannot run socialists

in

each

district unless

they are

members of

the

For example, a Muslim district may be teeming with Christians who are socialists. But the problem is to find a Muslim who thinks the same way. None may exist; or if one is found he may be weak and ineffective. Thus the difficulty of building a new party or maintaining an old one is compounded. The candidate who qualifies by the religious test may lack the qualities to win on economic or required religious

faith.

social issues.

35

THE GREAT DEBATE The

electoral register

Africa.

In

Kenya

system

the Africans

is

being applied

outnumber

all

in

modified forms

other races 24 to

in 1.

Pending independence from British rule, the law provides for a 65man Assembly. Of these, 33 are elected on a common roll; that is, all races vote for that number. The Africans took those 33 seats in the 1961 election.

Ten

seats are reserved for the whites, eight for Asians,

and two for Arabs. All voters — Africans included — select these 20. Thus only those candidates most favorable to the Africans are chosen.

members of

65-member Assembly are four These twelve are by the Assembly. When the Assembly sits as an electoral there are 33 Africans and 20 non- Africans. So the other 12

The remaining

12

the

whites, four Africans, three Asians, and one Arab.

selected college,

meet the specifications of the African majority. There is a Council of Ministers in addition to the Assembly. It is the executive branch under a British Governor and is visualized as a temporary stop-gap to give the British residual control until the people are ready for officials,

full

independence.

It is

composed of four

colonial office

four Africans, three white settlers, and one Asian.

Thus

the

65,000 whites who own the great wealth of Kenya, who produce 80 per cent of Kenya's exports, and who have long had their way in Kenya affairs are being given more votes than the formula "one man — one vote" would allow them. The old electoral register system has been modified to protect the position of a small group in Kenya but one which may be vital to its economic life. Whether this device — which is anti-democratic in some ways — will create a stabilizing inff uence in a difficult transitional period is as yet wholly speculative. There is but one time to start self-government, and that is now, no matter how illiterate, how inexperienced the people. Even though it may be limited in form and qualified by many safeguards, it will give the people a chance to acquire experience. Democracy cannot be legislated; it can only be acquired. But it can never be acquired unless

some opportunity

The

to practice

it is

afforded.

loyal opposition

is an acute problem in some new nations. Its causes, as Madison said, are "sown in the nature of man."^^ It can be, as Hobbes observed, "contrary to the peace and safety of the peo"^^ ple, and a taking of the sword out of the hand of the sovereign. The forces of faction can set back the progress of promising young nations. "In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not

Faction

secured against the violence of the stronger 39 The Federalist, Vol. 43,

p.

50c

40 Leviathan, Vol. 23, p. 12 id 41 The Federalist, Vol. 43, p. 164c-d

36

."^^ .

.

.

William O. Douglas

Most new

nations have been viewed with alarm by defenders of the

who want 1776 thought that continued union with Britain was the only thing that would save America from rancorous and virulent factions which have disrupted democracies. ^^ Yet faction presents not only danger but opportunity as well. Madison said: "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agenstatus quo; and faction has been a chief target for those

rebellions put

is

It

down. Some

in

inevitable that different political schools of thought will de-

velop in every nation, Madison noted. continues will

fallible,

be formed.

and he

As

is

"As

long as the reason of

at liberty to exercise

it,

man

different opinions

long as the connection subsists between his reason

and his passions will have a reciprocal on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves. The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable and

his self-love, his opinions

influence

obstacle to a uniformity of interests."^'*

channels through which faction becomes "it is almost a commonplace, that a party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are ."^^ both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life society, democratic When that stage is reached in the evolution of a

The problem

is

to provide

a stabilizing force. Mill said that

.

.

.

there emerges a party or parties of the "loyal opposition."

problems of a new nation — long under cothe development of a two-party system. The road is usually a rocky one. A good example is Turkey. Both men and women vote there; in the 1957 election, 85 per cent of the eligible voters went to the polls. Adnan Menderes won. His Democrat Party obtained 4,427,368 votes. The votes of the other parties were

One

of the most

difficult

lonial rule or dictatorship

— is

as follows:

Republican People's Party

3,752,861

National Republican Party

603,759 357,796

Freedom Party After the election, Menderes clamped

meetings except ployees (a majority of litical

rival)

making

at election time.

whom

down

He

hard.

He

forbade po-

leveled a law at state em-

had been appointed by

his

Republican

their retirement effective after 25 years of service, rather

than 30, or at 60 years of age rather than 65.

42 See Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Vol. 39, 43 The Federalist, Vol. 43, p. 50b 44 Ibid. 45 On Liberty, Vol. 43, p. 289c

p.

420c.

37

THE GREAT DEBATE Menderes was a crime

also continued a restrictive law governing the press.

It

any cartoon that was "insulting

to

to print

the government."

any

article or

One cartoon

(that resulted in the closing of the

paper

and the conviction and imprisonment of the cartoonist) depicted a policeman arresting a burglar near a safe. The policeman tells the burglar, "Of course you would come out empty-handed. Don't you know there are bigger thieves than you?" The label on the safe sug-

was the national treasury. Editors were also sent to jail and fined after trials that were secret. University professors were suspended, one for stating to a newspaper reporter that he believed some of the new rules of the Turkish Parliament were unconstitutional. Freedom of speech and of press suffered in Turkey even more than it did in this country under the Alien and Sedition Laws that John Adams sponsored and that Thomas gested that

it

Jefferson opposed.

Menderes might have survived the persecutions of editors, carand professors. But he went so far as to suppress his political opposition represented by the leader of the Republicans, Ismet Inonii, collaborator of Atatiirk, who founded modern Turkey. A committee was appointed to look into the "destructive and illegal activities" of the Republicans. Inonii was dogged by the police on his campaigns. His meetings were broken up. Army officers who protested and resigned were arrested. The debates in the parliament were so acrimonious that one day Inonii said: "If you go on like this, even I toonists,

shall not

be able to save you."

Students, restless under Menderes, began to parade arid protest.

They poured through

the streets of Istanbul. In retaliation,

put Istanbul under martial law and closed the universities.

Menderes

A group of

60 Turkish lawyers put on their robes and marched the streets of Istanbul in protest of Menderes. They, too, were stopped and some were arrested. When representatives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization foregathered in Istanbul in May, 1960, they found tanks guarding the building where they conferred. Facing the tanks were hundreds of students shouting "Freedom." This was the stuff which generated the military coup d'etat of May, 1960. Leaders of nations that are young in the ways of democracy often resent criticism. Criticism is considered a personal affront. Unlimited criticism carried so far as to label the opposition a "party of treason"

breakdown of democratic processes in any country. Tolerance of criticism and debate — the maintenance of a loyal opposition—is one first and hard lesson the newly emerging nations must leads to a

learn.

Practices similar to those of

government

in

Menderes on the

Ghana have been much

46 See Rothschild, "On the Application of the Westminster Model Vol. 4 (Fall 1960), pp. 465-583.

38

part of the

Nkrumah

publicized. ^^ Excesses can be

to

Ghana," Centennial Reviev

William O. Douglas

expected in other nations. People without experience and traditions in self-government need time to develop them. They do not evolve overnight or quickly. But without a start no progress can be made. Political maturity is acquired only with experience in political affairs.

The

multiplicity of parties

is

a

phenomenon common

around one particular end. Thus in Indonesia, 45

nations. People tend to rally to serve

most new

to

special causes, forming parties political parties

appeared, serving very special needs. Until Sukarno dissolved Parliament in 1960 and took control, Indonesia's splinter parties produced many cabinet changes. Since World War II, French cabinets changed on the average six times a

year until De Gaulle took office. The rate in Indonesia was one every eight months. The result was great instability. For while France had an effective civil service that carried on whatever happened,

Indonesia had a paucity of experienced personnel. Sukarno's most vociferous critics were the large Masjumi Party (which wanted an Islamic state) and the small but elite Socialist Party — both dissolved by Presidential decree in 1960.

Party was headed by Sjahrir

who went about

way. For 500 years under the Dutch,

work

The

Socialist

in

a scholarly

political parties

were non-

his

important to formulate a program covering all aspects of Indonesian affairs — agriculture, currency and banking, exports and imports, foreign policy, unemployment, land distribution, existent. Sjahrir felt

it

and so on. He conceived his role as that of an educator. Year after year he produced pamphlets on a wide range of subjects with the aim of (a) educating the intelligentsia and (b) forging an over-all program that would command support. But his efforts have now ceased. Neither his efforts nor the efforts of other Indonesian parties reached fruition because no national elections have been permitted since 1955 out of fear (perhaps only an excuse) that the Communists would gain control.

Communists a discipUne that The leaders are trained to select issues that capitalize on discontent. Never do they go to the people with a program that reveals the nature of communism and the regimentation which will be fastened on the nation if the Communist Party wins. That is Dialectical materialism has given the

other parties lack.

one reason why that party does not serve the role of the "loyal opposition." It does not reveal the true choice that the electorate has; it seeks strength through tactics that are utterly devious. The classical tactic is to infiltrate parliamentary governments, getting if

Communist

possible at the start the ministries of defense, communication, and education. That was what the Tudeh Party in Iran did under the

Ghavam government in Iraq in 1959.

They almost succeeded in that respect Once some such foothold is gained, the Communist in 1946.^'^

47 See Douglas, West of the Indus (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1958), pp. 241-242. Cf. Lenin, Selected Works (London: 1938), Vol. 10, pp. 97, 100-105; Stalin, The Road to Power (New York: 1937), p. 41.

39

THE GREAT DEBATE Party proliferates

its

control.

It

seeks power "for keeps"; and once

acquires the reins of government

it

does not tolerate opposition. That may in time change. In Yugoslavia the Communist Party tolerates an opposition; but it is only a token, not a true, opposition in the Western it

sense.

The

"multiplicity of interests"

is

sometimes said

to give the indi-

vidual security for civil rights just as the "multiplicity of sects" helps

underwrite religious

Communist

political

on the presence of running them only is

the

way

it

rights. "^^

won

strategy,

however,

splinter parties. It places in

is

astute and capitalizes

its

candidates selectively,

those districts where victory

the opposition parties (Congress, Praja Socialist,

had grown

is

probable. That

By 1960, however, and Muslim League)

the 1957 election in Kerala, India.

wisdom, united forces, and ran candidates on a was that this coalition beat the Communists. The workings of the Communist Party are becoming more and more evident to poHtical leaders on all continents. The episodes of Hungary and Tibet have made a deep impression on the minds of even illiterate people. Communist strategy will continuously aim at capitalizing on situations where numerous splinter parties exist and in every electoral district where poverty, disease, slum conditions, illiteracy combine to create volatile situations. But to date Communism has made no significant progress in areas where popular sovereignty is exercised. The presence of the Communist Party is therefore an excuse — not a valid cause — for withholding the franchise from the people. The other extreme from splinter parties is the presence of one party in political

selective basis.

that

commands

The

result

most. of the votes.

A

"loyal opposition" has then

little

chance to develop. Mill asked: "... is it not a great grievance that in every Parliament a very numerous portion of the electors, willing and anxious to be represented, have no member in the House for whom they have voted?"^^ Puerto Rico has a system for remedying this defect. It derives from a system for minority representation designed by Thomas Hare in 1859 and discussed by John Stuart Mill.^® Down to 1950, the Governor of Puerto Rico was appointed by the President of the United States. In 1951 Puerto Rico acquired a constitution and the right of self-government in most of its internal affairs. The Chief Executive is a Governor; the legislature is made up of a Senate and a House. Numerous parties have competed for popular support. The most popular has been the Popular Democratic Party headed by Munoz Marin. He and other Puerto Ricans of influence and wisdom decided that in the long run the Commonwealth would thrive only under a regime in which opposition parties had a voice in legislative matters.

48 See The Federalist, Vol. 43, p. 164c. 49 Representative Government, Vol. 43, 50 See /hid., pp. 372 ff.

40

p.

371c

William O. Douglas

Accordingly, a provision was included in the Constitution whereby a certain number of candidates of each minority party are declared elected, if one party elects more than two-thirds of the members of either the Senate

and the House.^^ The

size of the legislature

is in-

creased, within those limits, so that each minority party obtains representation equal to the proportion of votes received by their respective

candidates for Governor.^^ In the 1956 election this article operated as follows in the Senate:

Popular Democrats elected 23 to the Senate 2 Republicans elected

Independence Party elected 2

The Republicans were granted four adicional Senators and the Independence Party, one, as a result of the popular vote for Governor. In the 1956 election, the Popular Democrats won 47 seats in the House. The Republicans won three and the Independence Party one. As a result of the popular vote for Governor, 1 3 additional members were added to the House. Of these the Republicans obtained 8 (making a total of 1 1) and the Independence Party 5 (making a total of 6). In selecting the candidates to

the adicional slots in the Senate

fill

and House, the names are chosen

first

from the

list

of at-large can-

didates in declining order of total votes received. If any places remain to

be

filled,

they go to the district candidates

highest percentage of votes in their

home

who have

polled the

districts.

In the British tradition, the loyal opposition has acquired important status.

Canada, following the British practice, has a law which makes

House of Commons" a full-time The occupant receives not only the sessional allowance, which every member receives, but a salary of $15,000 a year in addition. The Canadian philosophy conceives the powers of government as powers in trust; and it supplies the mechanism to scrutinize the manner of their exercise. Those out of power become as important as those in power. The people make the leader of the group out of power a salaried guardian. His protests may come to naught. But his presence the "Leader of the Opposition in the

office.

on a full-time basis sobers those in power. While young nations usually do not have the tradition of a "loyal opposition," India and Burma have it to a degree. They reflect the British heritage. The Dutch and the French left no such legacy in their colonies. Neither did the Belgians nor the Germans. This means that the "loyal opposition" will have difficulty getting roots in many new nations. Yet there is only one way to develop that tradition and that is to create the opportunities for its growth. Only self-government gives a people the chance to experience criticism, to develop parties, to learn respect for minorities, to

become

skilled in dealing with those

51 See Article III, 7. 52 The Senate has 16 directly elected members from eight districts and 11 elected House has 40 chosen from single-member districts and 1 elected at-large. 1

41

at-large.

The

THE GREAT DEBATE

who use power oppressively. What people need is the chance to become skilled both in electing leaders and in choosing those who will lead the opposition.

Ill

FREEDOM Winning

independence

is

the bare beginning of the struggle for

freedom. Countries that are not colonies are not necessarily free, as Cuba under Batista, Spain under Franco, the Congo under Lumumba, and China and Russia under the Communists illustrate. Rousseau noted: "Liberty, not being a fruit of all climates, is not within the

reach of

of despair, but available

all

peoples. "^

we must

on a pushbutton

We

do not need

such counsel freedom are not

to accept

realize that the requisites of basis.

What are the forces opposing freedom in new nations? One factor is that many of them are not nations except in name. Joseph Ileo, the new Premier of the (formerly Belgian) Congo said: "Congolese unity does not exist. The Congo is not a people. It is a collection of large ethnic groups and each of them is a people." The group that commits itself to

self-government must have the basic ingredient of a viable

be economic or commercial, racial or religious, The fact that various groups were under the same colonial regime may be wholly irrelevant. As Aristotle said, "... A state is not the growth of a day, any more than it grows out of a multitude brought together by accident. "^ The Ottoman Empire that ended

society,

whether

it

linguistic or cultural.

with World

War

I

held vast areas together from Iraq to Egypt.

Once

colonial ties end, centrifugal forces often tend to separate people into

new groupings. Foreign machinations constitute a second factor inimical to freedom. utterly destructive of a nation's independence. Laos was torn asunder by the power plays of Soviet Russia and the United

They can be

States. The most important role of the United Nations in the days ahead may indeed be to afford new nations protection from such power plays.

Perhaps the strongest factor opposing freedom is the very lack of freedom itself. People who have had no prior experience in self-government need preparation for it. Educational foundations need to be laid for any experiment in government, and they need projection into a long future, for liberty is nurtured slowly. Yet, prior to 1959, no Congolese had ever cast a ballot or participated in any political decision. Not one Congolese had been trained as a lawyer, doctor, army officer, or senior civil servant. Few Congolese had ever attended college; and most of them had not completed their studies. The Bel1

2

The Social Contract, Vol. the

42

Roman

38,

p.

415b

504d. Some thought the union of Rome with the allied states of Italy ruined Republic. See Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Vol. 39, p. 271a.

Politics, Vol. 9, p.

KING BAUDOUIN OF BELGIUM SPEAKS

AT INDEPENDENCE CEREMONIES IN THE CONGO The Congolese people had not been prepared for the great freedom hastily conferred upon them

Congo loose in fifty years. But when the French across the river gave independence to their Congo, the fever of nationalism assumed a virulent form in the Belgian Congo. The Belgians, who refused to talk of independence in May, 1959, decided gians planned to turn their

October, 1959, to grant it in eight months. Their feverish activities produce a constitution led to the inauguration of a parliamentary system which is so sophisticated as to be singularly unsuited to a peo-

in

to

any prior experience in government. Viewing these acknowledged difficulties, some say the new nations cannot have freedom because of their illiteracy and inexperience. But they are putting a false case. The question is not whether all nations should be free; it is merely how much freedom a new nation can enjoy. Each people must be given as much freedom as it can cope with — no less. This means that some nations should enjoy the full extent of freedom as it exists in the Western democracies, while others must for the time being get along on less. In some areas — particularly in Africa — the Western ideal of freedom is still distant. Here the true unit of government is the tribe, not the nation. Any attempt to fit democratic structures to tribal groups will be difficult and long drawn out. Tribal ple without

governments, being totalitarian, are more readily susceptible to Communist management than to democratic influence. Yet even there modest starts can be made. A flow of teachers to those areas can be established; leaders can be trained abroad in Western philosophy. 43

THE GREAT DEBATE

And

it is

start, no matter how modest, be made. The democracy can only be overcome by giving

important that a

lack of preparation for

people a measure of self-government. Ability to govern itself well and responsibly will not suddenly spring up in any nation; it must be encouraged to grow. But the first step must be taken or there cannot be

any progress. Just as children learn to walk by walking, so young peoples learn to govern themselves by actually being given the opportunity to vote and to decide their own affairs. Of course, this involves risks. The risks can be minimized by making use of the

many

safeguards that are available to the maker of demoNot the least of these safeguards is the adapt-

cratic constitutions. ability of

democracy

to local conditions.

Democracy

in the

Malagasy

Republic need not — and indeed must not — be identical with democracy in Great Britain or the United States.

With careful nurturing, countries will develop their own leadership. One man who has the vision of a free society may be sufficient — one man like Thomas G. Masaryk, Nehru, U Nu, or even an Atatiirk. Men of that character can be found and educated in the new nations. There are no peoples who cannot develop the dispositions for democratic government.

WOMAN VOTING IN

GUINEA

Giving people the opportunity to vote

a way of preparing them is

for democracy

44

William O. Douglas

STUDENTS IN A

SECONDARY SCHOOL IN

NIGERIA

Education the

best

is

method

uainting people '.mocratic ideals

and practices

What

are these dispositions? Irving Kristol answers:

This is a large question, and any short answer will be inadequate. But it not too gross an over-simplification to say that included among them must be: a veneration for the rule of law as against the rule of men: a reliance on common reason as the dominant human motive, as against superstition or passion: a sense of community that transcends class divisions and the recognition of a common good beyond individual benefits: a scrupulous use of liberties towards these ends for which those liberties were granted: a distribution of wealth and inequalities according to principles generally accepted as legitimate: moderation in the temper of public debate is

and public demeanour.^

Freedom

The comes from Freedom re-

involves discipline, "the spirit of obedience to law."^

discipline that

is

freedom is Harry D. Gideonse has put

essential to

"internal constraint" as

the discipline that it.^

quires acceptance of moral responsibility. In no nation will all of these qualities be found at all times. Mobs break loose whatever the degree of development a nation may boast. Some people seem to take longer than others to develop these dispositions. A chart of British evolution from William I to Elizabeth II would be an uneven one. Setbacks and reverses wipe out advances; even a century may show little progress. Hence we do not advance the discussion to say, as many do, that Ghana in 1961 is no farther along than England was under Henry II. Government is built both on

education and experience; and there is no short cut to either. Certain it is that many years will pass before people, not yet freed from tribal patterns of life, will acquire the maturity, constraint, and practical wisdom for management of full-fledged democratic institu3

Low

and Modern," Encounter, August, 1960, pp. 38-39 509d "The Literature of Freedom and Liberal Education, Measurement and Research Schools" (American Council of Education, Washington, D.C.)

"High,

4 Aristotle, 5

Politics, Vol. 9, p.

45

in

Today's

THE GREAT DEBATE tions. We of the West have been preoccupied with arming new nations and with trying to provide them with technicians and industrial plants. There is, however, nothing ideological about machine guns or cement plants: and a man who can read the instruction book that comes with a tractor can also read the Communist Manifesto. Technicians and industrial plants, as well as armies, are necessary for underdeveloped nations. But education needs top priority. For only through education can the theory, ideals, and practical problems of a free society be made known to people who have not yet heard of Aristotle, Jefferson, or Madison. In this respect we of the West have largely wasted the years since World War II. What Dr. Johnson called the "fund of virtue and principle to carry the laws into due and effectual execution" will be sadly missing in some areas. ^ Yet the "community of families and aggregation of families in well-being," of which Aristotle spoke, are present to some degree in every society."^ Jefferson's dictum that representative democracy requires "an aristocracy of virtue and talent" sets a far-distant goal for some new nations, perhaps for most of them.^ Yet self-government at some levels provides a people with the only opportunity they can ever have to develop their own particular "aristocracy of virtue and talent." It is never too early to start. One distinctive contribution of America to the development of democracy is insight into how the two strains of the belief in "consent of the governed"— common sense and visionary — run together in life. Lincoln summed up the entire matter on June 26, 1857, wh^n he spoke of the Declaration of Independence:

think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all

I

men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what

men

they did consider

all

among which

life,

created equal

— equal

in certain inalienable rights,

and the pursuit of happiness. This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement are

liberty,

might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere.^ of

it

They meant

What Lincoln

said in 1857 should be our goal today.

6 See Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 44, 7 See Politics, Vol. 9, p. 478c. 8 See Writins^s of

9

Roy

Thomas

Jefferson

p.

(Mem.

178c.

ed.; 1903), Vol.

1, p.

Easier (ed.), The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln University Press, 1953), Vol. 2, pp. 405-406

46

P.

54.

(New Brunswick,

N.J.: Rutgers

1

PEREGRINE WORSTHORNE

The case

against

democracy

Primitive

democracy

49

Historical conditions suitable to

democracy

5

Industrialization

56

Education

61

The importance of indigenous development

62

Parliamentary procedures

65

The dangers of radical reform

69

Dangers of premature democracy

72

PEREGRINE WORSTHORNE

was born in 1923, and was educated Oxford and Cambridge universities. Since World War II, in which he served as a commissioned officer in the British Army, he has been a member of the at

editorial staffs of several leading British

newspapers.

Editor of the Sunday Telegraph (London) this year. sively in Africa, Europe, and America, and and American magazines.

is

He became Assistant He has traveled exten-

a frequent contributor to British

I

I

48

Primitive

democracy

have ever experienced was in have ever visited — an ancient tribe Hving in the volcanic belt of northern Kenya. The members of the tribe were quite illiterate, lacked even a system for measuring time, and had scarcely ever had contact with a white man. Yet as I listened to the chief and elders discussing some vexed fishing problem — whether or not to extend their spearing activities further westward along Lake Rudolph — it struck me that their system of government corresponded very closely to the democratic ideal. Democracy, we are told, consists of institutional arrangements for arriving at political decisions which realize the common good by making the people itself decide issues through the election of individuals who are to assemble to carry out its will.^ Admittedly, the chiefs and elders, as they sat on their logs debating, would not have described their activity in quite these terms. Yet they had been chosen by the people, were assembling to discover and determine the popular will, quite as much as, if not more than, does the United States Congress or

form of democracy that Thethepurest most primitive society that

I

I

the British

House of Commons.

Indeed, never before or since have so accurately carried out in practice.

I

seen the theory of democracy chief himself did little of the

The

talking, but listened sagely to the elders putting

forward different points

The arguments, expressed with great passion and excitement, for some hours. Only when the elders had exhausted their dis-

of view. lasted

agreements did the chief speak, and then only to express what he conceived to be the sense of the meeting. Once he had spoken the elders nodded their assent and the meeting passed on to the next business. But I was left in no doubt that if the chief had misconstrued the middle way, or had delivered himself of a decision that had not represented the lowest common denominator of agreement among the elders, he would not have enjoyed his position of primus inter pares. His authority, in short, sprang from his skill at discovering the general will. He was the very model of a democratic leader, quite as much as President Kennedy or Mr. Macmillan. 1

See Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, Vol. 38, pp. 4a-6b; Kant, Science of Right, Vol. 42, p. 451c; and The Federalist, Vol. 43, p. 125c-d. Eighteenth-century philosophers used the term "republic" when discussing representative government.

49

AFRICAN TRIBAL MEETING Perhaps the purest form

of democracy can be found in primitive

societies

So long as a society remains small, cohesive, and primitive, governif it can be called such, has few incentives and little opportunity to flout the will of the people. In the first place, the minds of both ruler and ruled are so dominated and circumscribed by custom and superment,

determine themselves, since an organic parallelism between the individual will and the general will. If everybody wants to do what everybody else wants to do, because nobody can think of doing anything differently, government by the people, of the people, for the people presents no problems. Rulers and ruled are truly one. Moreover, the sheer physical condition of a primitive, subsistence economy means that it just does not pay a ruler to subjugate the ruled. What is the point of enslaving another man if he cannot physically produce an appreciable surplus over and above what is indispensable to maintain himself? If the ruler tries to take any appreciable part of the stition that virtually all political decisions

they simply grow out of the past. There

is

own use, he soon finds himself in the French peasant who complained that just as he had taught his donkey to live without eating, the wretched animal died. It is not until society advances to a certain stage of technical expertise, which enables individuals to produce far more than they need to consume, that the temptations of government really begin to operate. But even then, the chances of maintaining some form of popular or representational government remain bright, for it is difficult, physically speaking, for primitive rulers to govern for long without the consent, or against the will, of the people. That is to say, even when they develop the will to do so, they lack the means. If one-man-one-vote is the guarantee of democracy in advanced societies, one-man-one-spear does the job just as well in backward societies. fruits

of other men's labor for his

position of the

50

Peregrine Worsthorne short,

It is, in

no part of my

thesis to argue that the

countries are per se unsuited to

underdeveloped

democracy because they are under-

developed. In many ways Africa, for example, during the last thousand years has experienced more widespread popular participation in government than have the other more advanced continents. I very much

doubt whether the naked savage of smaller role in determining his

York

or London.

active role.

own

my

northern

affairs

Kenyan

On the contrary, he probably plays

The question

tribe plays a

than does a citizen of a very

New

much more

that needs to be asked today, therefore,

not whether the backward peoples can enjoy primitive democracy. already

know

that they can.

What

is

in question,

however,

is

is

We

whether

backward peoples can enjoy sophisticated democracy of the kind which the colonial powers have chosen to leave behind. While democracy is ideally suited to very primitive societies, which have yet to be faced with complicated political problems — and also perhaps to very sophisticated societies like Britain and America, most of whose complicated political problems have already been solved — is it going to prove suitable to primitive societies seeking to become advanced industrial states?

Historical conditions suitable to democracy

What

and what

essay is intended to show, is that the Europeans and Americans has been such that democracy and progress have been able to advance hand-inhand, whereas the kind of conditions with which the Afro-Asians are now faced makes it unlikely that they will enjoy the same good fortune. This has nothing inherently to do with the threat of Communism, which for the underdeveloped countries is largely a problem of geographical accident, depending on whether or not their borders happen to march with those of Russia or China. Communism merely adds to and deepI

believe,

this

historical experience of

ens the problem, but

it

does not create

it.

Romans, before leaving ancient Britain, had established a unified nation, which they had left in charge of a cadre of trained native administrators who, by some miracle, could call upon all the twentieth-century techniques of government — rapid communications, armed forces equipped with modern weapons, moJust imagine that the

bile police, a functioning bureaucratic

machine; and

that, in addition,

Romans had been clever enough to develop by that time the knowhow of industrialization, so that the tribes, instead of being driven mad by cold and hunger, could be clothed and fed; and that, morethe

over, the native rulers subsequently had the good sense to enlist into

any bright young tribesmen who grew up with any talent Can it seriously be believed that under these conditions the kind of representative institutions which are now Britain's pride and joy would ever have evolved? Even if the Romans had done us a further miraculous service, and made available their ranks

either for administration or industry.

51

THE GREAT DEBATE democratic literature, so that the ruling cadre were works of Locke, Montesquieu, and Thomas Jefferson, and had further anticipated history by clothing the infant body politic with the gloriously ponderous garments of parliamentary government, it still does not seem to me at all likely that the political course of British history would have led us in the direction which it actually took. Unless the ruling group had wrecked the whole show by quarrelling among themselves, or industrialization had failed and the tribes had risen up through starvation, or had been fired to passionate resentment by supression of some cherished custom like the right to paint their bodies with woad, the result would have been at best a protracted authoritarian system of government which the rulers felt no real need to impose with undue cruelty and against which the ruled felt no need to rebel. What primarily saved Britain from such a fate, and what has been the basic condition out of which freedom has evolved in the classical democracies of the past, is that the opportunities for rulers to oppress and the opportunities for the ruled — or those of them that wished to — to oppose oppression have been roughly speaking kept in balance. In Africa and Asia today, however, this crucial balance has been fundamentally upset by the colonial legacy, which has created an educated elite (in whose hands twentieth-century power is now invested) in the midst of still primitive, illiterate masses whose means of resistance has scarcely advanced since the stone age.

whole

libraries of

steeped

AN AFRICAN BUSH VILLAGE Within a few miles

of the modern capitals

are primitive mud or rush hut

communities

52

in the

Peregrine Worsthorne

In the capitals can be found ministers, civil servants, large, modern government buildings, army barracks, central banks, etc. — all the instruments and paraphernalia for ruling a modern state. Within a few miles of the capital cities, however, will be mud or rush hut communities in much the same primitive condition of social and economic organization as they were at the beginning of time — except that, in some cases, the inhabitants now have the vote. So far as the primitive masses are concerned, the rulers of today in the underdeveloped countries enjoy a superiority of sheer physical and administrative power which makes the greatest tyrants of old seem like impotent weaklings. One of the primary brakes on absolutism — technical incompetence — is, thanks to the colonial powers, sadly lacking in Africa and Asia today. Another brake, which the intervention of the colonial powers has also removed, is the inhibiting presence of traditional or religious restraint. One of the most important limitations on governmental power in the past has been a tacit understanding between ruler and ruled that certain actions, although not prohibited by law, were contrary to immemorial custom or forbidden by conscience. No institutions, for example, existed to thwart the will of the absolute monarchs who ruled by divine right in Europe until the French Revolution. Yet they voluntarily accepted certain moral restraints, which were regarded as heinous to ignore, and, out of respect for immemorial custom, refrained from extending governmental power into areas like conscription or direct taxation. It was not until after the French Revolution had introduced the theory of the general will that governments felt free to ex-

tend their activities irrespective of traditional restraints. ^ Fortunately for Britain and the United States, this democratic doctrine of the general will, which places such immense power in the hands of majority government, emerged only after the people's basic individual liberties were firmly entrenched and powerful nongovernmental organizations and institutions existed to defend them. Moreover, in these countries, this revolutionary doctrine of the general will had to cohabit with an equally strong tradition and faith in personal liberty. But where it did not, as in Russia and Germany, disaster soon ensued. No similar historic traditions or religious scruples, however, inhibit the governments of the underdeveloped countries today, since the new states have sought to make a clean sweep of their primitive or colonial past. The President of Ghana would not be at all impressed, when considering whether or not to lock up some opponent, if he were told: "This is not how we used to behave in the jungle," or "This is not what the British used to do." In any case, the economic, political, and social revolution transforming the new states today has been so dramatically rapid that continuity with the past has been decisively broken.

The

lack of these traditional or religious restraints

would not matter so much 2

The theory of

the general will

was

if

among

the rulers

there existed a widespread spirit of liberty

originally

developed by Rousseau. See The Social Contract,

Vol. 38, pp. 392a, 395a-398b.

53

TRIBAL

DANCING IN

WEST AFRICA To

create

national unity,

governments have to disrupt

the will

ancient tribal

and communal patterns of life

among

if it was likely soon to develop. But this is far from The whole concept of freedom is quite alien to very

the ruled or

being the case.

primitive peoples. Take, for example, freedom of conscience or free-

dom

of speech, which are so central to the meaningful practice of democracy.^ Why should primitive peoples cherish such rights, which are only valuable to a man who is capable of independent thought. For the great majority of the people of Asia and Africa, whose lives are still circumscribed by custom, convention, and superstition, independent thought is virtually out of the question. They lack the intellectual capacity as much to believe as to doubt, both of which are relatively sophisticated intellectual processes. Primitive peoples do not obey the rules of their communities because they believe them to be right, or disobey them because they believe them to be wrong. They obey them out of habit, because it is easier to do so; and they disobey them only out of passion or self-interest. It is difficult to believe that such communities will be inspired to do battle with arbitrary government in the name of freedom of speech or conscience. For the same reasons it is improbable that any large body of opinion in the underdeveloped countries will wish to oppose their governments very passionately on any of the other issues which advanced democ-

3

For

J.

S.

Mill's

views on the importance of such

Vol. 43, pp. 272d-274a.

54

liberties to a free society, see

On

Liberty,

Peregrine Worsthorne

due process of law, freedom to assoFor the time being, at any rate, the popular

racies regard as important, like ciate,

habeas corpus,

etc.^

unable to grasp these concepts. would be prepared to do battle with government about is any attempt to wean them of their superstitions, or disrupt their ancient tribal or communal patterns of life, or change their languages. These are the kind of catalysts around which genuine popular will is quite

What

the people

movements could be formed. That they

will

be so formed

the constitutions of these

new

is,

unfortunately, highly unlikely, since

countries are usually expressly designed

few genuine expressions of the popular will. They are regarded either as threats to national unity — which of course they are — or as threats to modernity, which is also true. Governments, therefore, can claim the backing of the constitution in stamping them out. It is difficult, however, to feel very confident about the growth of representative institutions in societies where the only things that mean anything to the great majority of the people have to be, for reasons of to stifle these

state,

regarded as treason or,

if

not as treason, as archaic obstructions

to progress.^

Even

the concept of national freedom, which sparked the struggle independence from colonial rule, can be said to affect only a small minority — the educated elite. The proportion who feel passionately involved with individual liberty — an infinitely more subtle concept — is far smaller, since those few who have the education and background to understand the arguments intellectually are almost all connected with government, and are therefore more fascinated with authority than freedom. The rest, as I say, are either too poor or too ignorant to for

care.

have governments had such opporand so few objective or subjective reasons for restraint, as they have today in the underdeveloped countries of the world; and seldom, if ever, have the ruled been so powerless to resist. The picture, however, is even less promising than that. For not only are the rulers in a position to oppress, and the ruled in a position to be oppressed, but there exists today a justification for the oppressor and a consolation for the oppressed which between them have almost made it impossible to think about freedom as an Afro-Asian concept at all. "Give me liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry. But to the famished millions of Asia and Africa, death may not be the alternative to liberty, but its consequence; and slavery, instead of being equivalent to death, may be the means of life. For it may well be that dictatorship is the only method of raising the Afro-Asian standard of living so that it keeps pace with expanding population rates; that speedy inSeldom, therefore,

in history

tunities to rule arbitrarily,

4 See Constitution of the United States, Amendments 1-10, 14, 15, and 19, Vol. 43, pp. 17a-]9d. 5 "Representative institutions necessarily depend for permanence upon the readiness of the people to fight for them in case of their being endangered" (J. S. Mill, Representative Government, Vol. 43, p. 350d).

55

THE GREAT DEBATE dustrialization cannot be forced through fast

No

enough by any other

has ever enjoyed so plausible an excuse. Even more baffling, no oppressed peoples have ever had such good reason to suppose that their rewards for suffering in silence will

means.

former tyrant

in history

world rather than the next. debate about freedom, which has raged through the centuries in the classical democracies, had started off in this context; if the great formulators of democratic doctrine had come to the subject at a time when it presented itself in these terms, instead of, for example, about the rights and wrongs of religious toleration,^ would they have reached the conclusions which they did? But this is the context in which the politically articulate people in Afro- Asia are reaching their political

be

in this

If the

conclusions. While there

is

no reason

make communists of them — power strikes

me

as puerile to suppose that

to

suppose that

it

politics will really it

will

make them

will necessarily

decide that —

into ardent

it

dem-

A few, like Mr. Nehru, reared in the great liberal tradition, may maintain their democratic faith, as well as maintaining power. But Mr. Nehru is an exception who certainly proves no rule, as anybody who has talked to the younger generation of Afro-Asian leaders cannot fail

ocrats.

have learned.

to

Industrialization

It

may be

objected that

all I

have done so

among

far

is

to point out the ob-

masses

in the underdeveloped countries today are not conducive to freedom. But will not the prospects be radically improved once industrialization has raised the general standard of living and education has raised the general standard of knowledge? These particular hopes spring eternal in the Western breast. My own view, however, is that industrialization and education are just as likely — indeed more likely — to lead in the opposite direction. Far from helping to create independent and powerful interests prepared and able to counterbalance the power of government they will tend, in the particular circumstances of the underde-

-vious, namely, that conditions

the

veloped countries, to strengthen further the government's hands. It is perfectly true that in Britain, and in the other classical democracies, the growth of an industrial bourgeoisie, and that of a commercial bourgeoisie before, played an immensely valuable role in bringing absolute government under democratic control. But they did not do so because of any abstract faith in the virtues of representative govern-

The b9urgeoisie fought for political representation and for some measure of control over the government because the ruling groups of the time refused to allow them the freedom they needed to trade and produce.'^ Feudal rule in Europe, for example, rigidly excluded aspiring ment.

6 See Locke, Letter Concerning Toleration, Vol. 35, pp. la-22d. 7 For Marx-Engels' account of the role played by the bourgeoisie, see Manifesto of the Communist Party, Vol. 50,

56

p.

420a-c.

Peregrine Worsthorne

merchants from the circle of governmental influence and saddled them with restrictions and difficulties which prevented them from trading to the maximum advantage. It is difficult to exaggerate the role which the commercial requirements of the trading groups in England in the eighteenth century had on the development of British politics.^ Commerce instills in those who

practice

it

the arts of negotiation, bargaining, honoring agreements,

respect for law. Its interlocking relationships preclude any clear chain

of

command and

cut across strict hierarchies.

The commercial ethos

BRITISH

MERCHANTS AT LLOYD'S OF LONDON The commercial bourgeoisie played

an important role the development

in

of English

democracy

makes regimentation anathema. Toleration,

flexibility,

mutual

trust,

and a sensitive feel for every change in social trends — these are the qualities that make commerce flourish. They are also the qualities that are peculiarly conducive to the successful practice of parliamentary government. It was no accident that Britain's commercial bourgeoisie

should have developed a taste for democratic institutions, for an independent judiciary, and even, in time, for an incorruptible civil service. Arbitrary government, erratic implementation of the law, and corrupt administration

made

it

impossible for them to ply their trades.

do not mean to suggest that the battle against absolutism fought by Britain's commercial interests, which played so superb a part in winning British liberties, was strictly a matter of economic self-interest. There was, of course, also a magnificent body of doctrine evolved to lend rational justification to the cause. Economic self-interest provoked intellectual argument to justify that self-interest which in turn sparked genuine idealism, so that by the time the circle was completed. I

8

For an illuminating discussion of

(New York: Harper &

this

theme, see Henry A. Kissinger. The Necessity for Choice

Bros., 1961).

57

THE GREAT DEBATE the bourgeoisie and the professional interests, like the law associated

and limb, welfare and prosmaking money. But this, of course, is how all reform comes about — through a subtle blend of selfishness and idealism so interwoven that it is never quite clear which is the chicken and which the egg. So far as Britain was concerned, nineteenth-century industrialists certainly continued the struggle to limit the power of government. It is much less clear, however, whether the actual processes of industry really favor the diffusion of power, in the way that commerce does. The governing principle of an industrial society is efficiency, which ordains with them, were prepared to sacrifice

life

perity, for a political doctrine initially designed to justify their

all its component parts — including the human beings involved — be reduced to manipulatable quantities. A strict chain of command or hierarchy is an essential condition for efficient production. Whereas in commerce the arts of negotiation, bargaining, and compromise deter-

that

mine success,

in

industry

manipulate. There

is,

it

is

more

in short,

command,

the capacity to

regiment,

nothing in the ethos of industry which

helps to create a democratic attitude to politics.

The growth

of industry in Britain helped to promote democratic

in-

wanted democracy but because the ruling order of the day did not want industry. It was because the land-owning ruling class sought to place restrictions on the growth stitutions not

because the

industrialists

of industry, so as to protect their

own

agricultural interests, that the

espoused the cause of freedom against an unsympathetic government. What they were fighting against was governmental obstruction and what they were fighting for was industrial autonomy. The difficulty facing the underdeveloped countries is that they are attempting to jump virtually from a condition of mere subsistence industrial groups

straight

industrialization,

to

without lingering

in

that intermediate

period of slow commercial growth during which, in the classical

democracies, the habits and attitudes of democracy and parliamentary government took root. What is more, the impulse for industrialization, far from meeting governmental obstruction, is actually coming from the government itself. Whereas in the classical democracies industry had a vested interest in curbing the power of government, because it was being used to obstruct their aims, in the underdeveloped counhas a vested interest

tries industry

because is

it is

in

supporting governmental power,

being used to promote their aims. say, certainly does not encourage the

view that there

History, as

1

anything

the industrial process itself which favors a free society,

in

or encourages industrial managers to wish necessarily to control gov-

ernment. So long as the process of industrialization coincides with a government well disposed to this development, which does not seek prepared to stand Japan, where industrialization took place with the support and active encouragement of the landed ruling class. In both these cases the industrial to obstruct, past experience suggests that industry

aside from politics. This

58

was

certainly true in

is

Germany and

PRESIDENT

NKRUMAH INSPECTS

MACHINERY IN GHANA By taking a leading role in industrialization,

the

governments

are increasing the concentration

of power

managers were quite happy to barter political participation for economic autonomy, and insofar as they developed any interest in politics at all, it was to encourage nationalism rather than liberalism. I cannot myself see why industrialization should have different results in the underdeveloped countries. Why should the new class of industrial managers there, whom the governments will do everything in their power to cosset and favor, and who presumably will have little cause to complain against, and every reason to praise, the government of the day — why should they insist on any active participation in ruling the country? Since their prime interest will be in maintaining the stability of the government, it is more likely that all their influence will be concentrated on increasing rather than decreasing its powers. The truth is that democracy can be slowed down by governments giving people too much of what they want too early as much as by granting them too little too late. Contrary, therefore, to the optimistic assumptions that industrialin the underdeveloped countries, be a powerful force operating in the opposite direction. A frustrated industrial bourgeoisie, which happens to evolve in a country where parliamentary institutions have taken root, can prove a supremely effective dynamo for setting the wheels of democracy in motion. This was the situation which Britain was lucky enough to enjoy. But a satisfied bourgeoisie, basking in the sunshine

ization will be the ally of it

seems

to

me more

democracy

likely to

in a country where parliamentary institutions have no roots, is likely to be an equally effective brake preventing the wheels of democracy from ever getting into mo-

of governmental patronage, which evolves

tion.

But

if

industrialization

is

unlikely to throw up a radical bourgeoisie,

or one determined to curb the power of government, that the

workers

in

is it

not possible

Africa and Asia will develop the taste for free

59

in-

THE GREAT DEBATE stitutions? This tribal lands,

seems extraordinarily

to the atomization

how

unlikely.

Uprooted from

their

cut off from their customs and traditions, and subjected

of industrial

life in

city slums,

it

is difficult

to see

they can be expected to stand up to a combination of govern-

ment and management. But even if in time they are in a position to do so, it is highly unlikely that their objective would be the creation of a liberal democracy. Insofar as they influence politics at all, they will tend in the direction of extremism rather than moderation, since it will be prompted more by the agonies of hunger in their bellies than the passion for liberty in

Working-class revolutions, provoked by hunger and povfield of freedom, since this is not their aim. British political liberties were won, not by the masses fighting for bread, but by particular groups and interests fighting for the right to pursue their own ends without government interference. If the hungry masses in Asia and Africa seek to intervene in politics, their prime their hearts. erty,

seldom enlarge the

object will be to create a government which will do rather than less.

They

will

want, but rather to get what they need. While this

proper political demand, erty. If

it is

more

for

them

not be asking for the right to do what they

it is

is

an absolutely

not one that has anything to do with

made after the establishment of liberal

lib-

political institutions,

because of the existence of these institutions — as was it strengthens them, by demonstrating that they work. But in the underdeveloped countries, worker intervention in politics is likely to lead either to outright repres-

and

is

satisfied

the case in the classical democracies — then

SLUM SCENE LAGOS, NIGERIA

IN

Poverty and hunger are almost certain to lead to demands for stronger

governments

— at the expense of personal freedoms

Peregrine Worsthorne

sion by the

government or

to the establishment of

some form of popular

tyranny along Communist or Peronist lines. Most of the new underdeveloped states,

it should be noted, have under moderate left-wing governments led by men claiming to espouse democratic socialism. All the miseries of early industrialization and population expansion will, therefore, be visited on the heads of the moderates. It seems to me rather unfortunate that

started their lives

new states should begin their life, politically speaking, in the middle of the road, since if things go wrong, they must move either to these

the right or to the

others are is

all

left.

Some have already moved move very much further

too likely to

surely very improbable

is

that a country

which

far to the right;

to the left.

What

starts at the center

of the political spectrum, before it has yet to face all its agonizing growing pains, will survive the experience without toppling one way or the other.

Education Western optimists place the highest hopes which will do most to encourage the growth of free institutions in the underdeveloped countries. This is certainly a possibility, since once men begin to think, everything becomes possible. Except in this very general sense, however, it does not seem to me that education is likely to have the desired effect. People have a vague idea that education will produce inquiring minds who bring rational thought to the problems of society. When there are enough inquiring minds bringing enough rational thought to bear, democracy is expected

After

industrialization.

Lin education as the process

to appear.

But when one examines the

effect of education in practice

the underdeveloped countries, the picture

is

today

in

rather different. For the

overwhelming majority it is, at best, simply a matter of learning to read and write. The tiny minority who pass through universities, and who constitute the inquiring minds, are swiftly absorbed into the machinery of government, since the demand of administrative posts still greatly exceeds the supply. In other words, the opinion formers who are meant to act as watchdogs on governmental propriety, and maintain the people's side of the argument which goes on eternally between rulers and ruled, are almost to a man in some way connected with, or dependent on, the government itself. In time, of course, their numbers will increase. But the other main source of livelihood for the educated elite will be industry, which is not likely, as I have sought to show, to encourage any great independence of thought. The trouble is that for the foreseeable future there will be so much room on the governmental bandwagon for the educated elite that there will be no need for any of them to worry about its speed and direction. Of course, if industrialization fails to keep pace with educational plans, and there are very 61

A

READING LESSON

IN

TIMBUKTU

For the ovenvhelming majority

of the people, education is simply a matter to

of learning read and write

many more graduates produced than there are jobs for them to fill, the situation will be very different. Unemployed graduates today do not sit around reading Thomas Jefferson, or studying the Westminster rules of parliamentary procedure. Their inquiring

Marxwards by

minds tend

to travel

the fastest route.

It seems highly unlikely, therefore, that the processes of education and industrialization will of themselves produce organized private interests determined enough and strong enough to impose restraint on the arbitrary exercise of public power. The reason is horribly simple. Without governmental backing, no private interest will be able to pros-

per.

The importance of indigenous development

What the West finds so now

difficult to

appreciate

is

that

all

the activ-

Asia and Africa, which have the creation of modern industrial states as their aim, almost entirely lack indigenous momentum. Of course, the masses want the benefits of industrialization and want to be rid of disease, famine, drought, and flood. But this is quite different from wanting to make the sacrifices which would enable these blessings to be realized. While there is widespread popular demand for the ends, there is virtually no support at all for the means. It might be argued that this was also true initially in the Western democracies, where industrialization, for example, provoked the mob to break up the machinery with sticks and staves. The great difference, however, is that because Western advances in techniques, skills, and knowledge were almost all indigenous developments, they inevitably created their own body of informed support. Clearly, industrialization could not take place until there were enough industrialists to make it ities

proceeding

in

modern techniques of agriculture could not become widespread until there were enough farmers to understand them; modern ideas of hygiene and medicine could not be generally practiced until possible:

62

Peregrine Worsthorne their importance and enough patients were prepared to risk them. Since the Western peoples were their own pacesetters, throwing up their own pioneers, the speed of advance never ex-

enough doctors recognized

ceeded the capacity for at least some sizeable section of society to keep up with it. Progress, moreover, depended on private citizens discovering new techniques, organizing themselves to give effect to them, and persuading others to tolerate or support their activities. Governments could assist this process, but clearly could not initiate it. The result has been the gradual growth over the centuries of innumerable professional associations, corporate bodies, seats of learning, and interest groups, rich in pride and achievement, whose voices carry great weight with government because their roots are deeply based in public approval and respect. No equivalent developments can be observed in the new states of Africa and Asia. Progress in these countries is almost exclusively imported from abroad. In most cases the process of importation was initiated by the former colonizing powers and can be maintained only by the most strenuous efforts of government operation, since the people themselves are almost wholly unable to initiate and invent. Take, for example, medical science. If the progress of medicine in the underdeveloped countries depended on the wit and inventiveness of the local medical professions, it could not possibly keep pace with modern requirements. That it can do so at all is made possible only by the intervention of government, which decides to import the necessary drugs, etc.. or to send local doctors abroad to learn modern techniques. The same is true in all the other fields of modern knowledge. In the underdeveloped countries, in short, it has to be the government that sets the pace and pioneers the new frontiers, since the people are themselves unable to do so. It seems to me quite absurd to imagine that in these areas there are likely to develop those professional and private concentrations of power and influence, over and above government, which have been so crucial in establishing Western freedoms. All the forces of initiative, invention, imagination, and drive which in the West arose from the private sector, and therefore nourished and strengthened the private sector, are having to come in the underdeveloped countries from government, and are likely to strengthen and nourish the claims of government. The West should be able to understand this today, since to some extent the classical democracies are themselves beginning to experience a comparable difficulty. The greatest advance in modern science — nuclear fission — seems to defy democratic control, precisely because it was very largely a product of governmental rather than private enterprise. As a result, no private or professional body exists that can altogether understand its immense complexity. Parliaments find it difficult to discuss the problems it raises: the people recoil in baffled horror, willing to accept the security advantages it offers, but quite unable to

feel that its future is their private responsibility.

63

AN ELECTION SCENE IN

KENYA

Many of the important ''

government posts are still held by expatriate Europeans

In the underdeveloped countries, however, virtually every aspect of modern society presents the public with the same kind of difficulty

which nuclear fission today poses for Britain and America. It is as Afro-Asian public opinion to grapple with the problems of industrialization and modernization, and to develop means of controlling governments in these respects, as it is difficult for AngloAmerican public opinion to do the same in respect to nuclear power. Fortunately for the West, however, democratic institutions evolved and took root before the advent of nuclear power. The relationship between ruler and ruled was formed in conditions where the latter had more than enough cards to hold its own in the game. Unfortunately, the opposite is true of the countries of Asia and Africa. The position is even further complicated in many of the underdeveloped countries by the presence of large numbers of expatriate Europeans who, in the absence of an adequate local elite, still fill many of the crucial professional, executive, and university posts. In some cases they even occupy high rank in the civil service, in the police and armed forces. Most of the capital invested, too, is foreign, and in Ghana by far the best and most modern newspaper is British-owned. To a dangerous extent, in short, the elite, which should be bringing informed criticism to bear on government, is made up of what in effect are foreign mercenaries whose continued presence in the country can always be revoked by governmental fiat. Many of these foreign expatriates are, no doubt, men of high principle, who stayed on to help the new states through their post-independence difficulties. But clearly their status as former colonial masters is highly invidious, and the one thing they cannot allow themselves is to get in any way involved in politics. The same is even more clearly true of foreign business firms, whose economic interest must prompt them to do everything possible to keep the government sweet. The British-owned Ghana newspaper solves its problems by rigorously eschewing all political controversy. As a result, however, the very groups which, in a healthy democracy, bring informed criticism to bear on government, and provide the raw material of ideas and argument for the public to feed on, tend in many of the underdeveloped countries to be reduced to the role of political eunuchs. In some fields the position will, of course, improve as more native taldifficult for

64

J

Peregrine Worsthorne

ent

trained to take over the jobs

is

now done by

expatriates.

So

far as

concerned, however, the problem may well become worse, particularly in those areas where stable and strong government

foreign capital

is

established.

is

For the stronger the government becomes, and the

less

the area concerned seems subject to the instabilities of democracy, the

more

it will be to the foreign investor. The fact must be faced here a direct clash between the economic health of the

attractive

that there

is

underdeveloped countries and their prospect of democratic growth. For all these reasons, therefore, it seems to me that the prospect of organized concentrations of private power being able to control arbitrary government is exceedingly remote. Yet without them I cannot see how parliamentary democracy can hope to work. Merely dispensing the vote does little of itself to strengthen the ruled against the ruler, since the vote is only useful to a citizen who, as well as being a

head

to

count

at election times, is also

an interest which counts

at all

easily forgotten in the

West,

times.

This basic fact of democratic

which

likes to think that its

life is

own

liberties

arose from the franchise.

is a dangerous half-truth. For while it is true that in and America individual liberties are today protected by the vote, they were not created by the vote. They were created by dint of various interests, one after the other, so organizing themselves that they were in a position to fight for their rights. The vote, so to speak, is the flower that springs from liberty, not the root, and to create parliaments in the underdeveloped countries, as the colonial powers have done, without first creating interests to be represented in them, is as nonsensical as fabricating cups in a desert before first discovering

This, however, Britain

water.

Parliamentary procedures

However much,

governments of the underdeveloped in the sense of wanting to wish democratic, m^y to be govern according to the will of the people, they have no way of discovering what the people's will may be, since parliamentary institutions can give them no guidance. But that, it may be argued, is surely the job of the political parties. The political parties, however, can only express the needs and wants of the people if there exist organized interests and groups who have translated these needs and wants into precise and politically meaningful terms. For the parties simply to offer the people a vague choice of programs at election times is a singularly ineffective way, by itself, of either discovering what the people want or of committing the victorious party to any particular course. Unless this electoral process is also accompanied by all the subterranean bargaining between the political parties and the various sectional interests which go on in the classical democracies, it amounts to little more than a somewhat undignified therefore, the

countries

65

THE GREAT DEBATE Struggle between various groups of ambitious politicians to get their hands on the levers of power, and has little more to do with the will of the people than the intrigues and plots by which one dictator gets rid of another. The role of the opposition in such circumstances scarcely extends beyond that of making government awkward for the ruling party, without in any way helping to give effect to the desires of the ruled.

This, however,

is

the situation in

which parliamentary government No wonder, there-

has to operate in the underdeveloped countries.

one

fore, that in

state after another, parliamentary institutions are in-

creasingly regarded as a nuisance by the governments and as an

ir-

relevance by the peoples. Since they simply hinder the former without helping the latter, they can be swept aside without any loss to either.

Indeed,

much

may

it

well be better that they be swept away, since

it is

government should not masquerade under a false name. More important, it is infinitely more promising if those opposed to government policies in the underdeveloped countries, instead of prematurely concentrating on parliamentary representation — when they have nothing yet to represent except their own personal ambitions — should concentrate their energies on organizing, not political parties, but genuine pressure groups which reflect genbetter that undemocratic

uine interests. it seems virtually unavoidable that those governments underdeveloped countries which continue to espouse democracy will remain absolutist in fact, while democratic in name, which is the worst result possible, because it subjects the body politic to all the agony of the poison of tyranny while at the same time discrediting and corrupting the cure. Unpleasant as it is to recognize it, there can surely be little doubt that in the underdeveloped countries no political system could be more likely to strengthen those in power and weaken those in opposition than classical parliamentary government on the Westminster model.

Failing this

in

The only is

obstacle which democracy erects against abuse of

the electorate's right to reject an unpopular

government

power

at the

next

election. All the unwritten, subterranean limitations that exist in primitive

autocracies are eliminated in favor of this single major democratic

sanction; since

if

sovereignty

is

derived from the people, a popularly

elected government must remain sovereign until

successor.

Any

attempt to limit

its

power while

it

is

replaced by

it

is

in office

its

would

contradict the basic assumption on which democratic theory rests;

namely, the absolute sovereignty of the popular will. ^ In theory, mais the most tyrannical form of government conceivable — absolutism tempered only by impermanence. ^^ In practice, of course,

jority rule

"The general

alone can direct the State according to the object for which it was Sovereignty, being nothing less than the exercise of the ." (The Social Contract, Vol. 38, p. 395a). general will, can never be aliented 10 See On Liberty, Vol. 43, p. 269a-c. 9 Rousseau: instituted,

i.e.,

the

will

common good .... .

66

.

Peregrine Worsthorne in

the classical democracies, the knowledge that

if

a government mis-

uses power the opposition will win the next election acts as an incomparably efficient brake. But in underdeveloped countries it is extraordinarily difficult for this brake to work, or

if it

does work, for

it

not

to lead to a fatal political skid.

work because the party in power has at modern techniques of propaganda which spring its disposal all the government. reins of By this I do not mean of the possession from It is difficult

for the brake to

simply the brute instruments of corruption and intimidation, although these are certainly very formidable.

Nor do

I

merely to the more numerous and almost

refer

subtle forms of patronage, although these too are

Ghana, for example, it is possible to tell how an area is expected to vote at the next election or how it voted at the last election by whether it boasts a new school or welfare center. But even more imirresistible. In

portant in binding the electorate to the ruling party

is

the fact that, for

most part, the ruling party is made up of the men who actually fought and won independence and who, therefore, are surrounded by an almost legendary aura of glory, which all the organs of the state inevitably seek to amplify and maintain. It is difficult, if not impossible, for an opposition to compete against such advantages. But if the opposition did win — that is to say, if the brake did work — it is equally difficult to see how this would not put the state into a dangerous skid. For in these newly independent states, which lack all natural cohesion, made up as most of them are of conflicting tribes with no common interest in the present or tradition of co-operation in the past (except for the single objective of getting the colonial power out), without a common culture or language, and with unresolved economic rivalries between region and region, it is often only by the President's or Prime Minister's building himself up as a demi-god that any loyalty to the central government and any national unity at all can be created and maintained. the

The

realities, in short,

demand

that the leader should build himself

up as indispensable. But the whole theory of democracy requires that the Prime Minister should be dispensable. If the opposition cut him

down

to parliamentary size,

it

might well be an act of treason against

the state, in the sense that in fulfilling their constitutional role they

may be endangering national unity. Not only does this inhibit the position, but, in a way more dangerous, it justifies a government's

op-

use

of every method to limit and weaken their opponents. These difficulties have, of course, already done grievous damage in many new states seeking to establish parliamentary government. Either the ruling party consists only of a coalition of politicians, without

organization in depth, and

ences

in policy

is

therefore easily broken up over differ-

or personalities, which was the case with Pakistan's

Muslim League; or

it

is

so strong and so deeply entrenched that no it from power, as is the case with the Ghana. What is required, however, if

other party can hope to dislodge

Convention People's Party

in

67

THE GREAT DEBATE parliamentary government

is

to

work

at all successfully, are

two

large

One

of them must always be content to remain out of office for some ten years, while the other treats it with all the respect due to a loyal opposition. parties, both representing a multiplicity of interests.

These sophisticated requirements, however, are not

likely to be reunderdeveloped countries, but rather in societies where government is not the only basis of power; in societies, that is to say, where there are a great many concentrations of private power through which influence can be exerted — a condition which is singularly absent in the underdeveloped countries. The British habits of parliamentary life evolved in the eighteenth century, under an aristocratic system, when it did not make all that difference to those contending for office whether they got it or not. Victory at Westminster meant patronage and power, but defeat was by no means unpleasant, since not only did it enable one to spend more time in the hunting field or in the library but it also meant that, being freed of office, one could concentrate better on running local affairs. Whoever won, the aristocratic system continued, which was all that really mattered. The important thing was not to win elections, but to be born into the aristocracy or to win the King's favor. No wonder, therefore, that the whole activity of parliamentary contest evolved on civilized lines. There was really no great danger in anybody's rejecting the four governing assumptions of party rule: (1) when a party forms a government, it shall govern by consent instead of coercion; (2) it shall itself consent to surrender the goyernment to the direction of a rival party; (3) when this exchange takes place it shall be in a peaceful way; (4) the changes in existing relations in the whole community shall be of a moderate instead of a drastic sort. These sophisticated constitutional habits, formed during the aristo-

alized in the

cractic period

when they

acquired such

momentum and became

did not really require

much

of a sacrifice,

so deeply ingrained that they

have continued unimpaired into Britain's present state of universal suffrage and popular sovereignty. Indeed, it can almost be said that Britain's particular form of democracy has been fashioned so as to conform to the cherished habits of a bygone age. The difficulty bedevilling the new countries of Asia and Africa is that they need to develop an aristocratic attitude to politics in a democratic age: to show an eighteenth-century sophistication without ever having lived through the eighteenth century.

The

do matter quite desperno aristocratic class or capitalist class whose basic position in society is determined by considerations other than electoral victory. In the new states, the popular mandate is the only source of honor and power.

ately.

truth

is

that in these countries politics

Here there

This

is

is

not simply a personal problem, involving loss of patronage

and physical amenities, although this aspect is real enough. (The difference in mode of life between being Prime Minister and being Leader 68

NIGERIAN LAWYERS IN BRITISH COURT COSTUME ASSEMBLED IN LAGOS

Democratic institutions and practices which have developed slowly through several centuries are being imposed upon nations almost wholly lacking in political

of the opposition in most of these countries

is

experience

almost inconceivably

wide: for the former, world-wide travel, luxury and pomp, hobnobbing all of which must be infinitely inmost part, have risen from nothing, means nothing; and for the latter, total fu-

with the world leaders as equals, toxicating to

which

men who,

for the

in these areas really

tility.)

Far more important,

in these countries the

only

way

of shaping

There are no other tempting concentrations of power — economic or social — through which events can be influenced. Yet these nations are, in most cases, either wholly new, on events

is

through

politics.

the very threshold of their national history, or are undergoing vast

transformations — religious, social, economic, and cultural. Probably

governments be called upon to and structure of society; decisions which in Europe were decided only by force. It seems to me quite insane to suppose that any group of politicians, faced

never again

make such

in their history will their

crucial decisions, affecting the very basis

with the prospect of being out of office for ten years at such a time,

and understandably aware of all the methods their opponents can use to keep them out of office forever, will show the necessary sophistication and restraint to make the parliamentary system work.

The dangers of radical reform may well be argued, of course, that these difficulties are only temporary growing pains as the new states get under way. Dr. Nkrumah, for example, may see himself as doing consciously to Ghana what the Tudors did unconsciously to sixteenth-century Britain — forging a cohesive nation strong enough, at a later date, to survive the strains of parliamentary government. This comforting parallel, however, is vitiated by one striking diff'erence in the situation between the new, underdeveloped states and that of the classical democracies, which have also gone through the experiences of absolutism. Britain evolved into a democracy by way of monarchy and even dictatorship. The underdeveloped countries, however, are evolving into dictatorship by way of parliamentary government. Having, so to speak, started from the top, and descended to the

It

69

THE GREAT DEBATE bottom, time.

may prove

it

What

countries politic

far

more

whose outward forms

many

make

the ascent a second

of the newly independent

growing pains are taking place

that the necessary

is

difficult to

so disturbing about so

is

in

bodies

are already fully grown. While a young

expected to behave wildly, and to kick and scream, it when instead of being swathed in the swaddling clothes of autocracy, it is dressed up in the venerable uniform of a mature democracy. More important, by tripping and tearing this incongruous adult uniform in childhood, it will have been reduced to shreds and tatters by the time the new states might with luck have been ready to wear it. In other words, by the time the underdeveloped countries are ready for democracy, the institutions of parliamentary government will have been damaged beyond repair.

body is

politic is

difficult to

This,

smile indulgently

think,

I

is

what worries me most about the way things are

going in the underdeveloped countries — the dreadful double talk

which must be so

whose

lethally confusing to the simple, primitive peoples

futures are at stake.

Reduced

to

its

stark outline,

what

is

happening to these peoples in Asia and Africa is that the majority are being either coaxed or dragooned into giving up their ancestral ways and customs, the ways of their forefathers, and to adopt values and pursue activities which the minority believe to be good for them. They are being refashioned in the most radical sense, almost recreated.

In the

Communist

countries, like China, this process

is

being done

with great cruelty and speed; in the non-Communist countries

being done very is

being done in

tries.

It

In the

name

the

is

it

is

much more slowly and with gentler methods. But it one way or another in all the underdeveloped coun-

non-Communist

countries, however,

it

is

being done in

of democracy and freedom, since these are the slogans used.

being done, moreover, through the instruments normally asso-

ciated with

democracy and freedom

—

popularly-elected governments,

The masses are not being forced to Communist countries. ^^ They are being in-

legal process, trade unions, etc.

be

free, as

they are in the

freedom by materewards, or the promises of material rewards. To study this process at work in India, where it is being conducted with exemplary patience and humanity, is even more frightening than

vited to be free, conditioned to be free, seduced into rial

in those countries where it is being forced through with brutality. China the concept of freedom is being destroyed. In India, however, it is being castrated. The masses are being accustomed to associate freedom with a passive acquiescence, while the elite in power are becoming accustomed to interpret freedom as a restraint on the speed with which they push through reforms designed to improve the people's lot. But there is nothing in this relationship which we in the West can regard as appertaining to democracy and freedom. While we can it is

In

1

1

70

The

notion that men must sometimes be coerced The Social Contract, Vol. 38, p. 393a-b.

into

freedom can be traced

to

Rousseau. See

Peregrine Worsthorne

be thankful that the Indians are not using Communist methods to inand should pray that they will succeed in raising the material standard of living, so that the Communists will have no excuse to step in and do the job for them, we surely cannot argue that what is happening there is democratic or that the spirit abroad in India today is that of freedom, as that idea is understood in the West. Freedom in the West is an active, creative force. A free people is one in which each group has fought for its rights and feels strong enough and organized enough to protect them. But for the overwhelming majority of Indians, freedom has no such connotation. It is a gift, which they are pleased to accept, but which, because they have not dustrialize the country

made

it

for themselves, could be easily taken

away from them

other set of rulers, less civilized than the present lot, should to

do

seems

so. It

to

me

a great error for the

if

an-

choose

West to pretend otherwise

taken away from them, it is better that the West should be on record as saying that it was only ersatz anyhow. If the Indians think that what they have got now is freedom, not only may they not mind terribly losing it but also, far worse, they may never since,

if

this gift

of freedom

is

be inclined to look for it again. In one very important sense, therefore, it seems to me that the longterm prospects for freedom are better in Pakistan than they are in India. In Pakistan, there is no attempt by the junta of generals to pretend that the transformation of the country from a primitive pastoral community to a modern industrial society is being achieved through democratic means. It is being done quite openly and frankly by dictatorship. ^2 President Ayub does not claim to represent the popular will, or bother to carry through meaningless elections. The political atmosphere is one of unashamed aristocratic tutelage, with the educated elite justifying their right to give the orders on the rational ground that they can read and write whereas the masses cannot. While this may not make Pakistan a favorite at the United Nations, this uninhibited disregard for contemporary double talk at least has the crucial advantage that when the masses do become educated and do want to organize their own rights, they will be able to do so in the name of democracy, since the democratic theory will not have already been pre-

empted by an oligarchy

flying false colors.

Put it another way. Frank recognition by the Pakistan oligarchy that they are not a democratic government leaves the field free for later generations of Pakistani democrats to justify their claim to a share in government on democratic grounds. Nor is this possibility merely academic. The encouraging aspect of the Pakistani rulers today is that, although they are not democrats, they are very aristocrats,

if

you

will,

educated

in Britain

much

liberals

-

liberal

and deeply imbued with the

liberal tradition. conditions of society in which a vigorous despotism is in itself the best mode of training the people in what is specifically wanting to render them capable of a higher civilisation" (J. S. Mill, Representative Government, Vol. 43, p. 436b).

12 "There are

.

.

.

government for

71

PRESIDENT AYUB OF PAKISTAN TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE. The cause offreedom

may be

better served by avowed dictators like Ay ub than by demagogues who claim to represent the people

While

perfectly true that they are subject to no objective or inbrake on their absolute power, since they have abolished the franchise and rule by decree, they have not denied the subjective and personal limitations which come from the liberal conscience. In the long run this is surely a more promising situation than what is happening in those other underdeveloped countries where the rulers claim to be operating according to the popular will, and go through the motions of acquiring an electoral mandate which, for reasons already mentioned, present no great difficulty. In these democratic countries the rulers, by claiming to respect the democratic brake on absolutism — which cannot work — in fact acquire a tremendously powerful new accelerator towards tyranny. Backed by an electoral mandate which allows them to claim that what they want to do is what the people want them to do, they are able to ignore all restraints, private as well as public. If you believe, as they do, that the voice of the people is the voice of God, and if you can control the voice of the people — as they can — then your voice becomes the voice of God, and any dissident, oppositionist voice beit is

stitutional

comes

the voice of the Devil, to be treated accordingly.

therefore,

it

would seem

that the prospects of eventual

On

balance,

freedom are

better in the countries that espouse dictatorship openly, like Pakistan,

than in those which dress

it

up

in all the

hideous garments of Jacobin

democracy.

Dangers of premature democracy as it may sound, therefore, what is perhaps most worrisome about the political prospects of the underdeveloped countries is not the absence of democracy but its premature presence. The democratic doctrine has been fruitful of freedom in the West because, when it was initially propounded in its modern form in the eighteenth century, there was no possibility whatsoever of its being actually implemented. European society even then was far too complicated, and made up of far too many partially conflicting interests, for the idea of

Paradoxical

the "general will" to be taken at

72

all literally.

Nobody

studying society

Peregrine Worsthorne it actually existed could suppose that on any particular issue, king, nobles, priests, peasants, and artisans would all agree as to the common good, which is why, of course, the great propounders of the democratic

as

doctrine were compelled to postulate the existence of primitive society populated by noble savages. ^^

So

far as

some

idyllic

Europe was

concerned, therefore, one thing was clear from the start: either society had to be revolutionized to make it fit democratic theory or democratic theory had to be revolutionized to make it fit society. The French Revolution, in its disastrous Jacobin phase, was an attempt to do the former. By destroying all the established feudal insti-

tutions—monarchy, church, and aristrocracy — it hoped to remove all the obstacles to a people's government based on the general will. The result was democratic dictatorship. The Russian revolution made the same attempt with even more disastrous results. European experience suggests, therefore, that the

make

more strenuously countries seek

to revo-

democratic doctrines, the blacker are the prospects for freedom. Only in those countries, like Britain, where circumstances encouraged a gradual compromise between democratic ideals and undemocratic reality, where, in other words, it has been unnecessary to carry democracy to its logical conclusion, has freedom tended to grow. What fostered freedom in Britain was that the antidemocratic forces — monarchy, aristocracy, and church — were suffilutionize society to

ciently strong

and

it fit

sufficiently ffexible to

be able

at

once to

satisfy the

democratic urge without abdicating to it unconditionally. The ancient feudal institutions of monarchy, aristocracy, and church still continue to play important parts in British government, without in any way having to justify their role on democratic grounds. In other words, the democratic doctrine has never gained undisputed sway over the British body politic. There are still tests for governmental legitimacy other than the claim to represent the general will, as the con-

House

tinued existence of the result, of course,

ment. Minority views, even jority support, is

of Lords and the

has been to dilute the

can

still

if

full

Monarchy

suggest.

they are clearly unable to

command ma-

find protection, since the will of the majority

not the only force built into the public structure of the state.

same

The

force of democratic govern-

The

been brought about in the United States, where a whole battery of institutional checks on the general will, headed by the Supreme Court, exist to protect the individual citizen from the tyranny result has

of the majority.

There can be

little

doubt that these safeguards against unqualified

majority rule have brought about a revolutionary change in the theory

understood in the Anglo-Saxon world. The demobeen revolutionized to fit reality. No longer seriously be argued that power to decide political issues is act-

of democracy as

it is

cratic theory, in short, has

can

it

ually invested in 1

3

some

abstraction called "the people," since

Rousseau describes the state of nature inhabited by "noble savages" gin of Inequality, Vol. 38, esp. pp. 362a-366d.

in the

it is

rec-

Discourse on the Ori-

73

THE GREAT DEBATE ognized that trying to do so leads either to chaos or tyranny. Either the government never acts at all, because it is always searching for a nonexistent "general will," or it acts arbitrarily on behalf of a fictitious general will which, in practice,

is

merely

its

own

will

masquerading as

that of "the people."

Under

the

Anglo-Saxon

tradition of

democracy, therefore,

all

"the

people" do is decide who is to do. the deciding, which simply means that every few years the individual elector can cast a vote in favor of one individual rather than another. Instead of governing themselves, therefore, the people merely choose who should do the governing on their behalf. This

is

certainly a far cry

ment somehow magically is

precisely

its

from Rousseau's

reflecting the general will.

ideal of govern-

But

this,

of course,

virtue. In return for abdicating a fictitious right to self-

government, the people gain a real right of electing those who are to do the governing. The Anglo-Saxon tradition, in short, takes all the divine right nonsense out of democracy. Acts of government cease to be endowed with the magic of the "general will" and become merely executive decisions on which the people can express an opinion every four or five years or so.

underdeveloped countries, however, are such that is the only aspect of democracy that does make any sense at all. Take, for example, that north Kenyan tribe which I described at the outset of this essay. As I sought to show, its chief did in a real sense represent the "general will." Indeed this almost instinctive communion between leader and led was the natural method for reaching any decisions. This tribe, in short, represented precisely the kind of society that the eighteenth-century formulators of the democratic doctrine had in mind as their prototype. Insofar, therefore, as Conditions

in the

the divine right nonsense

the primitive tribes of the underdeveloped countries are concerned,

pure democracy can be taken very

literally indeed. However, whereas "noble savage" level, and therefore ideal material for pure democracy, the rulers are skilled in all the guile and sophisticated techniques of impure democracy, as it has developed to suit the advanced societies of the West. The combination could hardly be more disastrous. Not only do the rulers have all the advantages of primitive democracy, in being able to argue that they represent "the general will," but they also have at their disposal all the techniques of twentieth-century electioneering to prevent any challenge to this claim from ever emerging. The underdeveloped countries, in short, have the worst of both democratic worlds. As in primitive democracy, the masses are accustomed to feel an instinctive solidarity with governmental decisions — a solidarity which the governments are too so-

the ruled are

still

at the

advanced democracy, the governments demagoguery, corruption, and gerrymandering, while the masses have no idea how to make the most of their votes. phisticated to share; and, as in

know how

to exploit

Just imagine that, in the eighteenth century,

74

some absolute monarch

Peregrine Worsthorne in Europe had had the imagination to see how democratic doctrine could be exploited to buttress his throne, and had exploited all the instinctive popular respect and devotion for the crown to win election after election, and to weaken and destroy any middle-class opposition to the royal prerogative. Fortunately for Europe, the monarchies were slow off the mark, and by the time democracy became the accepted

method of government, it had already been established as the even more effective method of limiting government. In Asia and Africa, however, the reverse is true. It is the governments who, while still enjoying the instinctive support of primitive peoples, have embraced democracy from the

start,

while the great majority of those over

whom

they govern are quite ignorant of their democratic rights. Democracy, in short, has begun as a method of government, before establishing it-

method of limiting government. highly doubtful, therefore, whether the Afro-Asian world seems It will be able to look to democracy as the fountainhead of freedom which it has proved in the West. The conditions, as this essay has sought to show, are almost wholly different. I well realize that this is a profoundly pessimistic conclusion. Yet for the West to reach any more optimistic conclusion on the basis of the present evidence would be even more pessimistic, since it would suggest that Africa and Asia were being judged by quite different standards from those by which the West self as a

would judge

its

own

prospects.

West can give to the cause of freedom in the underdeveloped countries is to refuse to debase its own understanding of what freedom means. It has never been part of the Western thesis that freedom can be easily achieved. Its whole history, right up to the present -as Spain and Turkey exist to show -suggests that freedom is, even in advanced countries, as elusive as it is precious. Far better, therefore, that the West should be frankly pessimistic about the prospects of freedom in Africa and Asia than that it should accept double standards, which will confuse its own peoples without helping those in

The

best service the

other lands.

NOTE TO THE READER

T

he reader

who wishes

to resolve the issue

Debate

will

find

it

to

make an

posed

in

effort

the Great

helpful to consult the

Syntopicon and Great Books of the Westem World.

The reader should

first

turn to the intro-

ductory essays to the Syntopicon chapters

on

Democracy and Liberty. These essays many of the problems raised in the

discuss

preceding pages. In addition, useful references to Great Books of the Western World will be found in the Syntopicon under the following topics:

For the

suitability of

nations and

all

democracy

to

all

peoples, see

Democracy Ad.

The

suitability of

democratic con

75

THE GREAT DEBATE stitutions to

all

men under

cir-

all

conditions favorable to democracy; progress toward de-

cumstances:

mocracy

For the dangers inherent

2.

The growth

of political freedom:

the achievement of citizenship

The

derogation of democracy: anarchic tendency of freedom la.

lb.

from subjection

transition

the conditions fitting

Opinion lb.

its merits and danprotections against the false weight of numbers

Majority rule,

gers:

flourish, see

Citizen

Tyranny

Education for citizenship

The

corruption of democracy: the tyranny of the masses or of the

2c.

Democracy The educational

For the

majority; the rise of the

task of democracy: the

training of all citizens

ment, see

Democracy 4.

Constitution lb. The safeguards of

The

praise

constitutional

ideal

Liberty and equality for all under law (1) Universal suffrage: the abolition of privileged classes

of democracy in practice and the reforms or remedies for these defects

The

the

Aa.

Democracy

5c.

of democracy:

state

government: bills of rights; separation of powers; impeachment

The

demagogue

For the benefits of democratic govern-

safeguards which democracy

needs, see

4c.

of the people

tocracy

for self-government

For the need to have an educated citizendemocracy can be expected to

6.

The incompetence

and the need for leadership: the superiority of monarchy and aris-

to

ry before

6.

Lawless mob-rule: the tyranny of the majority

citizenship:

men

the

and

equality

and

civil rights

Slavery 6c. The

democracy,

Democracy

Progress 4c.

in

see

infirmities

distribution of functions

powers:

representative

76

and

checks and balances

democracy

in

(2)

The problem

of economic justice: choice between capitalism and socialism the

Ab.

The democratic

realization of pop-

ular sovereignty: the safeguarding

of natural rights

I

PART

II

THE EDITORS REVIEW THE YEAR

An

analysis

of three developments in

world

affairs

Seventeen new nations — colonialism comes to an end

The

great

game — America

elects a president

Youth — the young go "boom"

We

an eventful period of history — to put it very mildly. The crises all over the world, in Laos and the in Korea, Turkey, and Japan. These criCongo, in ses in far (and far-flung) places have had immediate impact and profound effect on the English-speaking world; proof, if any were needed, that we already live in "one world," whether or not we are ready to. It has been said of our time that we are producing more history than we can consume. The ideas involved may not be too much for us; the ideas themselves are all old, and they have all been argued for centuries by the authors of Great Books of the Western World. What staggers us is the sudden nearness, multiplicity, and complexity of events. Most of the headline developments of recent months (and, indeed, years) have had to do with the Cold War — the struggle for the world between the two great alliances of East and West. Every political, economic, or simply military upheaval is seen in these terms. The tumultuous General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, attended by the heads of most of the great (and many of the lesser) member states; the mutiny on the Portuguese luxury liner "Santa Maria" by a cabal of conspirators against the Portuguese dictatorship; the trial of the U-2 pilot brought down by the Russians — all were in one way or another manifestations of the one great world convulsion. The American business recession (and gold outflow), the crop failure (and famine) in Communist China, the kidnapping and trial of Adolf live in

months have seen Algeria and Cuba,

past

Eichmann in Israel, the nonviolent "sit-ins" in the American South, even the conviction of the leading American electrical equipment manufacturing corporations and the imprisonment of some of their top executives — whatever happened of a momentous character seemed to have Cold War implications. What about ^ood news? Certainly man's first space flights were historic landmarks of a happy character, though they, too, reflected the not-too-peaceful coexistence of the United States and the Soviet Union. Perhaps the best news of all — "in the long view of history," as the Friends Committee on National Legislation put it — was the littleheralded Antarctica Treaty, in which the United States, the Soviet Union, and ten other nations agreed that "Antarctica shall be used for 78

Review of the Year

The

peaceful uses only."

treaty "freezes" territorial claims

on the

world and provides for unrestricted inspection of the facilities and installations of all nations in an area larger than the United States and Europe combined. sixth continent of the

Even

this positive

achievement had a Cold

War

ring about

it.

Was

there anything that did not? There were three great church "mergers,"

which observers took as indications of a general movement toward ecumenism or church unity in the Protestant World. The Unitarians and Universalists in May, 1961, formed a united denomination with 175,000 members; three independent Lutheran bodies combined to form the American Lutheran Church with 2,200,000 members. And the United Church of Christ — the former Congregational and Evangelical and Reformed Churches — adopted its constitution at its 1960 general synod.

— and others the reader may think of— The Great Ideas Today have chosen for discussion in the 1961 edition the emergence of the new nations of Africa— a world political and cultural phenomenon; the American Presidential Election of 1960 — a great national event with world consequences; and the "revolt" of youth — a perennial problem of all mankind. In the analysis From

all

these developments

the editors of

of these three headline issues of the past year, the reader

is

invited to

share the thinking of the authors of Great Books of the Western World. In subsequent editions of The Great Ideas Today, other great issues of our time will be similarly treated.

Seventeen

new

comes

nations to

— colonialism

an end

fewer Americans — can name or even Europeans — and Few number those nations of the earth which have come into existence still

The Congo — yes. But which Congo, the Republic Congo Republic? Nigeria- now there's a new nation.

during the past year.

of

Congo or

the

But so is the Niger Republic. And then there's Sudan. There also used to be Soudan, only now it's Mali. And then there are Chad, and Gabon, New nations and the Dahomey, Malagasy, and Voltaic Republics all (and some more besides; seventeen within a period of six months); all of them just as much sovereign states as any other in the world, .

.

.

each of them with the same voting power in the councils of nations as England, or France, or Germany, or the United States, or the Soviet Union. Even the average European, whose own country may have had political ties with one or more of them, exhausts his knowledge of them in three words — "Africa," "colony," and "black." 79

COLONIALISM The past year has seen something unprecedented in human history. The "dark continent" has burst into the bUnding Hght of world power, and into fragments most of whose boundaries were fixed less than a century ago by men who drew careless lines on casual maps. And of these men and their fellow-Europeans, the average African until very recently knew only three words — "Europe," "master," and "white." Three years ago nearly all of Africa's 230,000,000 people were subwhose very names most of them did not know; today the overwhelming majority of those 230,000,000 are citizens (however

jects of rulers

SP.

A Nigerian youth costume to celebrate country's independence in

his

SP.

SAHARA]

AFRICA

MOROCCO-^ FR. MOROCCO

An 1 885

cartoon competition

illustrates the

among

the

European powers

for African territory

word must be used in most cases) of independent nations names (un-European names like Nkrumah) are as fathem as their own are unfamiliar to the European and Amer-

loosely the

whose

rulers'

miliar to

ican worlds.

The impact of this phenomenon is only beginning to be felt in those worlds, largely through the deliberations of the United Nations and the struggle of the Cold War which, to nearly all these Africans, is a European and not an African concern at

all.

But the "Asian-African

bloc," allied with neither East nor West, can already,

if it

acts as a

East or West from controlling the destinies of the United Nations; and in alliance with either can dominate that solid bloc, prevent either

organization absolutely.

What

is left

of colonial Africa

by a very small minority of

—

its

—

of the white man's Africa governed

inhabitants, a minority as small as

1

%

a scattering of enclaves which no one supposes will be either colonial or "white" much longer. All the rest of the continent consists is

of free states characterized by the

them

New

York Times as "most of

socialist in orientation, neutralist in sentiment, hopeful of staying

away from

war as it is possible to do so in this nuclear age, and intent on just two things: establishment of their own political viability as independent entities, and development of their own undernourished economies in order to raise an incredibly low individual as far

standard of

the cold

life."^

vast land mass — three times the size of the United States — under the domination of imperial Europe is an old story. But not so old, chronologically, at that; except for the anciently conquered (and reconquered) northern littoral, the subjugation of Africa was begun and completed almost entirely in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. When the great scramble for territory ended, only half a million of Africa's eleven and a half million square miles were independent: Abyssinia, Morocco, and Liberia. By the time World War II began, only tiny Liberia (40,000 square miles) was independent even in name.

How this

fell

1

July 5, 1960,

p.

30

81

-

COLONIALISM Without any regard

without any coneconomic rights of either peoples or persons, all Africa was partitioned by the rival powers of Europe. Remote America was uninvolved and unconcerned. But in the words of Scripture, the wind had been sown. The man was rare who prophesied that the whirlwind would be reaped in half a century, and the most famous to tribal entities or affinities,

sideration of the political or

of the prophets of the future was a ture. It

was Karl Marx.

man who

did not believe in Scrip-

made "a warren for by what he called "the Chris-

Africa, he said, had been

the commercial hunting of negroes" tian colonial system. "^

In the history of ideas, the justification of colonialism has been based on four arguments. The first is the Scriptural injunction to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole earth. This is, of course, the basis of the missionary movement which often accompanied the imperialism of the Christian era and was sometimes offered as its motivation; a motivation cynically treated by Rabelais, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Swift. In spite of the magnificent achievements of the missionaries, the satire of the great writers

is

commonly

reflected in the popular African

byword, "When the white man came, he had the Bible and we had the land. Now he has the land and we have the Bible." The second justification of colonialism is, like the first, outside the realm of reason.

It is

not religious, but emotional.

pride — or patriotism — gratified by empire.

loved Athens so

Duke

much

of Lancaster

in

From

Its

name

is

national

Plato's Socrates,

who

would never go outside the city, to the King Richard II, in whose mouth Shakespeare that he

put the famous words, .

.

.

this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, ^ this England .

.

.

.

.

.

the poetry, history, and biography of the great books portray the senti-

ment which inspires men not only to defend their own nation, but to assume as a national mission the task of subduing others.

also

While religious evangelism and imperial pride have both been factors conquest, two other motivations have been more generally

in colonial

urged, neither of them unrelated to the military or commercial.

The other

is

first

the

two.

One

is

"necessity"

"good" of the conquered peo-

ple. Cyprus, lying athwart the great Mediterranean trade route, has been a cruel victim of commercial "necessity." She emerged as an independent nation last year after two thousand years of servitude to Egyptians, Medes, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Turks, and Britons: a servitude interrupted by one year of freedom between its revolt against the Medes and its conquest by the

Persians.

Down

through the ages, military superiority has pleaded an

2 Capital, Vol. 50, p. 372c-d: see also pp. 379 3

The Tragedy of King Richard

82

II,

Vol. 26,

p.

flF.

328a-b

i

Africa — land of contrast

'1

I

facing

Ruins on the Mediterranean shore near Tripoli are evidence that Africa

of the

was once an important

Roman

part

Empire.

following In the

Congo River rapids above

Stanleyville,

Wagenia tribesmen use primitive fishing techniques. Victoria Falls seen

from the Southern Rhodesian

side.

A view of modern office buildings in Johannesburg, with refuse heaps of the Transvaal gold mines in the

background.

i

f

"i'fr-^:

J I

Wf6SfJ[ll^0tL

mmM '-^^

^^

i

-^-^

U}iiiU|LUf%.

w:.^

SB!

^ 1 I

1

It

M^l

i

im

^bI

m

'

1

n^^^^HH^^H

J|g|||^^|

I

^^^^^^^^^H

^j^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HV^^^^^HI^H

!

r !

Review of the Year

even more forthright necessity than commercial advantage, but seldom as clearly as in the case of the Athenian determination to overrun the

Spartan colony of Melos:

We

shall not trouble you [the Athenians tell the Melians] with specious pretences — either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us — and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in re-

we hope we do

aim at what is feasible since you know as world goes, is only in question between equals power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they

turn

well as in

you

that

.

.

.

will

.

.

.

that right, as the

must.^

The

idea that colonialism and slavery are for the good of the con-

quered people can be traced

at least as far

back as Aristotle. Though men as are born incapa-

Aristotle accepts as natural the slavery of such ble of self-government, he also notes that

superior in

many

writers "detest the

man

has the power of doing violence and is brute strength, another shall be his slave and subject."

notion that, because one

But (he goes on) even philosophers disagree on this point, for "power seems to imply virtue [and] virtue ought to rule, or be master."^ Thus at the beginning of Western thought, the stage was set for the most palatable of all arguments for colonization — the inability of some men to govern themselves. Whether or not that inability is temporary or permanent — in a word, whether or not such men are simply undeveloped or by nature undevelopable — is the heart of the question. Aristotle, dealing abstractly, decided that it was permanent. But even he did not think that permanent incapacity for self-government was to be found in one society or people and not in another. "It must be .

.

.

admitted," says Aristotle of the "natural slave," "that some are slaves everywhere, others nowhere."^ Similarly, Plato's three kinds of men, "gold," "silver," and "brass," are eties;

and what

more, the

is

men

all

of them to be found

of "brass and iron"

in all soci-

may have

"gold"

and "silver" offspring (and vice versa) J Modern philosophy likewise does not consider inability or inferiority to be the permanent handicap of a whole people. John Stuart Mill finds that there are "backward states of society in which the [human] race itself may be considered as in its nonage." In dealing with such barbarians (as Mill, too, calls them), "Despotism is a legitimate mode of government provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end. Liberty, as a principle, has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion. Until then, there is nothing for them but implicit obedience to an Akbar or a Charlemagne, if they are so fortunate as to find one."^ .

.

.

4 History of the Peloponnesian War, Vol. 5

Politics, Vol. 9, p.

6 Ibid.,

p.

6, p.

505b

448c-d

449a

7

See The Republic, Vol.

8

On

Liberty, Vol. 43,

p.

7, pp.

340d, 341a.

272a

85

COLONIALISM "But," he adds, "as soon as mankind have attained the capacity of own improvement by conviction or persuasion (a period long since reached in all nations with whom we need here concern ourselves), compulsion, either in the direct form or in that of pains and penalties for non-compliance, is no longer admissible as a means to their own good, and justifiable only for the security of othbeing guided to their

ers."^

On

Mill's principle, colonization

would seem

to

be justified by

a temporary condition — and then only for the purpose of alleviating

which the colonists are fit for liberty. upon their liberty is indefensible; and at precisely that point a colony must be liberated. But where is that point, and who is to judge (and by what standards) that it has or hasn't been reached'^ Borrowing the profession, if not the practice, of the missionary movement, the colonial powers of the present time have generally that condition to the point at

Beyond

that point,

any

restraint

maintained that the reason for keeping their colonies (whatever reasons their ancestors

may have had for acquiring them) was

that respon-

dark-skinned peoples was "the white man's burden." Their interest, humanitarian and even Christian, was to civilize their sibility for the

backward brethren and prepare them for self-government. As soon as the colonies were ready for liberty, they should have it. Their masters were Mill's improvers. In part this was an ancient idea; the Roman Empire described by Tacitus, Plutarch, and Gibbon considered itself the bearer of civilization, and in periods of the pax colonia devoted considerable energy to bringing the advantages of its culture to the conquered, even to the point of granting the greatest of

all its

prizes,

Roman

citizenship, with

most of its privileges, to those barbarians whom it deemed ready for it. But the Romans, whatever their purpose, never pretended to prepare their colonies for independence but rather to bind them closer to the Empire and strengthen it through their improvement. That the Roman method was not permanently successful we know from ancient history and modern, from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and from the Declaration of Independence, in which the Englishmen of the American colonies rejected something

The success of the modern method — asserted as the preparation of colonial peoples for independence—is still in question. With a few notable exceptions, such as the grant of independence to the Philippines by the United States in 1946, mother countries seem unwilling to acknowledge that a peaceful and profitable colony has reached readiness for freedom and therefore less than all the privileges of citizenship.

should have

it.

In Africa, Portugal and Spain have not even claimed to devote themselves to the preparation of their subject peoples for nationhood.

They

p. 272a-b. Mill also discusses the same problem in Representative Government. See Vol. 43, pp. 339a-341d, 343a-344d, and the entire last chapter, "Of the Government of Dependencies by a Free State," pp. 433b-442d.

9 Ibid.,

86

Review of the Year maintain that their African possessions — some 11,000,000 people in Portugal's case and some 150,000 in Spain's — are not colonies at all but "overseas provinces," integral parts of the nation. They have even refused to submit information on them to the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations, nor do they pretend that the benefits of their civilization

have been extended

to the

non-Europeans who comprise

nearly the whole population of these "provinces."

Colonial government is

is

by

definition dictatorship,

and

preparation for anything but continued colonialism,

preparation for the one-party state which the

new

nations of Africa.

Even

is

if

colonialism

it is

necessarily

developing

the intention

— if there

in nearly all is

of

one — to pre-

pare backward peoples for genuine self-government comes into

in-

view of Mill (a view supported by other great historians) that despotism is the only effective means of governing such peoples; and the bill of particulars against George III in the Declaration of Independence supports the charge of despotism in the government of colonies which were by no means backward. (We may marvel, in the light of tyranny both ancient and modern, at the mildness of the offenses charged by the Americans against the British Crown.) Education and participation in government may be taken as the two stant collision with the

quintessential devices for preparing a colonial people for independ-

ence. But

when Belgium

freed the

Congo

in 1960, barely half the

Con-

golese could read or write; only sixteen (in a population of 13,500,000) were college graduates; there were no Congolese doctors, lawyers, or engineers; no African officers in the 25,000-man Congolese army; and

only three Africans had been admitted to any of the top grades of the British and French administration, the New York cannot be said that they deliberately trained an extensive crop of Africans competent to run with the ball of independence."^® And when Guinea voted to be independent of the new French "commonwealth of nations," France immediately withdrew all its experts, its projects, and its funds from the country. service.

civil

Times says,

Of

"It

We

have already seen that the Greek philosophers did not believe any whole people was ever ready for self-government or that any other whole people was unready. Aristotle and Plato could scarcely be called modern democrats, any more than could Thomas Hobbes in his seventeenth-century Leviathan; or the Founding Fathers of the United States, who excluded slaves, Indians, women, and the propertyless from the franchise, //there is such a thing as "backwardness," even temporary, in a whole people, or in a class, a race, or a sex (women, except in a very few states, were not enfranchised in the United States until 1920), what constitutes it, and who is to decide who is backward and why? In the tradition of the Great Books, the question originates in the Biblical injunction against men's judging one another, in the figure of that

10 John B. Oakes, "Africa's 'Ordeal of Independence'," p.

New

York Times Magazine, Suly 31, 1960,

7

87

COLONIALISM the

mote and the beam, and

in

the stricture on the Pharisee

who thanks

That men and nations generally God regard their own laws and customs as civilized and those of others as uncivilized is a commonplace historically illustrated by Herodotus in that he

is

not as other

men

are.^^

the following anecdote: Darius, after he had got the kingdom, called into his presence certain Greeks at hand, and asked — 'What he should pay them to eat the bodies of their fathers when they died?' To which they answered, that there was no sum that would tempt them to do such a thing. He then sent for certain Indians, of the race called Callatians, men who eat their fathers, and asked them, while the Greeks stood by, and knew by the help of an interpreter all that was said — 'What he should give them to burn the bodies of their fathers at their decease?' The Indians exclaimed aloud, and bade him forbear such

who were

language. 12

The process

of colonization involved so

little

interest in the coloni-

whether they were "backward" or "forward," that the English journal, New Statesman, was able to say recently that zees,

A

in

much of African history is still obscure. As new studies are made, the old theory that African society was always primitive and barbarous until the coming of the Europeans is being exploded. What is certainly known is that traditional African politics have their own content of democratic spirit. Most tribalisms, for instance, though bowing to the superior wisdom of the elders and sometimes heavily depending on the leadership of a chief, are nevertheless based on the will of the people. This is not normally expressed in a party system. It comes nearer to the Quaker's view of "the sense of the

representative to the national

assembly of the

Congo

and

Republic-

appears at

meeting."

a public ceremony in a mixture

Socially, too, the tribe has a highly developed sense of community in which each member plays an essential part and the good of the whole tribe is always greater than that of an individual. It may be, then, that this community-sense can be linked to other democratic ideas taken from other countries. The central question is whether Africa can preserve its cohesion as a community and, at the same time, combine with it that sense of the importance of the individual personality which is the most vital product of West-

of tribal and Western dress

em Europe. 1^ Book

II

of Herodotus

is

the oldest reliable account

we have

of Af-

rican civilization, dealing with those limited areas of the continent

known to the ancients and with Egypt in particular. From him we learn how much the vaunted Greek culture borrowed from the dark-skinned Egyptians: of the Egyptian genius in medicine, history, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, and architecture: of their practice of monogamy, their rejection of human sacrifice, and their refusal of divinity to heroes. But like the ancient chroniclers and political philosophers generally, the first historians show no preoccupation at all with the concept of the backwardness of one society compared with another. See Matt. 7:1-4; Luke 18:11. The History, Vol. 6, pp. 97d-98a 13 July 16, 1960 11

12

88

i

Review of the Year

The barbarian of Greek and Roman times was simply the foreigner. And the slave taken in war was not assumed to be less intelligent than his captor and was commonly used as the teacher of his master's children.

True, the climate of most of Africa

is

enervating, and Montesquieu

presents a body of evidence to support his assertion that "the

ef-

feminacy of the people in hot climates has almost always rendered them slaves; and that the bravery of those in cold climates has enabled them to maintain their liberties. "^^ This idea goes back at least twentyfive centuries to the observation of Cyrus (reported by Herodotus at the end of his History) that "soft countries gave birth to soft men ."^^ Whether this generalization can be supported to the hilt may be questioned in the light of the histories (present, no less than past) of such countries as China and India, or of Russia, Germany, or Italy. What may not be questioned is the critical relationship of race — /.^., skin color — to the modern colonization of both Africa and Asia and to the whole concept of "backwardness." The claim of racial superiority is not peculiarly the invention of the modern white man, but it is .

.

.

deeply and definitely engraved upon modern history. The tradition of the great historians and philosophers — and of the scientists like Darwin and Freud — ignores or denies a relationship between "race" and inherent {i.e., permanent) superiority or capacity or incapacity for selfgovernment. But the fact is that no significant white colony has existed in recent times. To understand modern colonialism and especially the idea of backwardness, temporary or permanent,

is

impossible outside

the context of race and racism.

"There can be little doubt," says Alan Paton, the leading commenon Africa today, "that white supremacy has reached or is nearing its end in all countries north of the Zambezi [River: the northern nine-tenths of the continent]. This said, it is appropriate to pay tribtator

ute to the benefits that white rule has brought to those countries, the training (in

some of them) of Africans

in

administration and the

professions, the exploitation and conservation of resources, the es-

tablishment of industries relieving the impoverishing pressure on the

work of missionaries, the promotion of literacy,

land, the

the comforts

of medicine, the reign of law (often sadly vitiated by irregularities), the improvement of communications. Against all these benefits must be set the humiliations and injustices of the color bar, and it is from these that springs the resentment that is so powerful a motive of African nationalism."^^ There is general optimism that the British will be able to bring about a peaceful solution in their remaining colonies south of the Zambezi, but pessimism has deepened during the past year 14 15

The

Spirit

Vol.

6, p.

of Laws, Vol. 38, p. 122b 314c. Hippocrates similarly anticipates Montesquieu when he notes that "the principal reason the Asiatics are more unwarlike and of gentler disposition than the Europeans is, the nature of the seasons, which do not undergo any great changes either to heat or cold, or the like"

(On

Airs, Waters,

16 "White

Dilemma

and Places, Vol. in

10, p. 15d).

Black Africa,"

New

York Times Magazine, September

89

4,

1960,

p.

30

COLONIALISM Union of South Africa. Formerly a member state of the Commonwealth, the Union is ruled by 2,000,000 Afrikaners

as regards the British

(Dutch-descended whites) in a country of 15,000,000 people. (There are 1,500,000 ''mixed bloods" and 500,000 Indians, in addition to ,000,000 English whose attitudes run all the way from extreme big1

otry to extreme liberalism.) aration)

is

The Afrikaner doctrine of apartheid

(sep-

absolute, the repression of "coloureds" and their economic

slavery undisguised. In March, 1961, the Union of South Africa decided to withdraw from the British Commonwealth rather than acknowledge that other member nations even had the right to criticize

apartheid.

The knows

test

by which

all

Africans — and the lightest-skinned Egyptian

considered "colored" by the European-American world — determine friendship or enmity outside of their continent is

A

that he

is

painting

depicting the landmii of a party

of Dutch colonists in South Africa in 1 652

the view outsiders take of South Africa. Aristotle had defined the

"natural slave" as "he who participates in rational principle enough to "^"^ apprehend, but not to have, such a principle. In South Africa is the apotheosis of the doctrine (unknown to the ancients) that the skin color of any dark-skinned man is itself proof that he is a natural slave, incapable by nature of being prepared for the responsibilities of .

.

.

self-government.

South Africa, too, is the model of the commercial exploitation which, along with military necessity and imperial pride, has provided the prime impulse to colonize since the beginning of history. In South Af-

own about 80% of the land. The tribal of the land, maintained by law as community-

rica 1,000,000 white farmers

areas comprise

owned ghettos in compounds

12%

and the rest of the natives live mines (without their families) or in shanty "locations" outside the cities. They cannot go anywhere without a police pass. Their wages range down to one-tenth of those of white workers. 17 Politics, Vol. 9,

90

p.

for 3,000,000 Africans; at the

448b

-

South African police disperse

crowd of Negroes gathered to protest

I

government racial policies

The wealth of the former tirely in the

Belgians

still

Belgian Congo is concentrated almost enembattled province of Katanga, where a few thousand control just about everything.

European-American combine with

The Union Miniere,

a

sales of

$200,000,000 a year, supplies nearly 10% of the world's copper, about 60% of its strategic cobalt, most of its radium, and important quantities of industrial diamonds, zinc, and other metals. (The uranium of the first atomic bomb came from Katanga.) "The whole Katanga," said the New York Herald Tribune several years ago, "is a company town."^^ Within less than six months after its grant of independence to the Congo, the Belgian Government had to adopt an austerity program at home in order to make up for the loss of revenue resulting from the Congo's independence.

The great historians tell us repeatedly of the levies — materials, men, and money — exacted from conquered colonies; in return the conquerors were supposed to protect the colonies against their own or their conquerors'

enemies.

The

restriction of colonial trade to the

mother country is as old as empires. This is the uniform story of colonialism, and the colonies have always objected to it, just as the authors of the American Declaration of Independence did. The Communist view, which we find in Marx's account of the "... rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production," is that economic exploitation is the sole purpose of "capitalist" colonization (and liberation the sole purpose of "socialist" colonization).^^ The right to exploit the resources of new lands has never been questioned. It has always been thought to inhere in the right of disco very at least until the past year when discussion began of the internationalization of the moon. However, except at the climatic extremities of the earth, the "new" lands have always turned out to be old ones, popu18 February 15, 1953 19 See Capital, Vol. 50,

p.

372c.

91

COLONIALISM by either settled or nomadic inhabitants who claimed them as own. Their resistance to the discoverers — or invaders — meant war. The forfeit, in whole or in part, of their public and private property as well as of their liberty has long been held to inhere in the principle that whoever has the power over another man's life has the power over his lesser valuables, namely, his liberty and his property. But lated

their

Locke (whose defense of constitutional liberty is the direct antecedent of the Declaration of Independence) declared that no man has the right to take his own life or, consequently, to put it at the disposal of another. 20

As long as chattel slavery was practiced in America to the great profof both the American buyers and the Europeans "traders," African imperialism did not have to depend entirely upon the exploitation of

it

new

resources, the use of cheap labor in colonial agriculture and in-

monopoly of colonial trade. (Slavery was practiced in European countries which forbade it at home.) But the substitution of wage for chattel slavery was a blow to colonial profit, and persistent and always more widely spread rebellion increased expense. As the profit of empire declined, the will to hold on to it (except

dustry, and the the colonies of

for military purposes or imperial pride) also declined. India, for

example — are said eventually

Some colonies —

have shown an actual

to

fiscal

operating loss to the mother country under these circumstances,

al-

though their exploitation may have continued to be profitable to private persons and companies. The actual collapse of colonialism in Asia as well as in Africa appears to have had a variety of accumulating and accelerating causes, culminating in the irresistible demand for independence. However harsh or mild the subjection which the dark-skinned peoples suff"ered in the past, it was always evident to the most backward of them that their white-skinned rulers were foreign invaders. The African may never have known individual political liberty in our sense — few men ever have — but he knew that he once was free of the foreigner, and in this sense of freedom Machiavelli says that "he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. "^i So, as Herodotus tells us, the ancient Medes successfully aroused Upper Asia to take arms "for the recovery of their freedom" after 520 years of Assyrian domination;^^ ^o, as Gibbon says, "the invincible genius of liberty prevailed over the two Frederics, the greatest princes of the middle age ..." when the Lombards of the twelfth century regained their independence ;23 so, in the twentieth century, the 20 See Concerninf^ Civil Government, Vol. 35, p. 30a. 21 The Prince, Wo\. 23, p. Sh 22 See The History, Vol. 6, p. 23a-b. 23 See The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 4

92

1 ,

p. 2

1

7b.

Review of the Year first President of the former French colony of Guinea says, "We would rather be poor in freedom than rich in slavery," and the first President of Ghana says, "We prefer self government with danger to servitude

in tranquillity."

And

if

this is the

the sense of individual liberty,

case without reference to freedom

we can understand

in

Machiavelli's ob-

An 1830 cartoon portray s American slave masters with captive Negroes. In the

background can be seen

the U.S. Capitol

I

\

The words of Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana, are inscribed on the base of his statue in Accra, the nation's capital

^O

COLONIALISM servation that in enslaved republics "there

more

hatred, and

desire for vengeance,

is

which

more

will

vitality, greater

never permit them

to allow the memory of their former liberty to rest; so that the safest way is to destroy them or to reside there. "^"^ The same pride which drives nations to imperialism drives them to

independence, and history conspires with philosophy to suggest that is one which has always failed all empires. Should a people under domestic or foreign oppression — it matters not which — be treated hard or lightly? the art of colonial statesmanship

Locke favors leniency,

for

"when

the people are

made

miserable,

and find themselves exposed to the ill usage of arbitrary power, cry up their governors as much as you will for sons of Jupiter, let them be sacred and divine, descended or authorised from Heaven; give them out for whom or what you please, the same will happen" — rebellion.^s To Machiavelli the issue is an easy one; both moderate liberty and moderate oppression of a colony are fatal: "men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear

of revenge, "^e

The

further dictum of Machiavelli

is

that the ruler ought either to

reside in the conquered colony himself or send settlements of his loyal citizens there to hold erratically

in

would seem

it

for him.^"^ This latter course

own

was followed

the colonization of Africa, and Machiavelli' s advice

to be of dubious merit in the light of twentieth-century ex-

perience. Outside of the seething tyranny of South Africa (where the

Europeans are 20% of the population), the only African country where Europeans are more than 3% of the inhabitants is Algeria (10%), whose six-year struggle for independence has cost France $5,500,000 a day (not to speak of the 20,000 French and 500,000 Algerian lives already

The

lost).

breakdown of colonial imperialism—beginning with Indian independence at the end of World War II — are often embraced in the phrase "the revolution of rising expectaforces that led to the general

tions." Whence these expectations? The rapid spread of modern technology certainly contributed much to them; wholly illiterate peoples have learned of both economic and political opportunity through photography (especially the motion picture), radio, and the airplane. But without native leadership -an African elite -it is doubtful that all the

other forces of independence together would have availed. And that elite had not only to command domestic leadership; it had also to cope with the subtle and sophisticated imperial statesmanship of Europe.

How does such an elite develop under colonial conditions? 24 25 26 27

94

The Prince, Vol.

23, p. 8c

See Concerning Civil Government, Vol. 35,

The Prince, Vol. See

ibid., p.

4b-d.

23, p.

4d

p.

76d.

Review of the Year

'-i^iSif-

I

Tom Mboya, in the

a major fii>iire

movement

fo r Afric an independence, addresses an election rally in

Nairobi, Kenya.

On Mboya' s shirt is

a portrait

ofJomo Kenyatta, convicted leader of the Man Mau terrorists

Chronologically, the nineteenth-century missionary movement, which often provided schooling, came first in this development. It was followed by the opportunity given, especially by France and England, for a limited

number of natives (African or Asian)

to

come

to the

moth-

er country for higher education, developing lower-grade civil servants

with interpreters) and sub-management personnel for economic enterprises. The European-educated Asian or African learned (among other things) that the inflexible doctrine of white supremacy in the colony was much less rigorously maintained, if at all, by the ruling "race" in its own country, the instant result of which realization was the colonial's conviction that racism was primarily an economic and political instrument and not an article of the white man's faith. One of Machiavelli's rules for the governance of a conquered people was to establish among its own citizens "an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you. Because such a government, being created by (beginning colonial

that it cannot stand without his friendship and inter"^^ The Machiavellian utmost to support him. technique appears to have boomeranged in Africa: "The mistake which many white settlers and colonial administrators have made is to believe it possible to select a small African middle class, give them education and some property and then hope to draw them into the defense of aristocratic privilege and use them as 'partners' to mislead the world

the prince, est,

28

knows

and does

Ibid., p.

its

.

.

.

8b

95

COLONIALISM into believing that 'civilized' Africans are granted equality.

The

Bel-

gians and the Portuguese have tried this with their evolues and assimilados.

It

has failed, and

its

failure

is

destroying

many

intelligent Afri-

regarded as stooges. "^^ first leader to achieve the liberation of a dark-skinned colony from a white empire, had the advantages of European experience, as did Mr. Nehru, the present Indian Prime Minis-

who are now simply Mohandas Gandhi, the

cans,

ter

and the most eminent

figure in the Asian-African "bloc."

But many

of the ruling personages of the new nations had no such experience or schooling. A. M. Rosenthal, the New York Times' Africa correspondent, describes

capital of the

some of them he encountered

new

in

unheard-of Bamako, the

state of Mali:

hill is one of Mali's most important resources — strong, able men. them are leftist, some seem to be African Marxists, perhaps Sovietstyle Communists. They are the most impressive group of leaders this reporter met in Africa — confident, austere in personal honesty, willing to talk

On

the

All of

and willing to

But

all

listen,

and determined

to act.^^

history indicates that even with brilliant leadership, and es-

view of modern weaponry, no colony can hope to achieve independence from a great nation at the peak of its power. The revolt of the slaves under Spartacus was staged when Rome was "stag"^^ gering under the tremendous wars of Sertorius and Mithridates A short time earlier revolution had broken out among the Gauls, whose leaders aroused their people by pointing to "the grand opportunity for the recovery of freedom, if only they would contrast their ."^^ The victors of World own vigour with the exhaustion of Italy War I seized the African colonies of Germany and Italy, but after World War II, the victors themselves were hopelessly exhausted, and the colonial peoples took advantage of this fact. The use of outright war to retain its Algerian colony has drained the resources of pecially in its

.

.

.

France, just as the expenditures to hold Gaul drained the resources

Roman Republic. Writing of the "decomposition of the French Empire," the historian Raymond Aron asks, "Will France gracefully give up the kind of grandeur that is now slipping away and content itself with that which is within its grasp? The same question may be asked concerning all the former great powers of Europe. "^^ Much in the manner of Machiavelli, Edward Gibbon, reviewing the "decomposition" of ancient Rome, wrote: "an extensive empire must be supported by a refined system of policy and oppression: in the center an absolute power, prompt in action and rich in resources: a swift and easy communication with the extreme parts: fortifications to check the first effort of rebellion: a regular administration to protect of the

29 New Statesman, July 9, 1960 30 A. M. Rosenthal, "Africa Shouts to America: 'Choose!'" 31

20, 1960, p. 138 Tacitus, The Annals, Vol. 15,

p.

York Times Magazine, November

62d

32 Ibid., p. 55a 33 "France Has a Glorious Future, If-"

96

New

New

York Times Magazine, October

9,

1960,

p.

105

I

Review of the Year

and punish; and a well-disciplined army to inspire fear, without provoking discontent and despair."34 j^f^^^ 1945 ^j^^j.^ ^^^ ^^ colonial power which could meet these requirements, and the material weakness of the once great nations was compounded by two powerful new forces. One was the Communist world revolution with its economic collectivism

new

(nothing

to the tribal tradition of Africa),

anti-colonialism. flected in the

The

UN

The other was

its

anti-racism, and

its

the rising sense of world morality re-

United Nations.

a scheme (much more clearly defined than its foundered predecessor, the League of Nations) for the ultimate association of all sovereign states sitting as equals; and its dream is the practice of a single

is

standard of morality in international as well as domestic affairs. The powers in the Security Council are able to veto action on co-

UN

great

Communist satellite) complaints as interference with the internal affairs of a member state. But once a colony (or, as in the case of Yugoslavia, a Communist satellite) has achieved its independence (or lonial (or

formally broken with the Cominform), the doctrine of non-interference is dead.

With the admission of so many new nations year, the Asian-African bloc has

become

to the

irresistible.

UN

in the past

At

the end of

mustered 45 nations with 45 of the General Assembly's 99

1960,

it

votes.

When

the Soviet

Union

last

year introduced a resolution calling

"complete independence and freedom forthwith" for all colonies and trustee territories, the Asian-African bloc introduced a subfor

stitute resolution declaring "the necessity

of bringing to a speedy

and unconditional end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations." The latter resolution was adopted by an 89-0 vote; the abstaining votes were those of Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Australia, the Dominican Republic — and the United States. Recording the fact that the only Negro member of the U.S. delegation stood and applauded the vote, the New York Times quoted "reliable sources" as saying that the U.S. Government "refused to change the decision to abstain on the colonialism resolution despite the fact that the entire United States delegation — not Mrs. George [the Negro delegate] alone — had been in favor of voting for it."^^ The United States, itself a liberated colony and the greatest noncolonial nation in history, is allied in the Cold War with the historic colonial powers and, as the only rich survivor of World War II among them, it is engaged in fierce competition with the Soviet bloc (including non-Caucasian Communist China) for the friendship of the new nonCaucasian nations. These nations can scarcely survive without the capital investment formerly provided by the mother country for their development, and the two new great power alliances are both bidding ardently for the support of the peoples whose existence they had previously all but ignored. Each alliance driven by the other, they stumble 34 The Decline and Fall of the 35

December

Roman

Empire, Vol. 41,

p.

216c-d

18, 1960, Sec. 4, p. 2

97

COLONIALISM over one another offering recognition, treaties, loans, technical expertise, and economic and military aid to the new nations. But responsible commentators all agree that, if either side is winning, it is the

Communists. "For the Soviet Union," says the

New

York Times' special corre-

spondent, "the future is glistening in Africa. As long as the West retains the image of colonialism in Africa — and Africa is what counts in

Hawaii — it

Africa, not the Philippines or

is

hardly a contest. "^^

The

detested colonial masters were Westerners and the enemies of today are still Westerners. "We in Africa," says a leading Guinean to an American newspaperman, "have had experience of French colonialism, of British colonialism, of Belgian and Portuguese;

Americans are

we know you

with the British and French and Belgians and have never experienced Russian colonialism or seen

allied

Portuguese. We evidence of Russian imperialism.

We can worry about Russia later."^"^ Meanwhile, the Communist governments — China as well as those of Europe — portray themselves as "Africa's most loyal and unselfish ally" (in Premier Khrushchev's words) and emphasize their historic anti-colonialism and anti-racism and their more recent "peaceful coexistence" platform.

A joint communique

issued after the visit of Pres-

Communist Peking proclaims "the present national movement in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as an indispensable part of the safeguarding of world peace." The two ident

Sekou Toure of Guinea .

.

to

.

governments jointly "support without reservation ... all acts of general disarmament and prohibition of nuclear weapons" — at the same time supporting revolution all over the world. ^^ The Western powers reply by citing the Soviets as "the great oppressors of our day." Attacking "the new colonialism," in which the Communist Party of the Soviet Union dominates the supposedly independent governments of the satellite countries of Eastern Europe, the British Minister of State in a

UN

debate observes that delegates of 500,000,000 people granted independence by Britain since 1939 are sitting in the Assembly, while in that same period the whole or part of six independent nations, with a population of 22,000,000, have been forcibly incorporated into the U.S.S.R., and, in addition, "the Soviet

Union exercises economic,

political

and mihtary domination over

mil-

men and women in neighboring countries." But visitors to the new African nations uniformly report an almost total absence of the fear of Communism or of Communist imperialism. "Strange as it may seem to us," says the New York Times' representative, "the Russians come into Africa with what to many Africans — oblions of

livious of like clean

Communist policy and practice throughout the world — looks hands. "^^ The Communist offer to help strengthen the new

36 Rosenthal, op. cit., p. 134 37 Cakes, op. cit., p. 46 38 See National Guardian, November 39 Oakes, loc. cit.

98

7,

1960.

Review of the Year nations against "the

enemy" -white capitaHst exploitation -is someThe Western insistence upon the awful

thing instantly understood. threat of

Communist

able to defend

its

iar policy of the

Communists,

And the West, unrecord, can only point to the unfamilas something even worse, and, like the

incursion has a remote ring.

own familiar

Communists

offer to protect the Africans against the greater evil.

schoolroom Guinea, a teacher from In a

in

the Soviet

Union

instructs

native students in

chemistry

A Chinese Communist exhibit in is

to

Guinea

desiiined

impress Africans

with the efficiency of the

Communist system

99

COLONIALISM Thus

the

Romans

to the rebelHous

Gauls nineteen centuries ago:

Endure the passions and rapacity of your masters, just as you bear barren seasons and excessive rains and other natural evils. There will be vices as long as there are men .... Perhaps, however, you expect a milder rule under Tutor and Classicus, and fancy that armies to repel the Germans and the Britons will be furnished by less tribute than you now pay. Should the Romans be driven out (which God forbid) what can result but wars between all these nations? By the prosperity and order of eight hundred years has this fabric of empire been consolidated, nor can it be overthrown without destroying those who overthrow it. Yours will be the worst peril, for you have gold and wealth, and these are the chief incentives to war. Give therefore your love and respect to the cause of peace, and to that capital in which we, conquerors and conquered, claim an equal right. Let the lessons of fortune in both its forms teach you not to prefer rebellion and ruin to submission and safety. '^^

But the ancient Europeans under servitude responded no more enand promises than do the modern Africans. Gibbon reads the following lesson from Roman history: "There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations in opposition to their inclination and interest."^^ And when neither the crippled might of the Netherlands in Indonesia nor that of France in Indo-China was able to check revolution immediately after World War II, certainly no argument less persuasive than might could hold African nationalism longer thusiastically to threats

in

check.

That the emergence of the dark-skinned nations — all of them so lately colonial subjects of white empires — will effect a radical change in the world cannot be doubted. The year 1960-61 will be a landmark in human history. But, as of now, it would be a reckless prophet who tried to delineate that change. All of the new nations are poor in developed resources, many fabulously rich in undeveloped resources, and an imperialism of the next century may be achieved by capital investment as the imperialism of the last was achieved by the sword. But this "new" imperialism, which the Soviet Union practices in its satellite countries, is not really new; the use of "gunboat diplomacy" to protect the interests of the great nations of Europe and America is another old story.

The future of Africa is completely problematical. Many of the new nations are hopelessly small in extent and population: Israels without a highly advanced people to make the desert bloom. Tendencies

among groups of peared.

A

the new African states to federate have already apnewly "balkanized" continent may have no more chance

of survival without close federation than the authors of The Federalist believed the thirteen American colonies had at the end of the Revolution of 1776; the whole of

The Federalist is an exhaustively argued case against the sovereignty of contiguous "tribes" confronted with 40 The Histories, Vol. 15, p. 290c-d 41 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 41,

100

p.

216c

I

Review of the Year

common age.

dangers and

The common

common

tasks and possessed of a

heritage of Africa

is

common heritits common

considerable, and

outlook clear.

That

common

outlook

is the burning question for white Western civfrom the divisions of the Cold War. The relations between the Caucasian and the non-Caucasian worlds have been fundamentally hostile since the first modern whites appeared in Asia, and a "war of the races" has often been prophesied. In any case, the power, if not the legend, of white supremacy seems doomed. A tiny United Press International dispatch from Christiansted, St. Croix, may be relevant to the future: "Virgin Islanders called today for a larger measure of self-government from the Administration of President-Elect John F. Kennedy. Leaders of the four political parties here agreed the islands should have the right to elect their own Governor."^2 ^ point raised by C. L. Sulzberger in the New York Times whether democracy can recover from past mismay be relevant: ". takes in Black Africa."^^ And an observation by Herodotus at the very beginning of recorded history may be relevant: "For the cities which were formerly great have most of them become insignificant; and such as are at present powerful, were weak in the olden time. I shall therefore discourse equally of both, convinced that human happiness never continues long in one stay."^^

ilization, entirely apart

.

The

great

.

game — America

elects a president

the world the only great nation United States of America Thewhich a fixed term and on a fixed government changes in

is

after

its

date. This singular fact at least in part explains the singular character of the election of an American President. If the election is on November 8, November 9 is not a moment too soon for wide-spread speculation on who will win next time. Electorate and candidates alike begin building up a four-year head of steam, which explodes in the long fren-

zy between the national conventions and the national election. Nor is only a recent phenomenon. As early as 86 John Stuart Mill noted that "the whole intervening time [between elections] is spent in

this

1

what is virtually a canvass."^ There is nothing like an American

Nowhere

else

is

"the great

42 New York Times, Nov. 26, 1960, 43 June 29, 1960, p. 32 44 The History, Vol. 6, p. 2b 1

game p.

Representative Government, Vol. 43,

election

1 ,

anywhere

in the

18

p.

world.

of politics" thought of as a game. In

4 2d 1

101

^

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION older stable societies, like those of England, Switzerland, and Scandinavia, a political campaign is characterized by earnest consideration

of issues. In the unstable societies of continental Europe and elsewhere, national elections are grimly contested by those who, equating virtue with the views of their

In the

new

America,

Only

in

own

party,

push for victory

at all costs.

or underdeveloped societies of the Middle East and Latin

politics often

America can

it

means a be said

violent contest for personal power.

in

any pervasive sense that the people

enjoy an election.

The

fixed term

and date, the homogeneity of principle among a peo-

ple well satisfied with their system, the ebullience of a society

still

growing and moving — all contribute to the electoral spectacle that holds a fascination for the rest of the world, even when the outcome in

no foreseeable way affects the rest of the world. Only in America are millions of dollars worth of placards, pictures, buttons, pins, pennants, paper hats, phonograph records, booklets, brochures, biographies, pledges, promises, platforms, threats, maledictions, libels,

bumper

and billboards swept up into the discard on the same day that millions of dollars in bets are paid off and milHons of Americans shake hands, slap backs, exchange light-hearted congratulations (and equally light-hearted condolences), and "go back to work." On Wednesday

tapes,

Tuesday after the first Monday in November, almost every American has just had a whopping good time. That the election of a mere man to administer the nation's laws should so carry away the American people every four years is all the more remarkable in view of that people's dedication to a government "of laws, not of men." The accession of an emperor could hardly occaafter the first

sion

more general excitement, or take place with more panoply, than American President; and this in a

the election and installation of an

country dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. The powers of the President are clearly specified in the Constitution. Since only one President (Andrew Johnson) has been impeached under the Constitution, and he unsuccessfully, it would appear that the role of the Presidency has not been substantially altered since its establishment. But the appearance, as any well-educated schoolboy knows, is

deceptive.

There have been "strong" and "weak" Presidents,

or,

perhaps more

men who made of the Presidency a strong or a weak office. Sidney Hyman, the historian, distinguishes them not by their attachment to the letter of the Constitution, but by the way they dealt with public opinion. "The 'strong' ones," he writes, "knew how to weave

justly put,

and guide that opinion .... The 'weak' ones, lacking that talent, were limited in their work to what was funneled to them by the men outside the Presidency

who

actually

commanded

public opinion, or at least

2 Aristotle's experience in the fourth century B.C. was evidently similar: "Those who think that all ." {Politics, Vol. 9, virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes p. 512a). .

102

.

Placards, pictures, buttons, and hats are in evidence

pins, pennants,

wherever presidential candidates

appear

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B A fireworks display in

the

^^^^^^^^p..jJjiULl

nation's capital is

a

traditional part

of the presidential inauguration ceremonies

Congressional opinion."^ (The "strong" Presidents, he says, were Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Lincoln, Cleveland, McKinley, Wilson, Truman, and the two Roosevelts; but it will be not-

ed that a majority of these were "crisis Presidents" either in war or peace and were possessed of both normal and emergency authority.) In "a government of laws," the legislative branch rules on behalf of the people; the executive is required, on the whole, only to execute. He has certain minor powers of his own, such as clemency and the recomto Congress, but they do not affect the fundamental function of his office. His function is to do what the people want done, under the Constitution and the laws made by Congress.

mendation of measures

3

The American President (New York: Harper

&

Bros., 1954), p. 66

103

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION President has always had another function — or,

The

if

not a function,

a position in which he willy-nilly functions. As the only officer elected by all the people, he is the only individual who may literally be said to represent them

all.

As

their representative he continually confronts

the central question of popular government: Is he supposed to lead them or follow them? Which do they want him to do? What is their

idea -or "the American idea" -of representation? In the 1960 campaign, Vice-President Nixon took a restrained position

on the issue of leadership, calling for a President "who will temptation to give the appearance of leadership when, actu-

resist the ally, his

speaking out rashly

may

set off a chain of

circumstances that

whole world." The Republican candidate appeared to reflect the attitude of the recent Republican Presidents to the office, opposing the aggressive roles of "New Dealer" Roosevelt and "Fair Dealer" Truman. Senator Kennedy was an emphatic advothe American cate of leadership: "In the decade that lies ahead Presidency will demand more than ringing manifestoes issued from the

would be disastrous

to the

.

rear of the battle.

It will

demand

.

.

that the President place himself in

the very thick of the fight, that he care passionately about the fate of the people he leads, that he be willing to serve ring their

them

at the risk of incur-

momentary displeasure."

Alexander Hamilton, advocate of a "strong" Presidency, in his argufor the adoption of the American Constitution, wrote as follows, with the obvious agreement of the other two writers of The Federalist, James Madison and John Jay:

ment

There are some who would be inclined

to regard the servile pliancy of

its best recommendation. But entertain very crude notions, as well of the purposes for which government was instituted as of the true means by which the public happi-

the Executive to a prevailing current ... as

such

men

ness

may be promoted. The

ate sense of the

they intrust the qualified

republican principle demands that the delibercommunity should govern the conduct of those to whom management of their affairs; but it does not require an un-

complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every tranwhich the people may receive from the arts of men, who

sient impulse

It is a just observation intend the public good. This often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend that they always reason right about the means of promoting it. They know from experience that they sometimes err; and the wonder is that they so seldom err as they do, beset, as they continually are, by the wiles of parasites and sycophants, by the snares of the ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate, by the artifices of men who possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and of those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it. When occasions present themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.

flatter

their prejudices to betray their interests.

that the people

commonly

"*

4 Vol. 43, pp. 214d-215a

104

1

Review of the Year

"To what purpose," Hamilton goes the judiciary from the legislative,

if

on, "separate the executive or both the executive and the judi-

ciary are so constituted as to be at the absolute devotion of the legisHe asserts that "the Executive should be in a situation to

lative?"^

dare to act his

own

opinion with vigour and decision" ;6 yet his emphatemporary delusion of the people suggests a negative rather than a positive independence on the part of the Presidency. President Kennedy seems to have had the same view, sis

on the duty

to withstand the

when, just before his inauguration, he said that one of the tests which must apply to government is "the courage to stand up when necessary to one's associates; the

courage to resist public pressure." But withstanding and resisting are a far cry from New Dealing, Fair Dealing, and New Frontiering. J. S. Mill (certainly no friend of tyranny) seems to urge an aggressive independence upon the office-holder: "... the electors should choose as their representatives wiser men than themselves, and should consent to be governed according to that ."; and he deprecates "a character of mind which superior wisdom .

.

does not look up to any one; which thinks no other person's opinion much better than its own, or nearly so good as that of a hundred or a thousand persons like itself. Where this is the turn of mind of the electors, they will elect no one who is not, or at least who does not profess to be, the image of their own sentiments, and will continue him no longer than while he reflects those sentiments in his con.'"^ duct Elsewhere, Mill observes, "No government by a democracy .

.

or a numerous aristocracy, either in qualities,

and tone of mind which

it

its

political acts or in the opinions,

fosters, ever did or could rise

Many have

above

themselves be guided (which in their best times they always have done) by the counsels and influence of a more highly gifted and instructed One or Few."^ Note how similar this sounds to the dry observation of Hegel (no great friend of liberty) that "Public opinion contains all kinds of mediocrity, except in so far as the sovereign

falsity

and

truth, but

it

takes a great

man

let

to find the truth in it."^

perhaps the most remarkable book on government ever written, in that it presents a theory of government in terms of the practice proposed for a great nation then and there coming to birth. The Presidential powers, delineated by the Constitution, are presented to the people's judgment with the clearest possible arguments to prove that they are formidable without being terrible. ^^ And the people are reminded that the person of the President has no more inviolability than the least one of themselves; upon impeachment, trial, conviction, and removal from office, he would be "liable to prosecution and

The Federalist

punishment 5

Ibid., p.

is

in the

ordinary course of law."^^

215b 215a

6 Ibid., p. 7 Representative Government, Vol. 43, p. 403b-c 8 On Liberty, Vol. 43, p. 298d 9 Philosophy of Right, Vol. 46, p. 149b 10 See Vol. 43, pp. 207a-210d, 218d-227b. 1

Ibid., p.

207b-c

105

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

What would

the framers of the Constitution say if they read today had given "the President a latitude almost as wide as the sky" and that "It might almost be said that a President's powers amount to whatever his own energies, public opinion and the courts let him get away with."^^ What Presidents have "got away with" under the ambiguities of Article II include Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana, Jackson's refusal to re-charter the U.S. Bank, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Theodore Roosevelt's seizure of Panama, F. D. R.'s bank "holiday" as well as his trade of fifty destroyers to Britain for bases in the Atlantic, Truman's order to drop the A-bomb, and Eisenhower's dispatch of troops to Little Rock and his discontinuance of the U-2 flights over the Soviet Union. Apart from the inherent or implied powers claimed by all the strong Presidents, the Chief Executive has always had an unparalleled opportunity for what F. D. R. called moral leadership — an opportunity stupendously magnified by television. (A "bully pulpit," said Theodore Roosevelt of the White House before the invention of radio.) Of course the most tangible accretion to Presidential influence has been the proliferation of commissions and agencies with quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial authority. Here the appointive power at the highest levels, like that of treaty-making and the veto, requires legislative support for which, however, the President ordinarily needs only a Congress dominated by his own party. And in times of crisis, Congress, still possessing both the revenue and the war powers, is no more likely to say "no" to the executive request for defense appropriations that they

than

it

said

"no"

to President

forces into battle in

Korea

Truman's executive order of American

in 1950.

At what point may an office — still nominally hedged by the law — approach arbitrariness? The President of the United States, "strong" or "weak," in fact is the Chief of State, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (in both war and peace), the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Alliance of NATO, the Chief Executive of the Administrative Establishment, the Chief Ambassador to Foreign Countries and to International Organizations, the Chief Formulator of National Policy and Proponent of National Legislation, the Chief Reliever of Disasters Local or National, the Chief Arbitrator of Labor Disputes, the Chief Spokesman of the Nation, the Chief Speaker to the Nation, and the Chief of the Leading Political Party. These "titles," taken together, represent so awesome an aggregation of authority that it would be difficult to gainsay President Kennedy's assertion that his office is "the vital center of action in our whole scheme of Government" and "the most powerful office in the free world. "^^ But so powerful an office may be used powerfully or not. "During the past eight years," said Candidate Kennedy before his election, "we have seen one concept of the Presidency at work. Our needs and 12

Tom

13

Address

106

Wicker,

New

York Times, February 12, 1961, Sec. 4, p. 3 Washington, D.C., January

to the National Press Club,

14,

1960

,t!3£^*
compensates for the deficiency of air overhead. This self-correcting situation, in which the weight of air and water on the ocean floor at any one point remains quite constant, was one of the discoveries of the International Geophysical Year of 195758.

However,

the I.G.Y. also revealed a strange deviation of the earth

from perfect symmetry. To the Greeks, who probably were the first to recognize that the world is round, it was a sphere. ^^ The first known attempt to measure the earth as a whole was the experiment carried out by Eratosthenes in the third century B.C. This remarkable man, as 16

"Some Recent Experimental Tests

of the 'Clock Paradox'.'" The Physical Revien, Vol. 120, No.

(October 1, 1960), p. 17 17 See Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Vol. 34, pp. 42b-43a, 286a-b. 18 See ibid., pp. 126a-128b, 288a-29la. 19 See Plo\emy, Almagest, Vol. 16, pp. 8b-9a. 1

203

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY Chief Librarian

at

Alexandria, was a leading figure in the mathematical It was to him, for example, that Archimedes more important works. ^^ Eratosthenes learned

flowering of that period.

addressed one of

his

was a deep well at Syene, near the present site of the Aswan on the Nile, where at noon at the summer solstice the image of the sun could be seen reflected in the water at the bottom of the well. At the same instant, he measured the angular distance from the sun to the zenith as seen from Alexandria, 5,000 stadia to the north (575 miles by the Roman and Attic scales). Assuming that the sun was so far away that its direction, as seen from the two points, was the same, he knew from simple geometry that the angular distance of the sun from the zenith, over his head, equaled the portion of the earth's circumference lying between himself and the well. The arc was one fiftithat there

Dam

eth of a

full circle.

From

this,

he calculated the circumference of the

earth to be 250,000 stadia (28,740 miles), not far from the present-

24,860 miles through the poles. the earth as a sphere became prominent again in the Renaissance. During the seventeenth century, by careful measurements in Britain and France, it was noticed that the distance subtended by one degree of arc at various parts of the earth's surface was not always the same. Close study of the planet Jupiter likewise showed it to be flattened slightly at the poles. Newton then sought to explain these distortions in the same way he explained the elliptical orbits of

day

figure of

The view of

celestial bodies.

The

polar flattening,

pound man weigh a pound more

it

was

makes a 200where he is nearest to

calculated,

at the poles,

the earth's center of gravity, than at the equator.^i In the early part of

became

clear that the earth's shape did not Perhaps because of broad regional varconform exactly to an ellipse. iations in density, the shape appeared to be slightly irregular. The nature of the irregularity remained obscure, largely because of difficulties in mapping the earth in three dimensions. While it was possible to survey a single land mass with considerable precision, errors entered into the picture when it came to extending the survey across water to

the twentieth century,

it

lands beyond the horizon. Sighting on the stars with

new

sonal Astrolabe, developed by

Observatory, made

it

devices, such as the

Andre

Danjon Imper-

L. Danjon, head of the Paris

possible to determine locations to within a few

observation point denoted the true ver-

feet,

assuming gravity

tical

or horizontal. In this astrolabe, one mirror

at the

is

a pool of mercury,

which establishes the horizontal, but because of irregularities in density of the earth, gravity cannot be counted upon to pull straight down. Therefore astrolabes can provide positions, in terms of the earth's center, that are accurate only within several hundred feet. During the I.G.Y., various schemes were used to get around this difficulty. In one, the moon was photographed, by a special process, against a back20 See The Method Treating of Mechanical Problems, Vol. p. 569a. 2 See Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Vol. 34, pp. 29 b-294b. I

I

204

1

,

1

Walter Sullivan

ground of stars whose positions were precisely known, making it possible, by intricate geometry, to locate the point of observation without

A

scheme made use of earth satellites. any variations in gravitational intensity are reflected in orbital changes. It was by observing such changes that the earth's shape could be deduced. The space vehicle that made this possible was by far the smallest of the I.G.Y. No bigger than a grapefruit, it provoked some scornful remarks from Premier Khrushchev, yet it produced some of the most valuable results to come out of the early years of space research. Designated Vanguard I, it was carried aloft from Cape Canaveral on March 17, 1958, in the second successful launching of an American satellite. As with the first Soviet Sputnik, there were no scientific instruments on board. Its chief function was to send out signals that would test the radio tracking system on the ground — and also show that it had actually gone into orbit. Its only added output was in terms of slight frequency shifts between its two transmitters, designed to provide a rough indireference to gravity.

similar

Because gravity holds a

satellite in orbit,

Fixed to the skin of this little sphere shuttered windows, that generated a weak current by the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. Both batteries and tracking system were remarkably successful. It was predicted, in 1960, that Vanguard /'s tiny radio voice might still be whispering from the sky well into the twenty-first century. The Minitrack system developed by the Naval Research Laboratory was able to follow the flight of the sphere, thousands of miles away, with such high precision that the more subtle peculiarities of its orbit could be observed. One of these was the apparent swelling of the atmosphere beneath cation of

were

its

internal temperature.

solar batteries, looking like

the rims of the

Van

thin fringes of air

little

Allen radiation belts after a solar eruption. The to reach up and clutch at the sphere. This

seemed

speeded up the orbiting time, rather than slowing it, as one might expect at first glance. The drag robbed the satellite of a small amount of momentum and therefore caused it to lose altitude. This shortened its orbital path and thus reduced its orbiting time. The tracking system, by measuring the changes of orbit time, or "period," with precision,

made

it

possible to chart this orbital "decay." Because the orbit

is

with the center of the earth at one focus of the ellipse, the vehicle, at its so-called perigee, dipped low. This perigee migrated slowly around the earth, from the maximum northerly latitude of the elliptical,

southernmost latitude, and back again. The perigee of Vanguard I took eighty-two days to complete one such circuit. What surprised John A. O'Keefe and his colleagues in the theoretical branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was that satellite, to its

the perigee dipped lower in the northern hemisphere than

it

did in the

must be an excess of material southern. They concluded near the North Pole comparable to a layer fifty feet thick and the size of the Atlantic Ocean, with an equal deficiency at the opposite end of that there

205

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

OUR "PEAR-SHAPED

EARTH

The solid line is a perfect circle. The doffed line represents the traditional view of an earth symmetrically flattened at the poles. The dashed line shous the deviation from this pattern detected hy studyini^ the orbit of Van^iuard I. The distortions are i^reatly exaggerated. Drawn to scale, all three circles would appear round

the world. Furthermore, they estimated that sea level in temperate

northern latitudes

is

twenty-five feet lower than

it

would be

fectly symmetrical earth, with an equivalent surplus of

in

water

a perin

the

southern temperate zone. The combined effect of these distortions

was

a tendency toward a pear shape. 22

was a minor

It

distortion

com-

pared to the twenty-seven-mile difference between the earth's diameter

from pole torial

to pole

and that

in the

plane of the equator.

Even

this

equa-

bulge would not be noticeable to a casual observer looking at

the earth from space. less he

made

It

would appear

to

him perfectly spherical un-

careful measurements.

Nevertheless, the deformation discovered by Vanguard satellite's orbit

I,

if

the

has been correctly analyzed, has important implications

with regard to the earth's interior. Newton's laws say the earth's shape

The violation of these laws implies that other work whose nature we can only guess at. Possibly, as George P. Woollard, Professor of Geology at the University of Wisconsin, writes in the chapter of Science in Space dealing with the earth, the deformation is produced by creeping convection currents should be

elliptical.

forces are at

within the "mantle," 1,800 miles thick, that encloses the earth's liquid

outer core. Although the mantle

is

solid,

some

believe that

it

flows, in

terms of inches or fractions of an inch per year, the hot inner material rising to replace the cool upper material. Vening Meinesz of The Netherlands, one of the best-known students of the earth's gravity, and its rocks are, or were originally, "scum" over the descending portions of such currents.

interior, believes the continental

afloat

22 See Science

206

in

Space,

p.

83

.

Walter Sullivan

Weather

Among the many tasks that can be performed by earth satellites, the one whose usefulness to mankind is most obvious is the observatwo initial Tiros weather satellites (launched April 1 and November 23), although crude in terms of what was planned for the future, gave us our first views of the world from space, apart from a few photographs taken from rockets. To see from far aloft the characteristic configurations of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or the Red Sea dividing Asia and Africa, was an awesome experience. Far more important, scientifically, were the views of cloud formations on a global scale, giving meteorologists an entirely new perspective. Continent- wide images, viewed through the Tiros cameras and tape recorded for playback on radio command from a ground station, disclosed many things weathermen had never seen before (though they had postulated some of them). In one picture of the southern part of South America, a sea of clouds pressed against the western wall of the Andes, but only a few "wisps" (each perhaps 100 miles wide!) found their way through the passes and were carried by the prevailing westerlies across all of Argentina, like long pony tails. In another view, the sea of solid clouds on the Pacific side of the mountains seemed to be .

tion of weather. In 1960,

I

A SATELLITE

UNDERSIDE VIEW OF THE SATELLITE TIROS The technician's hand is on

I

the wide angle lens

photograph images for the built-in TV cameras. The four small rods are transmitting antennae. The sides and top of the satellite consist of solar cells to power the electronic equipment used

to

VIEW

OF THE EARTH

FROM AN ALTITUDE OF 450 MILES strip running from the center lower right is the Red Sea. The black wavy line at the left is the Nile River, and the dark area at the upper left is the Mediterranean Sea

The dark

to the

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY breaking over the ridge like a surf, so that on the inland side the solid mass had changed to parallel ribbons, moving across the continent in successive cloud waves. Most impressive of all, the photographs

showed entire cyclones, sometimes covering an area as large as the North Atlantic Ocean. Since the days of Benjamin Franklin, students of meteorology have believed that the great weather systems of temperate latitudes are cyclonic. As a young man, Franklin was so interested in whirlwinds that he once chased one on horseback until he lost it in the whirling twigs and torn leaves of a forest. Furthermore, he remembered his experience when he failed to see an eclipse of the moon, scheduled to appear over Philadelphia in 1743. It was obscured by the clouds of a northeaster; yet friends in Boston, which lay upwind, reported that they saw the eclipse. The storm did not reach them until later. It was persuaded Franklin that the storm was actually a rotating system — a gigantic whirlwind. The construction of weather maps (in terms of temperature, pressure, wind direction, precipitation and cloud cover) has helped to enlarge the knowledge of these eastward-moving cyclones, one of which may cover a large part of the United States. (They are not to be confused with the local storms known as tornadoes, against which midwestern farmers build "cyclone" cellars, nor with the tropical cyclones known, regionally, as hurricanes or typhoons.) The Tiros pictures gave an instantaneous view of a cyclone, looking like a vast whirlpool thousands of miles in diameter, fringed with out-riding "streets" of puffy this that

clouds loosely following the same configuration. In Science in Space, the usefulness of satellites to the meteorologist is discussed by Harry Wexler, director of meteorological research at

Weather Bureau and himself a member of the Space Science Board. points out that the construction of weather charts began little more than a century ago and the first attempts covered areas only about 100 miles on a side. Today, with new instruments, radiosondes, and rapid communications, weather maps are drawn of all parts of the world (although data are lacking from large areas). The radiosonde is hoisted by a balloon, transmitting by radio an observational cross-section of the atmosphere as it rises. Radar on the ground follows the balloon's horizontal movements as it ascends, making it possible to determine the directions and speeds of wind layers to the summit of its flight. The the

He

normal ceiling of such observations is about twenty miles. In terms of weight (mass), only about one per cent of the atmosphere lies above that level, but it stretches up hundreds — perhaps thousands — of miles, becoming thinner than the most "perfect" laboratory vacuum. The use of radiosondes is, however, largely limited to the more highly-developed continental areas. The oceans and broad land areas are largely blank on weather maps. Wexler estimates that less than onefifth of the atmospheric mass is being "adequately" penetrated in dayto-day weather observations. For days, large storms can form and ad208

Walter Sullivan

A PICTURE OF A TYPHOON IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC TAKEN FROM A TIROS SATELLITE

vance across oceans, deserts or polar wastes towards inhabited areas before they are detected. This was demonstrated, before the launching of the first earth satellite, when a rocket fired from the southwestern United States photographed an otherwise unobserved hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. A satellite system that has been discussed by Wexler and his colleagues would employ a series of space vehicles placed in circular orbits passing close to the north and south poles so that they always crossed a given point at the same time each day and night. Because of Newton's laws of motion, once an orbit is established, outside the atmosphere, it remains fixed in space, although the earth rotates within it. Thus, if the relative positions of earth and sun remained constant, a satellite in a polar orbit would always cross each point at the same time. For example, a satellite launched southward along the noon meridian would pass over the South Pole and then follow the midnight meridian up the dark side of the earth to the North Pole. Meanwhile, the earth would have rotated a certain number of degrees, but the orbit would remain fixed in space — and therefore in reference to the sun.

The

vehicle would therefore continue indefinitely to fly south along noon meridian and north along the midnight meridian. Actually, of course, we are not fixed in space. Our planet makes

the

an annual journey around the sun, and therefore, in terms of sun time, there would be a daily four-minute displacement of a circular orbit 300 miles high. To overcome this, the Weather Bureau proposes to use an orbit tilted a few degrees from the north-south axis. Because of the earth's asymmetry, such an orbit would precess just enough to cancel out the effect of the earth's movement around the sun. There could thus be a satellite that passed overhead daily at noon and midnight as well as one whose passes were at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. and another launched to sail by at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. This would make it possible to 209

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY construct regional

maps of cloud cover,

surface temperature, or radi-

ation balance every four hours.

Another system, using six satellites in quasi-polar orbits 6,000 kilometers (3,750 miles) high, could insure, according to Wexler, that no important cloud cover escapes notice more than one hour. However, he believes lower-elevation satellites will be needed to watch out for squall lines, thunderstorms,

and fronts

that are not large

enough

for observation at a great distance. In addition, he argues the advan-

tages of a satellite circling the equator at an elevation of 625 miles, for in every 105 minutes its field of view would encompass the entire earth between the latitude of New Orleans (30° North) and that of Durban, South Africa (30° South). This would be particularly useful because of the difficulties that have been encountered in forecasting the weather

of the tropics.

At a symposium sponsored by the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences and the American Meteorological Society in January, 1961, Captain John F. Tatum, U.S.N., head of the Navy's weather service, told of a proposal that would bring satellite observations within reach of the most remote ship or island station. The scheme is to orbit a number of low-cost scanning vehicles that can be commanded by radio, at

any time,

to transmit

an image of the area below them. In

way,

this

the skipper of a ship in a part of the oceans barren of weather stations,

he suspected the presence of a typhoon, could wait until one of these came overhead, then command it to send an image of the region reaching for 1,000 miles in all directions from his location. Such a system would by-pass the troublesome problem of disseminating information obtained from such vehicles. Thus the stations in New Jersey and Hawaii, equipped to collect stored images from the Tiros satellites, cannot help weathermen in Egypt or South America unless they can get the information to them quickly. Experiments have been conducted with various schemes for transmitting facsimile images or coded cloud cover information. However, for the local forecaster, his direct interrogation of a satellite has much appeal, even if he is in a primary weather bureau; for if it adjoins a large ocean area (as, for example, in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles) he is anxious if

vehicles

know, as fast as possible, what lies offshore. While the United States is preparing its own weather satellites. Nimbus being already at an advanced stage of development, Wexler to

nevertheless makes a strong case for international co-ordination of the

program and world-wide dissemination of the that

COSPAR

of this

effort,

COSPAR

is

is

whereas the

He

suggests

WMO should deal with the operational aspects.

Committee on Space Research of the

Council of Scientific Unions. It physical Year of 1957-58, and entist

results.

the logical place for handling the research aspects

and one American

is

its

International

a leftover of the International

Geo-

organization, with one Soviet sci-

scientist as the

two vice presidents,

reflects

the co-operative approach to space problems that, by and large,

210

was

Walter Sullivan

WMO

The is, of course, the World Metewhose membership includes virtually all

characteristic of the I.G.Y.

orological

Organization,

nations and weather services in existence. In discussing the usefulness of weather satellites, Wexler notes the importance of knowing the world's radiation balance. Weather, he says, results from an attempt by the winds to equalize the uneven distribution of radiant energy as received from the sun. Thus, far more solar energy is delivered to the tropics than to the temperate or polar

regions, but this difference

is partially cancelled by the transfer of heat in winds and ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream. Further-

more, he points out, observations of this energy budget over long periods of time should help assemble the information needed for long-range forecasts. This may ultimately enable us to unravel the mystery of climate changes and make forecasts in terms of decades and centuries, rather than hours. The evidence of past changes is all about us — the rocky hills of New England and the Great Lakes remind us of ice ages that, we have discovered (thanks in part to radiocarbon dating), overlapped the birth of civilization. Each ruined city rising from the desert sands of the Middle East speaks eloquently of what a change in storm paths will do to a civilization. The United States Weather Bureau reported, in January, 1961, that a study of world-wide temperature records showed an almost constant warming from 1881 until 1 940, when a cooling appears to have set in. There is absolutely no agreement as to what causes such cycles.

One

of the liveliest controversies concerns the possible influence

of solar outbursts, such as the flares that cause magnetic storms on earth.

The only

clear-cut effect of such events

of the extremely thin upper

air.

Ionization

is

is in

ionizing portions

the conversion of elec-

atoms into electrically-charged ions. This one or more electrons from the atom or molecule, giving it a net positive charge, or by adding a stray electron, giving it a negative charge. Ionization makes the atmosphere a highly efficient conductor of electricity. Most of it seems to be produced by wavelengths of sunlight that cannot penetrate the denser atmosphere. Thus, significant ionization exists, as a rule, only above a height of some fifty miles. Even at 150 miles, only one part in 10,000 of the gas trically-neutral molecules or is

done by knocking

is

ionized.

When

off

the "scorching" light of a solar flare hits the

air,

it

and particles ejected by the flare have a different levels of the atmosphere, once they reach

briefly increases ionization,

similar effect at

the earth.

Opponents of the view that such events affect weather argue that nothing done to the near-vacuum of the upper air could influence the massive events that constitute weather. It has been estimated that a single summer-afternoon thunderstorm disposes of the energy of thirteen atomic bombs. A hurricane, driven by the latent heat released as the moisture in warm oceanic air turns to water, is said to "burn up," each day, the energy equivalent of 500,000 atomic bombs. 211

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY However, many meteorologists and space sibility

scientists believe the pos-

of solar influences should at least be examined.

the "explosive warnings"

first

observed

in

They

point to

a series of radiosonde bal-

loon ascents from Berlin during 1952. In two days, the temperature between fifteen and twenty miles up rose some 81° F. A series of I.G.Y. rocket shots from Fort Churchill, on Hudson Bay, in January, 1958, inadvertently disclosed an even more remarkable rise of 122°

hours at a height of twenty-five miles. The effect seems to have descended from above. Although many weathermen felt this could still be explained by a sequence of events originating within the atmosphere, Wexler, in Science in Space, points to the thin air between twenty and forty miles' elevation as a possible "connecting link" between unusual solar emissions and anomalous terrestrial weather. To reach this region, which is just above the ceiling of weather balloons, small, inexpensive meteorological rockets are being used experimenin ninety-six

tally.

Wexler and

his colleagues

make no claim

that satellites will eliminate

the need for other observations. Until the invention of the balloon

toward the end of the eighteenth century, man's view of the ocean of was entirely from below. With satellites we can look down on it from above, but penetration with balloons and rockets is also necessary and will be particularly so until we know far more about the dynamics of the atmosphere than we do today. Eventually satellites may be used to monitor temperatures at the earth's surface through the observation of certain portions of the infrared spectrum generated by surface heat and able to penetrate outwards through the atmosphere. The world's first weather satellite was Vanguard II, whose launching on February 17, 1959, was the second successful one in the ill-fated Vanguard program. This spherical vehicle carried two photocells, or "electric eyes," aimed outward on either side of its spin axis. As the satellite rotated, they made successive sweeps across the earth, somewhat like the scanner on a wirephoto device; but, because of a wobble in the spin, it proved impossible to reconstruct the hoped-for pictures of cloud cover. The following October 13, Explorer VII was sent up with four small spheres coated and arranged to observe various kinds of radiation. By comparing their readings, as radioed to earth, it was hoped to determine the amount of radiation coming from the sun, the amount of it reflected back from the earth, and the amount absorbed by the earth and its atmosphere and re-radiated in the infrared region air

One of the earliest results of this experiment, as reported to the conference on climate change held in New York City in January, 1961, was an indication that solar flares do not seem to bring of the spectrum.

about any great change in the amount of radiated energy reaching the earth. Verner E. Suomi, Professor of Meteorology at the University of Wisconsin, who designed the experiment, told the conference that there could not have been any change in solar output as great as one percent between the various periods for which he was able to make 212

Walter Sullivan

computations.

He

had

to

use data collected by the

the brief time, in each orbit,

low

it

when

it

was

satellite

in sunlight

only during

but the earth be-

was dark.

Upper atmosphere In

a separate section of Science in Space, Oswald Garrison Villard, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, and

Jr.,

Alan H. Shapley of the National Bureau of Standards laboratories at Boulder, Colorado — both of them members of the Space Science Board — discuss the upper atmosphere. Whereas the problems of weather control seem almost insurmountable, in view of the immense energies involved, these two scientists report that the possibility of artificial

this

was

control of the ionosphere

is

very

real.

A

notable instance of

Project Argus, which showed, in 1958, that the entire inhab-

of the world could be enclosed in a shell of electrons of a small atomic bomb 300 miles aloft at a carefully predetermined location within the earth's magnetic field. As a byited portion

through the product,

firing

artificial

auroral displays were seen in both hemispheres.

it has been shown that 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of chemicals released from a rocket seventy-two miles aloft can produce a small artificial radio-reflecting layer. Villard and Shapley point out that it is difficult to determine the nature of events in the upper air because of the impossibility of reproducing the same conditions in the laboratory. For example, at sea level the molecules of gas constituting the air, in their thermal motions, travel only a submicroscopic distance before they hit another molecule. This motion is what makes a warm breeze feel warm. It is, in eff'ect, the inherent property of heat. Heat is conducted through the sides of a coff'ee cup or through the walls of a house by the collisional translation of this motion from molecule to molecule. But at a height of 200 miles the air is so thin that an atom or molecule must travel an average of six miles before it can expect to hit another atom or molecule. That is, in the parlance of physicists, its mean free path is six miles. While theoretical studies can be done on paper, the only way to determine how atoms and molecules really behave under such conditions, bathed part of each day in the cruel glare of unfiltered solar radiation, is to send instruments into that region. It is there, in the socalled ionosphere, that are formed the layers that, with increasing elevation, are populated more and more densely with free electrons. The ionosphere is subdivided into layers that bend radio signals back to earth instead of letting them escape into space. The higher the radio frequency, the higher the layer dense enough to turn it back. The study of this region is, therefore, of great importance in improving our

In a simpler experiment,

presently unreliable long-range radio circuits and, above ing

ways

ready

is

all, in find-

open up new channels and relieve the traffic jam that albecoming a communications babel. In addition, the peculiar to

213

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY radio-bending properties of the ionosphere must be known, so that the projected navigation and communication satellites can be useful. Such

knowledge is also necessary for accurate ground control of missiles and other space vehicles, particularly where the line of sight between guiding transmitter and the receiver passes close to the horizon. Such a path skirts layers of the ionosphere whose shaping by the earth's magnetism and by other forces is still only partially understood. Among the proposals made by Shapley and Villard is the placing of radiation monitors in orbit around the earth, but at very great distances, so that they may warn of approaching clouds of magnetized solar gas and thus furnish reliable advance notice that a magnetic storm, with its concomitant disruption of communications, is in the offmg. As noted by Wexler, the earth's atmosphere is a global envelope, and only with a globe-encircling vehicle, namely the earth satellite, can it be adequately studied. By the same token, atmospheric phenomena can only be understood when viewed in the broadest terms, providing a strong incentive for international co-operation.

The moon

From the layman's

point of view, probably the most glamorous ob-

jects of the solar system, outside of the earth, are the planets

Mars

and Venus. In some respects, however, the moon has more to offer, scientifically, than any other body. This is the view, for example, set forth by Harold Urey in his chapter of Science in Space devoted to the moon and planets. So far as we can tell with our earthbound telescopes, only the moon seems to hold a readable record of the cataclysmic events that have marked the history of the solar system. Indeed, THE MOON In this recent

photoi^raph, the

moon's craters

and "seas" are clearly visible

Urey

believes the

moon

pre-dates the earth — that

it

is

a relic of an

earlier stage in the formation of planets.

go back to the discovery of diamonds in concluded that these meteorites must originally have been in the interior of moon-sized bodies, for only there could the requisite pressures be developed to squeeze graphite into diamonds. Such moons were so numerous, according to this hypothesis, that there was a field day of collisions (actually over a period, perhaps,

His views,

in this respect,

certain meteorites.

He

lasting millions of years).

Some

of the debris

fell

together again to

form the planets; some of it did not, and survives as the asteroidal belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The moon and a few other bodies of similar size survived the period of collisions and became trapped in orbits around the larger, heavier planets. From June 20 to 22, 1960, the National Academy of Sciences — National Research Council sponsored an informal conference on "Problems Related to Interplanetary Matter" at Highland Park, Illinois. Although the proceedings were not published until 1961,^^ Urey 23 Nuclear Science Series, Report No. 33, Publication 845 (National tional Research Council [Washington, D.C.. 196!])

214

Academy

of Sciences -Na-

Walter Sullivan

soon became aware of the findings presented there by Edward Anders, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Enrico Fermi Institute for

Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago. Anders pointed out that diamonds had, by then, been found in five meteorites, and told of a study that he and his colleagues had carried out on one of them. This is the Canyon Diablo meteorite that left an immense crater in Arizona. Its weight before fragmentation has been estimated at about 2,000,000 reproduce the crystalline condition of the which the diamonds are encased, it was found that it could be done by heating the constituent chemicals to about 1,600° F. and, within a few seconds, quenching them in cold water. On the basis of this and other considerations, it was concluded that the diamonds were formed by heat and pressure produced at the instant of impact. Meanwhile, however, Urey found that his proposal that the moon was one generation older than the earth had explained the moon's remarkably low density. From the observed strength of its gravity, it has been found that an average cubic mile of lunar material is only two thirds as heavy as an average sample of the earth. Urey suspects that the moon was formed from roughly the same mixture of elements as that constituting the sun, but that its gravity was not strong enough to keep hold of the lighter gases. During the period between the formation of the moon and that of the earth, outward pressures from the sun, including radiation, outflowing gas, and magnetism, swept away some of the lighter debris, so that what finally fell together to form the earth was of a heavier mixture. Thus, for example, there seems to be considerably more iron, per cubic mile, in the earth than there is in the moon. The gigantic craters and strangely smooth "seas" of the moon have an awesome tale to tell of past events. If, as Urey suspects, this history reaches back 4.5 billion years, almost to the birth of the solar system, then the moon is a most interesting place indeed. Because lunar erotons. In laboratory efforts to

fragments

sion

is,

at

in

most, a slow process, the record should be visible

at the sur-

produced by a constant weakening of gravity. At the start of the conference on interplanetary matter, a history of the solar system was presented that reflects some of the most up-todate thinking in that area. The speaker was A. G. W. Cameron, on loan from Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., to the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories in California. There have been radical changes since the days, at the start of the century, when the views of Sir George Darwin that the moon was an off-spring of the earth still held sway. Presumably the birthplace of new stars and planetary systems is in the clouds of gas and dust that are circling within the inner part of the galactic disk. The gas is relatively dense, compared to the rest of space, there being an estimated ten hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter (a face, as noted earlier with respect to the search for cracks

thimbleful).

From time to time there is a supernova, or star explosion, in these clouds, generating for a matter of hours or days a volume of light com215

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY parable to that of an entire galaxy. This fuses

some of

the elements

high up on the scale of atomic weights; they spread out through the cloud and mingle with the partially-decayed products of earlier su-

pernovae. So long as the cloud remains warm, its atoms will shoot about in thermal motion and, when ionized, will be subject to various magnetic influences. Sometimes the clouds collide, raising each others' temperatures. But a cloud may occasionally go 30 million years, or so, without a collision, and it then cools enough so that the gravitational attraction

cloud,

between the atoms wins out over heat and magnetism. The

whose weight

is

probably 1,000 times greater than that of the

sun, begins falling together.

At

first,

the gravity

hold on the atoms so marginal that the process

is

so diffuse and

slow. This stage

is

its

may

last some 25 million years and produce a number of sun-sized bodies, with thermonuclear reactions igniting in their cores when the necessary gravitational pressure has built up.

In this star-building process, the free-fall contraction stops

when

the

"proto-sun" has a radius roughly 100 times that of the whole solar system. Light pressure and other factors come into play and contraction slows

some

down; but when the proto-sun has shrunk

three times that of the solar system, there

is

to a radius

another rapid col-

lapse within the brief span of about 200 years. In the process, the proto-sun leaves behind it a nebula equal in weight to about half the weight of today's sun. The gases in the nebula condense into bouldersized objects

which then

fall

together to form planets. Meanwhile,

the sun continues to contract until

it

reaches

its

present

size.

Such a history was proposed by Cameron, based not only on what has been seen going on elsewhere in the galaxy, but also on the reconstruction of events in the early lifetime of the solar system through

radiochemical analysis of meteorites. Urey noted that the iron meteorites do not, as formerly thought, appear to be fragments from the shattered core of a large, earth-like planet. Rather, they seem to have

been embedded

in the silicate material

in

lumps roughly

on the

earth. Crystal

of a large body,

the size of the iron meteorites that have fallen

many that they have been moon or planet. Hence, some

structure in such meteorites has convinced

under the pressure that exists inside a believe the interior of the

moon may be

interspersed with lumps of

nickel-iron like raisins in a loaf of raisin bread.

At the meeting on interplanetary matter, Albert R. Hibbs of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology told of the instrument payloads being prepared by his group for the first

American attempt

at a

"hard" landing on the moon. Although the three

vehicles of this series would be slowed, before impact,

by retro-rockhave to be cushioned for a shock equal to that of hitting a concrete wall at 200 miles per hour. This payload, he said, would include a seismograph, able to survive such a blow and then sense the slight tremors of "moonquakes." A radio and batteries to telemeter the readings to earth would also have to remain operative ets, the

216

instruments would

still

Walter Sullivan

for the experiment to have

any value. Urey, in his chapter on the moon, may be resolved through seismic observations on that body. They include determination as to whether its interior is like raisin bread, or whether the iron has been melted by radioactive heat and settled into a core. There have recently been re-

some of

sets forth

the problems that

ports that the inside of the

On November

3,

moon

is

not entirely inactive.

1958, a Soviet specialist in astronomical spectra,

Nikolai A. Kozyrev, observed what he took to be an eruption of gas Alphonsus. Some months later he reported making a similar observation. At first his report was received with skepticism by in the crater

many astronomers

in the

West, for the idea that the

moon

is

a dead

body was deeply engrained. However, by the end of 1960, when an international conference on the moon was held in Leningrad, a large proportion of the world's lunar specialists had come to accept the observation, including Urey and Gerard P. Kuiper, head of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. A seismometer of the type described by Hibbs has a battery lifetime

of only a few weeks. What are the chances that there will be any quakes, in so short a time, of sufficient force to provide clues to the moon's structure? Urey points out that the orbit of the moon around

produce a monthly variation in the on the moon of 11.5 per cent. If the moon was covered with water, this would mean the tides would be fifty-three feet high. Since the pull of the moon is enough to produce the earth

is

sufficiently eccentric to

earth's gravitational attraction

twice-daily tides of several inches in the earth's hard crust, likely that there are far

enough

more marked

tidal

movements

it is

in the

not un-

moon —

produce moonquakes. Likewise, the flow of heat from a hot moon has one — should produce certain kinds of tremors. ^^ While the most severe quakes would result from meteorite impacts, they must be rare. The use of rockets to explore the moon began in 1959 when the United States and the Soviet Union both shot rockets past that body; the Russians hit the moon (with Lunik II), and (with Lunik ///)established an earth-moon orbit that enabled the vehicle to obtain a series of crude images of the far side. Scientifically, not much has been learned so far by these feats, although the Russians found that if the moon has any magnetic field at all, it must be very weak compared with that of the earth. Still to be settled are such questions as the origin of the seas, the craters, and the light-colored rays that radiate from certain to

core — if the

large craters.

Although the moon seems

brilliant in the night sky, its color and almost as dark as volcanic dust. It has even been proposed that the seas are so deep in cosmic or volcanic dust that a space ship, coming in for a landing, would vanish into its depths. Recent radar and radio studies have convinced most astronomers that the

reflectivity are

24 See Gordon J. F. MacDonald, "Interior of the Moon," Science. Vol. 133, No. 3458 (April 1961), pp. 1045-1050.

217

7,

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY depth of powdery dust can be no more than a few inches or, at most, a few feet. The majority view seems to favor the idea that most lunar craters, particularly the large ones, were formed by the impact of meteorites. It has been suggested by Kuiper and others that the seas are hardened lava that flowed out from a hot interior when meteorites ruptured the crustal shell in an earlier stage of the moon's history. Some smaller craters, on the other hand, strongly resemble volcanoes. Another puzzle is the moon's shape. Because it always keeps the same side toward the earth, the moon would be expected to bulge in about seventeen times greater than is thought to have once been far closer to the earth, where such a distortion would be expected; but the moon should long since have settled back to a rounder figure. One explanation would be a remarkable rigidity in the moon's interior. Another would be an irregular distribution of weight. Urey proposes that that direction, but this ellipticity it

should be.

The

orbit of the

is

moon

a satellite in a low orbit around the

moon

about sixty miles' elebeing studied through satellite tracking. A vehicle in orbit around the moon, however, can skirt the mountain tops, for there is virtually no atmosphere to worry about. The composition of the moon can be determined in a preliminary vation)

would

(at

settle this matter, just as the earth's interior is

fashion by various radiation measurements and by television scanning, at normal magnification and through a microscope, using equipment landed gently. Samples of certain seas, rays, and mountains will ultimately be brought back for analysis in laboratories, but, Urey notes, eventually an expedition will have to land there and see for itself. Who should go? He says the lunar explorer should be familiar with a.number of sciences, "but he should be particularly a hard-rock geologist with some acquaintance with meteorites."

The planets

When

it

comes

to the planets, the first question people usually ask

whether or not they harbor life. While there is some evidence of "life" on Mars, the word must be placed in quotation marks. The only other planet that could conceivably support life is Venus. But, in essence, Venus seems to be too hot and Mars too dry. Mercury, the planet nearest the sun, is fearsomely inhospitable, for it does not have any sequence of day and night. Like the moon, it rotates on its axis only once a year. This means that Mercury always keeps the same side toward the sun, a behavior that can be illustrated by placing a chair in the center of the room to represent the sun. If you walk around the chair, always facing it, you will not only make a complete circle around is

the chair, but will also, in terms of the

make one

rotation

on your own "axis."

the side facing the sun

is

room — that

On

is,

Mercury,

perpetually so hot that

it is

cosmos — means that

the

this

doubtful that ra-

dio telemetering equipment could operate there. Hence, the

218

first

ex-

MARS IN 1907 AND 1954 The large dark area in lower center of the 1954 photograph (scarcely

may be spreading

visible in

1907)

vegetation

ploratory vehicle will almost certainly be landed on the shaded (and extremely frigid) side. Mercury apparently contains much iron. In fact, the tendency is for the planets farther from the sun to be less dense — presumably a consequence of the sorting of material, by weight, during the formative period of the solar system.

Venus, whose orbit lies between that of Mercury and that of the is so heavily enveloped in clouds that the nature of its surface is a mystery. It has been said that it must be entirely covered by oceans. Yet the Naval Research Laboratory in the United States has detected radio emissions, thought to be coming from the surface of the planet, that indicate a temperature of about 600° F. This would make the surface an oven-like desert. Mars, lying just outside the earth in the solar system, clearly undergoes seasonal changes. The white caps at its poles wax and wane, but instead of indicating large volumes of snow and ice, such as those in the polar regions of the earth, they seem to be little more than coatings of frost; for the atmosphere of Mars appears almost devoid of moisture. There are large areas in lower latitudes of the planet that become greenish or grayish in spring and reddish brown in the fall. In recent years William M. Sinton, at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, has studied light coming from these dark regions and has detected absorption in infra-red portions of the spectrum indicative of the presence of carbon and hydrogen (and thus typical of plants). It is absent in light from other parts of Mars. While Mars is essentially cloudless, it has what appear to be dust storms. Astronomers have noted that, a few days after a dark region has been paled by dust from such a storm, the dark color returns as though plants had shaken off the covering. When Urey heard this propearth,

symposium at the National Academy of Sciences, he commented dryly that he supposed there was no reason why plants on another planet might not have muscles and be able to dust themselves off. In his chapter on the planets, however, he treats seriously osition, during a

219

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

away of the dust means "that some mawhich has rejuvenating properties must exist in the dark areas." In fact, he says, this is "one of the most important reasons for believing that life exists." However, it must differ markedly from life on earth, in view of the shortage of oxygen. There are plants on earth that live without oxygen, such as the anaerobic bacteria, and it is thought that life on this planet began without an oxygen atmosphere. In fact, it appears that life itself may have been responsible for the existence of oxygen in our air, since the plants have been "exhaling" it for milthe suggestion that the clearing

terial

lions of years.

Urey

points out the difficulties in guiding a rocket to an asteroid

or getting close to a comet, although, he notes, there tification for

considering such ventures.

The

is

scientific jus-

gravity of Jupiter

is

so

any vehicle trying to make a soft landing there, but it might be possible to do so on one of that planet's twelve known moons. Jupiter is a subject of special interest because of its powerful radio emissions in the 14- and 27-megacycle bands. Some of these come in bursts, apparently from below the surface of the planet. A long-standing mystery is its "great red spot" which, although of vast dimensions, seems to be afloat in the atmosphere, for its position changes from time to time. The other planets, Urey says, are at present beyond reach, even in terms of planning. On the nearer ones, many scientific discoveries await us, he adds, but the finding of life — even if radically different in chemistry from that on earth — "would be one of the most fascinating discoveries of all of modern science." There must also be a search for strong that

it

would present problems

evidence of past

life,

for

he asserts, although the discovery that

we got to

a

planet too late, so to speak, "would indeed be a keen disappointment."

Van Allen

radiation belts

the most publicized — and, perhaps, most significant — discovery of the International Geophysical Year was that of the Van Allen radiation belts. In the spring of 1958, James A. Van

Certainly

Allen, Professor of Physics at the State University of Iowa, and his

colleagues were puzzling over the

initial results

obtained with the

first

two instrumented American satellites. Explorer I (launched January 31, 1958) and Explorer 111 (launched March 26, 1958). Geiger counters carried by both these vehicles suddenly stopped reacting at elevations above 700 miles over South America. Van Allen knew something was amiss, for, as the devices rose higher above the earth, they were expected to record a steady increase in radiation intensity. This was because the earth's mass would shield them less and less from the cosmic rays raining from all parts of the heavens. Suddenly Van Allen and his associates realized that what they had encountered was not a total absence of radiation. It was a flux so intense that it swamped the counters and made them tongue-tied. 220

Walter Sullivan satellites and moon probes disclosed were two regions of particularly intense radiation enveloping the earth. Both consisted of extremely fast-moving particles

Further Soviet and American

that there

trapped within the classic configuration of the earth's magnetic field. electrons from the outer belt seemed to account for the radiation observed by rockets at the top of the atmosphere in the zones, encircling both poles, where auroral displays are seen almost

The leakage of

nightly.

The outer belt seems to be subject to massive changes in extent. Thus, Van Allen reports in Science in Space, this zone, as seen by Pioneer III (the abortive American moon shot in December, 1958) and the first Soviet shot past the moon (in January, 1959), appeared constant in width; but on March 3, 1959, Pioneer IV found that it extended almost 10,000 miles farther into space. This encouraged the view that particles in the outer zone were replenished, from time to time, by gas clouds from the sun. However, Explorer VI, launched on August 7, 1959, observed a radical shrinkage of the outer zone during a magnetic storm. It was only afterwards that the zone grew to an extremely large size. These observations are described in the chapter of Science in Space entitled "Results of Experiments in Space." It was written by Bruno Rossi, Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robert Jastrow, head of the Theoretical Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and first published in 1961.2^ The authors point out that this satellite was placed in an orbit so eccentric that, in the twelve and a half hours that it took to make one it swung out across the outer belt. Why did the new mass of high energy electrons not appear until after the cloud of solar gas had presumably passed beyond the earth? Some suggested this was because the new population of electrons was not accelerated to sufficient energy for detection until after some process — as yet unknown — had taken place.

circuit of the earth,

The sun of the belts, and of several other phenomena, during the I.G.Y. initiated a surge of interest in earth-sun relationships. As an introduction to such problems, Leo Goldberg, Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Harvard College Observatory and a member of the Space Science Board, discusses, in Science in Space, what we know

Discovery

about the sun itself. When its characteristics are plotted on the standard graph of star types (the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram), our own star turns out to be very average. It is of middle age and of medium size. It is of great importance to the astronomer, not because it is the prime prerequisite for life, but because it is close enough to give us

many clues 25 See Science

to the nature of stars in

Space, pp. 73

ff.,

and

their life histories.

esp. p. 80.

221

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

We

do not see the "furnace'' of the sun,

actions that produce

for the thermonuclear re-

heat are taking place only in the core, where

its

the pressure

is sufficient for the so-called proton-proton fusion reacThis turns hydrogen into helium, with a small residue of matter which is converted into a great deal of energy. However, these reac-

tion.

tions are rare in

any one cubic yard of the sun's core and, therefore,

the heat output of the sun

comparable mass of times as that

its

much

total

is

surprisingly small.

heat as the sun.^^

output of heat

is

It is

It is

estimated that a

humans" would generate 5,000

"living, breathing

only because our star

sufficient for life to exist

on

is

so huge

earth.

Surrounding the sun's core, whose central density is ten times that of turbulent layer of gas, no more than one-fifth the radius of the visible sun, through which heat from the core is transported outward by convection. When seen through a telescope, the visible surface, known as the photosphere, consists of a mass of "granules" whose polygonal shapes give the sun the appearance of a pebbly mosaic. The balloon-borne camera of Martin Schwarzschild has revealed the fine structure of these granules and shown that each exists for only a few minutes. To hoist his astronomical camera above the blurring influence of the sun-heated atmosphere, he had to use an immense gas bag. Sun-seeking devices kept the aim of the camera steady despite the swings and sways of the payload. The width of the granules ranges from 200 to more than 1,000 miles, and they seem to mark upwardflowing currents carrying heat from the interior. Eugene N. Parker, Associate Professor of Physics at the Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, in steel, is a

the chapter on the physics of magnetic fields and energetic particles in space, suggests that

it

might be more appropriate to consider the

visible surface of the sun as just one layer in the solar atmosphere.

The

sun proper would then be limited to the core. He notes that the convective churning that takes place in the region surrounding the core is somewhat analogous to weather phenomena in the earth's atmosphere. Many of the wild events that we observe on or near the sun appear to originate in this convective turbulence. The best-known are the sunspots. The most important, from our point of view, are the flares that occur near sunspots. We still lack an adequate theory to account for the sunspots and their cyclic behavior.

The

spots vary, in

number and

in location

solar disk, in a cycle with an average length of eleven years.

on the

The mag-

and of the spots reverses itself at the end of each cycle, so that it actually takes twenty-two years for the pattern (that is, the sun's magnetic polarity) to return to its starting point. The spots usually range in size from that of the earth to that of the moon. They are dark because they are relatively cool. Their magnetic fields are sometimes 3,000 times stronger than that of the earth.

netic pattern of the sun

26 E.N. Parker,

222

in

//j/c/..

p.

229

Walter Sullivan

A flare is a cataclysmic event manifested by the appearance, within a few minutes, of a bright cloud covering a large area near a sunspot group. It may last a half hour. As soon as light from a major flare reaches the earth, the lowest part of the ionosphere is badly "sunburnt." Ionization is frequently so dense that all radio waves are absorbed and there is a blackout of long-range radio communications throughout the lifetime of the flare.

The

flare also, in

a manner not yet understood, shoots out particles

is, hydrogen nuclei) at close to the speed of light. Via a path apparently twisted by intervening magnetic fields, they

(mostly protons, that

reach the earth

many minutes

than the light of the

flare and are toward the poles. When these particles strike the atmosphere, they, too, produce ionization and a regional radio blackout near the poles. Finally, a day or two after the flare, there is likely to be a severe magnetic storm on earth. The less energetic particles released by the flare shower into the atmosphere producing auroral displays that spread toward the equator from the polar regions. Electric currents course through the atmosphere and the earth, contorting the earth's magnetic field. One of the most important currents appears to flow around the earth in the outer Van

deflected,

Allen

by the

later

earth's magnetic field,

belt.

Parker points out that, to produce the observed effects, a solar flare must release an enormous amount of energy. The energy in a magnetic storm is comparable to that of a major earthquake. Yet it derives from a small fraction of the energy released by the

flare, which, itself, appears to be greater than the total energy stored in the solar atmosphere

above the

visible surface (that

is,

in the

chromosphere and corona).

This estimate of flare energy is set forth by John A. Simpson, Professor of Physics at the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chi-

who

To account he and Parker believe it must release energy that, after generation in the core of the sun, has somehow been stored in magnetic fields between the sunspots. Some astromomers have reported detecting the annihilation of such fields at the instant of a flare. cago,

for the

A

edited the chapter on the physics of particles.

punch of a

flare,

GIANT SUN FLARE

The flames pictured

liere

are an estimated 30,000 miles loni:

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY Knowledge of these events has been

greatly enlarged by the rocket observations of recent years. Interest in the subject was stimulated, in advance, by the great solar flare of February 23, 1956,

and

satellite

whose released

were so energetic that they penetrated the and atmosphere in all parts of the world. For the first time it was evident that the sun, on occasion, could generate cosmic rays. These were originally thought to be an extremely penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation, differing from light only in wavelength, and "shining" upon the earth equally from all directions. Hence they were called "rays," although it is now known that they are the nuclei of atoms traveling so close to the speed of light that many of them can penetrate three feet of lead. In Simpson's words, their origin and means of acceleration are among the "major problems" of contemporary physics. One explanation of cosmic ray acceleration is that proposed by Fermi in which particles, moving through the vacuity of space between the stars, sometimes collide with moving magnetic fields in a manner that gradually builds up their speed. The particles released by the sun are weak, as cosmic rays go, and therefore cannot normally cut across particles

earth's magnetic field

the force lines of the earth's magnetic field (or penetrate the atmosphere).

It is

for this reason that the polar blackouts are limited to the

where the force lines lie parallel to the flight flare was an exception, and its demonstration that the sun generates cosmic rays showed that at least some cosmic ray particles may originate in sun-like stars and subsequently be accelerated. Among the puzzles in the record of cosmic ray intensity have been the so-called Forbush decreases. They are named for Scott E. Forbush regions, near the poles,

path of the particles.

The 1956

of the Carnegie Institution of Washington,

who

first identified

them,

and are marked decreases of cosmic ray intensity that accompany some magnetic storms. Their most striking feature is the fact that, although the cutting off of the rays from the earth occurs quite abruptly, the return to normal is a gradual process continuing for many days after the storm has passed. Probably the most popular explanation is that the decrease is caused by deflection of the rays by the same clouds of solar gas that cause the magnetic storm.

The

effect lingers after the

storm because, although the gas cloud or clouds have passed beyond the earth, they still shield our planet from parts of the heavens in which the rays originate. One of the most exciting experiments in early

search was the launching of Pioneer

V on March

American space re11,1 960. This was

man's first effort to explore deeply into interplanetary space, for the payloads previously tossed past the moon by the United States and the Soviet Union were equipped to make observations only in the earth-moon vicinity. Pioneer V continued sending signals until it was 22 1/2 million miles away and, by a stroke of good fortune, it observed the effects of a solar flare when it was some 3,000,000 miles from the 224

Walter Sullivan

earth in the general direction of the sun.^'^

was

Among

its

the passage of high-energy particles that, a few

observations

moments

later,

produced a polar blackout on the earth. Two years earlier a watch for such blackouts had been initiated as part of the I.G.Y. and, by this time, several dozen had been observed. Likewise, Pioneer V detected a Forbush decrease almost simultaneously with its observation on earth, showing that such phenomena involve a sizeable area in the solar system (rather than a local region centered on the earth). The "ring current," long postulated by theorists as girdling the equator in space, was detected at an elevation of 33,500 miles above the equator. Its intensity was estimated at 5,000,000 amperes. Parker, in his contribution to Science in Space, sets forth the concept of a "solar wind" with which he is associated in the scientific world. This is the view that gas is constantly blowing out in all directions from the sun. As evidence he cites the strange behavior of comet tails, which point away from the sun regardless of the direction of their motion, suggesting that they are "blown" out by a solar wind. In this picture of earth-sun relationships, events on the sun produce "gusts" in the solar wind. According to the opposing view, there is little or no solar wind in the vicinity of the earth, apart from the gas clouds that erupt periodically from the sun. Those of this mind argue that the pressure of sunlight is enough to account for the observed behavior of comet tails. Rocket observations reported in 1961 seem to support the latter school of thought, but the matter

is

not necessarily

settled.

Another

series of rocket observations has indicated that tempera-

may reach levels seven times higher than those believed to exist in the core of the sun. The explanation seems to be a magnetic pinching of particles in high-speed, high-energy tures in the vicinity of a solar flare

somewhat similar to what is being done in the laboratory achieve temperatures high enough for a controlled fusion reaction — that is, taming the power of the hydrogen bomb. orbits.

in

an

This

is

effort to

Simpson points out

that,

thanks to the

new

rockets, the inner solar

system "has become one vast laboratory for the investigation of dilute plasmas, magnetic fields, hydromagnetic waves, and shock phenomena that cannot be scaled down for laboratory study." It would not be surprising, he added, if from these studies there emerge new ideas applicable to the problem of controlled fusion. Few developments

would change the course of history so radically as the solution of this problem, for it would provide mankind with unlimited energy, independent of the sun and stored solar energy (such as coal, oil, and It is, therefore, not surprising that much space research is

gasoline).

now aimed at the problems of earth-sun relationships. Eventually, in fact, we can be expected to send probes to observe conditions as close to the sun as four times the solar radius. When we do so, as Goldberg points out, we will need materials more resistant to heat than those 27 See

ibid., p. S4.

225

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY presently available for making instruments. Meanwhile, however, we can learn much by watching the sun and turbulent events in its vicinity from a more respectful distance.

Astronomy of the galaxies

To many

astronomers, the most exciting prospect offered by space technology is the possibility of placing large telescopes outside

The chapter of Science in Space on galactic and extraastronomy tells of at least four institutions in the United States that are working on designs for such instruments. They will have many tasks. It is hard to predict what they will see, any more than Galileo knew what would come to light when he aimed the first telescope at the heavens. In 1961, the first two men to gaze into space from above the obscuring atmosphere — Major Yuri A. Gagarin of the Soviet Union, the first Soviet ''Cosmonaut," and Lieutenant Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American "Astronaut" — saw nothing surprising. This was because their organs of sight, through the course of evolution, had learned to see only the wavelengths that penetrate the the atmosphere.

galactic

atmosphere. By photographing the heavens from above the atmosphere in the infrared and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum, it is expected that we will be able to see the center of our galaxy as well as many unsuspected features. A few rocket-borne glimpses have raised high hopes in this respect. From the ground, the central part of our galaxy is hidden by clouds of dust that cut off the visible portions of the spectrum. Looking outward, we may be able to see galaxies so distant that their motion away from us has shifted their light deep into the infrared. Such a broadening of our horizons might enable us to understand better the nature of the universe as a whole. Another possibility is to find parts of the sky extremely bright in gamma rays. These rays are absorbed in the upper air and never reach the earth. Yet, if we could scan the heavens for gamma rays, we should

be able to tell where cosmic rays come from. Some believe most cosmic rays are generated in the clouds of hot gas produced by the stellar

explosions

known

as supernovae.

However,

their flight paths are

so twisted by magnetic fields in space that they reach the earth uni-

formly from all directions. Gamma rays, being a form of light, ignore magnetism. Therefore, if they are generated in the same clouds as cosmic rays, we should be able to pick out these spots in the heavens. Astronomers are full of other hopes as to what they can accomplish in space.

One

has proposed a space telescope that, by masking out the

around an orbit around the sun, with the radius of the orbit several times larger than that of the earth. This might make it possible to determine far more accurately the distances to near-by stars that must now be computed light

of a near-by

such a

226

star.

star,

should enable us to see planets

in orbit

Another has suggested placing an observatory

in

Walter Sullivan

by

triangulation, using the width of the earth's orbit as a base Hne.

A

rather simple experiment would determine the density and distribution of electrons in near-by areas of the solar system by placing radio receivers in various orbits. They would report to earth the lowest frequency radio emissions from the sun or stars audible at each

The lowness of the frequency of signals that get through indicates the concentration of electrons between the receiver and the source. One of the proposed orbits would be eccentric and tilted sharply to the plane of the ecliptic, so that the receiver would point in the orbit.

travel

away from

the discus-shaped region within which the planets

More

elaborate schemes designed to pinpoint astronomsources of radio emission are under study, such as the unfurling, from a satellite, of wire or mesh antennas a mile or more in width, equipped with supports to keep them spread out in the proper orbit the sun. ical

configuration. Finally, an important astronomical project in space would be to seek out the dimmer members of that family of variable stars known as cepheids, so called because one of the brightest is Delta Cephei in the

The cepheids resemble one another in that they rhythmically vary in brightness. Each one has its characteristic constellation Cepheus.

period, from in others,

maximum

it is

to

maximum.

In some,

it is

a matter of hours;

several weeks. In these brief periods, the brightness of

may double or halve. The study of cepheids seemed at first a rather but in 1912 it suddenly became of momentous the star

abstruse occupation, significance. In that

year Henrietta Leavitt of the Harvard Observatory noticed that the peak brightness of the twenty-five cepheids visible in the Small Magellanic

(that

Cloud varied

is,

in direct

their pulse rate).

The

proportion to the length of their periods brighter the star, the longer the period.

This characteristic had not been noticed before, since the relative brightness of cepheids picked at random in the heavens was primarily determined by their distance from the earth. However, those in the

Small Magellanic Cloud are

all,

essentially, the

same distance from

the

earth.

The discovery that gave astronomers a yardstick to estimate distances far beyond the reach of other methods. As noted earlier, the longest base line available for triangulation is the width of the earth's orbit around the sun. This is so short, on an astronomical scale, that it enables us to calculate distances only to the nearer stars of our own galaxy. Beyond that range it is difficult to tell whether a dim star is faint because it is inherently dim or because it is very far away. Another way to estimate distances to stars in our galaxy is to observe their "proper" motion in relation to the background of far more distant objects. It can generally be assumed that the greater their proper motion, the nearer they are. Although this method is crude, when a statistical analysis is made of the proper motions of a Cepheids occur throughout the

visible universe.

their pulse rate indicates their intrinsic brightness

227

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

number of stars in a group, the results are more dependable. In this way the distances to some of the nearer cepheids were estimated, and it was then possible to calculate their intrinsic brightness, and that of all

other cepheids, as revealed by their periods. This done, wherever

a cepheid could be seen,

in

our galaxy or

tance could quickly be estimated.

The

in

a neighboring one,

result

its dis-

was a vast broadening of

our horizons. The method, however, is still subject to uncertainties. For example, the impediment of the earth's atmosphere sets a limit on our ability to see the dimmer cepheids and has thus limited the accuracy of the curve that we use to represent the relationship between their period and their luminosity. Therefore, to improve our scale of cosmic measurements, one of the first telescopes in space will probably hunt for dim cepheids.

Biological sciences

and space research

chapter of Science TheProfessor of Genetics final

at

in

Space, written by Joshua Lederberg,

Stanford University, and H. Keffer

Hartline of the Rockefeller Institute, both members of the Space Science Board, discusses the biological sciences. The subject matter, whose details are beyond the scope of an essay on the physical sciences, includes problems relating to the origin of life and the idea of "panspermia" (the migration of life spores from one planet to another), as well as the need to avoid contaminating the planets with bacteria or other forms of life that would upset the natural state of those bodies.

Future of space research summing up

InLloyd V.

the opportunities offered

by our entry

into space,

Berkner, Chairman of the Space Science Board, and Hugh Odishaw, its Executive Director, concede that the current man-inspace efforts do not fill any scientific need: "It is not likely that man

can contribute much, if anything, to knowledge or application either by simple orbiting about the earth or mere travel through the interplanetary medium." Automated instruments can do the job better and an astronaut's value as a maintenance man is negligible, for the weight of equipment needed to keep him alive is greater than that of duplicate instruments that could be switched on, automatically, if one fails. The significance of putting man into space is as a first step toward manned exploration of the moon and planets. Such exploration must come, even if only to satisfy the basic spirit of adventure that moves all mankind. Scientifically, as well, no machine can replace the insight of man in studying, on the spot, so strange an environment as another planet. As in all previous exploration, there will be inevitable (perhaps unforeseeable) hazards and lives will be lost. This has been the price paid for venturing into unknown regions, whether they be in Africa, in Antarctica, or on the high seas.

228

Walter Sullivan

In view of the cost and magnitude of the effort, Berkner and

Odishaw

importance of an international approach. They quote statements by Soviet scientists expressing a similar view and describe the co-operation that marked the International Geophysical Year: "Tired of war and dissension, men of all nations turned to 'Mother Earth' for a common effort on which all found it easy to agree." With limitless stress the

space within reach, they add, the opportunities for common efforts are The two authors cite the formation of COS PAR (the Committee on Space Research of the International Council of Scientific

far greater.

Unions), whose task has been to continue co-operation

in this field

(although they avoid discussing the political problems that plagued during its formative period). "In man's brief history," they

COSPAR

cosmic space stands unparalleled. What endeavor in the pursuit of knowledge more compellingly invites the assembly of men and of nations in common creative cause?" write, "the challenge of

Carbon-14 dating

In

December, 1960, the Nobel Prize

in

chemistry went to Willard

F. Libby, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles and former member of the United States Atomic Energy

reward for a research project that began some a quantity of gas from the sewage disposal system of the city of Baltimore. The gas was methane (CH4), an oderless hydrocarbon produced by the decomposition of organic matter. It is not only generated in sewage plants, but is stored beneath the ground where material decayed millions of years ago. Since it is explosive when mixed with air, it is known to coal miners as the dread

Commission. years earlier

It

was

his

when he obtained

"firedamp." freshly-formed methane, for he wished to had grown from the pre-war work of Serge Korff and his colleagues at New York University. In 1939 Korff discovered that neutrons are constantly being produced at the top of the atmosphere by the impacts of incoming cosmic rays. This "spray" of neutrons is itself so energetic that, when they hit the abundant atoms of the isotope nitrogen- 14, they should create atoms of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of about 5,600 years. From the intensity of the neutron spray observed at balloon heights, it was calculated that for every square centimeter at the top of the atmosphere two atoms of carbon-14 should be created per second. Assuming that this has been going on for millions of years, in every second there should be an equal number of carbon-14 atoms decaying back into nitrogen- 14-a typical "steady-state" situation. Libby and his co-worker, E. C. Anderson, tried to calculate what percentage of radioactive carbon (carbon-14) should be mixed with the inert carbon circulating in the air, the seas, and the bodies of living things. They estimated the total carbon in this reservoir of air, water, and living matter at 8.5 grams per square centi-

What Libby needed was

test a hypothesis that

229

4

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY meter of the earth. It should contain, they decided, sufficient carbonproduce fourteen radioactive disintegrations per minute for each 1

to

gram of this carbon. This was because the

and oceans was sufficient of the atmosphere long before it had time for appreciable decay on a 5,600-year time scale. However, as soon as a living thing died, its supply of fresh carbon- 14 would be cut off. As long as anything is alive, its life processes continuously bring in fresh carbon from the outside. Trees and plants draw it from the air in the form of carbon dioxide. Men put fresh carbon into their bones because they eat vegetables (carbohydrates). But once this stops, the carbon in the wood or the bones is isolated. The carbon- 14 in this dead material slowly decays into nitrogen- 14. After some 5,600 years, the number of disintegrations per minute, per gram circulation of the air

to distribute the carbon- 14

of carbon,

is

newly formed

at the top

halved.

Libby saw that the extent of this decay could serve as a clock to determine the age of any sample of ancient wood, bone, or other organic substance. First, however, he had to find out if his calculations were correct, and it was there that the Baltimore sewer gas came in. Methane millions of years old from a mine or oil well would presumably be totally inert, but, if he was right, the carbon in fresh methane should display a radioactivity of fourteen disintegrations per gram per The gas from Baltimore did, in fact, have roughly the expected

minute.

radioactivity.

The next problem was to devise an inexpensive way of making the measurements. The analysis had been done with a thermal diffusion isotope column at a cost of thousands of dollars. What Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago did was to place the carbon samples directly inside a Geiger counter. They surrounded it with iron shielding eight inches thick, which absorbed stray radioactivity from watch dials and other sources. The iron was not enough to stop cosmic rays, but the central Geiger counter was surrounded with a shell of additional counters so wired that, whenever a cosmic ray passed through one of them, it turned off the central counter for about one thousandth of a second. The unshielded counter ticked away at some 500 counts per minute; when shielded, there were still some 100 counts per minute produced by cosmic rays: but the surrounding counters eliminated almost all of these (there was a residual background count of from one to six per minute). With this rig it was possible to set about trying to do some dating. At this stage there was still one possible source of error to be eliminated. Because the ffight of cosmic rays in space is bent by the earth's magnetism, the intensity with which they rain upon the earth is far greater at the poles than

Anderson assembled data

it

is

at the equator.

As

his doctoral thesis,

determine whether or not this regional variation in cosmic rays affected local abundances of carbon- 14. Samples of contemporary organic matter were obtained from throughout

230

to

Walter Sullivan

They included a piece of white spruce from the Yukon, a of elm from Chicago, honeysuckle leaves from Tennessee, oak from

the world. bit

Palestine, ironwood from Majuro Island on the equator, and seal oil from Antarctica. The lowest count (per gram of carbon per minute) was 14.47 ( ±44) in a briar from Geomagnetic Latitude 40° N (in Africa). The highest count was 16.31 ( ±.43) in a eucalyptus from Geomagnetic Latitude 45° S (in Australia). It was clear that winds spread carbon- 14 uniformly over the globe. The final test was to use the carbon- 14 method to date ancient objects whose age was already known from historical records — a problem, as Libby put it, "which led us to mummies.'' For this, it was nec-

essary to pin

down

the half-life of carbon- 14 as accurately as possible.

Measurements by various groups produced somewhat differing results (5,513, 5,580, and 5,589 years). A compromise figure of 5,568 years was adopted, and Libby's group, now joined by J. R. Arnold, went in search of specimens. The oldest that they could obtain whose ages were known even approximately were bits of wood found in the brick structure of two tombs at Saqqara in Egypt. Both tombs dated from the First Dynasty, one being the resting place of King Zet and the other the tomb of the Vizier Hemaka from the reign of King Udimu. The ages of both tombs have been placed by archaeologists at 4,900 years, with a possible error as great as 200 years. Other samples, of somewhat less antiquity, included cedar wood from a chamber within the Southern Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, and a sample from the deck of a funeral ship found in the tomb of Sesostris III of Egypt and now in the Chicago Museum of Natural History. Even its paddles are still intact. A specimen of wood was also obtained from the outer sarcophagus of Aha-nakht at El Bersheh. One of the most precisely dated specimens used in the study was taken from the heart of a giant sequoia. Known as the Centennial Stump, the tree was felled in 1874. The sample consisted of material lying between the 2,802nd and 2,905th rings from the outside of the tree. The fact that its carbon proved to be that old showed that the wood in the heart of the tree was isolated from the subsequent growth process. Other samples included wood from the floor of a hilani ("palace") at Tayinat, in north Syria, which is known to have burned about 675 B.C. Likewise, analysis was done on the linen wrapping of the Book of Isaiah, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Palestine.

wood

Perhaps the specimen most precisely dated of

all,

historically,

was

a

79 A.D. The more recent samples were wood whose age could be determined by counting tree rings. When the radioactivity of these specimens was plotted against the curve of radioactivity to be expected from their loaf of bread charred

known

when

ages, the correlation

volcanic ash buried Pompeii

was remarkable. [On

the

in

accompanying

curve of "knowns" (p. 232), Chicago dates refer to knowns measured by Libby's group at the University of Chicago and Pennsylvania dates to those measured at the University of Pennsylvania.) 231

1

\ '\^ Tree Ring

^ \"^

0.9

(C)

Tree Ring (C)

SAMPLES OF KNOWN AGE (C) Chicago dates (P) Pennsylvania dates (Ralph)

0.8

vtTayinat(C) f\^-- remains one of the

peaks of

political

and

social analysis.^

the political philosopher

who

It is

appropriate, therefore, that

has thought most deeply about the dan-

gers of social disintegration should also be the chief seventeenth-century translator of Thucydides. We refer to Thomas Hobbes. He was obsessed by the possibility that every restraint which subjects man to authority and custom might be dissolved and that society might fall into murderous chaos. None has excelled him in his depiction of a society in which every moral tie has been dissolved and in which man has become a wolf to other men." Karl Marx was in some ways the greatest disciple of Hobbes. He. too. saw social life as a perpetual conflict. In his vision, he saw. instead of restless individuals preoccupied with the fear of their own extermination, classes preoccupied with the

protection or reahzation of their

own

interests. It

is

true that

Marx

looked forward to a conflictless age which would follow on the abolir tion of private property in the instruments of production. The preceding period of human histor\ however, he saw as one in which classes are as wolves to other classes.* The Darwinian conception of .

natural selection, through the conflict of species for existence,

seemed

to give a universal validation to this vision of perpetual instability

of the social order.

The concern of

social science in the present century with the con-

which destroy social order is the natural outgrowth of this tradition. It was not only this inherited tradition summarily indicated

flicts

6 See History of the Peloponnesian War. \ol. 6. pp. ?49a-593a, c. 7 "In such condition there is no place for industn. because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the eanh: no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building: no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force: no knowledge of the face of the eanh: no account of time: no ans: no letters: no society: and which is worst of all. continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man. solitary poor, nasty, brutish, and short." (Leviathan. \ ol. 23. p. 85c 8 See Manifesto of the Communist Parry. \ ol. 50, pp. 4 1 9b.d-425b. 9 See Origin of Species. \ ol. 49. pp. 32a-64d. .

I

249

1

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

above, but also the environment and social situation of social science and of social scientists which made for the prominence of the dissensual elements in the modern social order. The conflicts of generations among American immigrants, ethnic hostility between Negroes and whites in American

between employees and their were the subjects of American

cities, the conflicts

superiors in industrial plants

— these

sociologists. Political scientists in recent years have not been content to describe government organization, laws and administrative decrees, or to restate the doctrines of political theories. They have come under the influence of sociologists. The conception of political society as a war of each against all, and of any political order as no more than an equilibrium of interests, was most forcefully propounded in Arthur F. Bentley's Process of Government. The lively interest in "pressure groups" gave a concrete plausibility to this view. Professor Harold Lasswell's Politics; Who Gets, What, When, How, first published in 1936, and Professor David Truman's Governmental Process (1951) restated, in the idiom of contemporary social science, the ancient notion that politics within a society is no more than a scramble for power and that political order is no more than a balance of power. Thus one side of the ancient tradition was allowed to acquire a disproportionate significance at the cost of other elements which were essential in that tradition. The classical philosophers were interested in the nature and conditions of social order. By a series of subtle shifts in emphasis, their tradition was set into a somewhat different direction.

In the course of time, the balance has righted

itself.

The study of the modern trends,

great philosophers, the fruitful convergence of certain

themselves rooted

in the great

works of the

past,

and the honest conlife have brought

frontation of the plain facts of social and political

about

this readjustment.

some measure because of man's need for membership in a political community. ^^ It is not just as a matter of prudence or interest that man agrees to be a member of a political community; rather his nature requires it. Man's nature requires his participation in an order which transcends the necessities of the maintenance and reproduction of his physiological organism. The Stoic idea that men have a natural sympathy and fellowship with one In Aristotle, the political order exists in

another constitutes another instance where classical

ophy opposes the notion

political philos-

and disintegrative elements are The Hegelian conception of the realm of

that divisive

preponderant in social life.^^ spirit, with its trans-individual existence, was still another resource from which the idea of consensus could be born.^^ the

"Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal .... The proof that the state is a creation of nature and prior to the individual is that the individual, vvhen isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore he is like a part in relation to the whole." {Politics, Vol. 9, p. 446b-c) See Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Vol. 12, p. 292b-d. 12 See Philosophy of History, Vol. 46, pp. 160b-c, 170c- 178a. 10

1

250

Edward A. It

was

not,

however,

gether the traditions of

until Professor Talcott

German

Shils

Parsons brought

idealism, British individualistic

to-

util-

and French positivism (The Structure of Social Action, 1937) that there was restored to contemporary social science the idea of a solidarity based on the sharing of ultimate values which transcend itarianism,

men's individual existences. The individual human being thus came to be seen as a knot in the network of social ties, as a point of crystallization in the structure of beliefs which he receives, shares, and transmits, and of which he is only a stopping point or a way-station. This view has been carried forward by Professor Parsons and the present author, who over many years has been emphasizing the need for social scientists to refocus their attention and to give more prominence to the consensual element in social order. It is a view which has been gathering support, as may be seen in the experimental study of behavior in small groups (T. M. Newcomb, "The Study of Consensus" in Sociology Today, edited by R. K. Merton et al., 1959) and in the discussion of the largest units of social life, such as the national state. It

was only

natural that this righting of the balance of consensual

and dissensual elements should take place. Social scientists have become aware that there is more in social life than conflict, withdrawal, and alienation. They have become aware that if their particular conceptions were generalized, society would be a state of nature. ^^ They know that society is not a state of nature and their task is to explain it. That is why recently there has come to be such emphasis on consensus.

The most

significant namifestation of this trend

is to be seen in the Martin Lipset, Political Man (1960). Professor Lipset is highly proficient in the analysis of survey data; i.e., data gathered by the technique of public opinion polling. In the past, this has been subjected on the whole to only superficial analysis; very few writers have attempted to deal with basic problems on the basis of such data. Professor Lipset is a notable exception. In his recent book, he inquires into the prerequisites for the stability of a demo-

important book of Professor

cratic political order.

S.

He shows

that

democracy has flourished best

under conditions of a high and rising standard of living, of an expanding economy, and of a high level of education, spread widely over the population at large. Countries in which the middle class is small, with the result that the differences in culture and outlook of the upper and the lower classes are pronouncedly different from each other, are more likely to have vehement class conflict, and democracy is accordingly less stable there. Where the middle class is larger, there is a less profound cleavage between the classes, and democracy is accordingly

more 13

stable.

A

state of nature in which conflict is dominant is described in Hobbes's Leviathan, Vol. 23, pp. 84c-86b. Differing descriptions of the state of nature are offered by Locke in Concerninf' Civil Government, Vol. 35, pp. 25d-28c, and by Rousseau in On the Ori^iin of Inequality, Vol. 38, pp. 334b-347a.

251

The divisive tendencies in societies are held in check where political parties cut across class, religious, and political lines, e.g., the Republican Party, which includes among its leaders the three men pictured above It is

cy; nor

not,

however, economic expansion as such that aids democra-

is it

a high standard of living, a wide diffusion of education, or a

strong middle class. These factors influence the stability of the polit-

and the extent to which it is democratic, through their influence on consensus. Education is conducive to sharing in common ical order,

values; a higher standard of living permits a longer period of education

and therewith a longer exposure to the central values of the society. Economic expansion is conducive to optimism and the acceptance of the present situation as a prelude to future improvements. All these factors hold in check divisive tendencies and hostility against the existing order.

There

is

another factor which inhibits divisive,

i.e.,

dissensual,

tendencies. Professor Lipset shows that where political parties are

heterogeneous

in their

kinds of people is

who

less intensive.

composition so that there

is

an overlap

in the

support them, the conflict between the parties

Since the lines which separate party from party

cut across the lines which separate religious groups, social classes, ethnic groups, and regions, disagreements arising from these differ-

ences do not reinforce each other. Instead, the disagreements are muffled and inhibited by agreement, by consensus among those who are, on the particular issue, in disagreement. Here agreement and disagreement may be compared to a lamination in which the lines of strain in the adjacent layers run in different directions. The conception of this particular kind of consensus is rather modern. It received its 252

Edward A.

Shils

by the famous German sociologist Georg work which was recently published in America under the title Conflict and The Web of G roup Affiliation (1955); the idea was taken up and developed by Professor M. Gluckman in Custom and

first

explicit formulation

Simmel

in a

Conflict

in

Africa (1956).

These factors affect the strength of consensus. But what is the consensus which Professor Lipset has in mind? What are its decisive features? First and foremost, Professor Lipset would say, it is agreement about the rules of the democratic system and about the value of its

institutions,

such as the party system, representative assemblies,

freedom of expression and association, the rule of law, etc. In placing this conception of consensus at the foundation of his analysis of the working of modern political systems, Professor Lipset has taken a major step toward establishing a fruitful unity of empirical social research, contemporary social theory, and the Aristotelian idea that a

common belief in

the justice of the prevailing institutions

is

a necessity

for political order. ^^

Approaching the matter from a quite different standpoint, Professor Frank H. Knight (Intelligence and Democratic Action, 1960) has come up with conclusions much like Professor Lipset' s. Professor Knight is an economist, liberal and democratic by conviction, but deeply worried about the possibility of rational social and economic policy. He sees man as excessively submissive and excessively antagonistic to authority when he is confronting it as a citizen, and as excessively enamored of it when he confronts it as an official, elected or appointed. The problem for a democracy is the restraint of the rulers and the willingness of the citizenry to accept authority while taking a rationally critical attitude towards

it.

This immediately brings the phenomenon of consensus into the center of consideration. Professor Knight is an individualist who is aware of the dangers of excessive individualism to the peaceful and reasonable ordering of social affairs and of the limitations which an individualistic orientation imposes, past a certain point,

standing of certain aspects of society.

He

on our under-

occasionally expresses the

suspicion that at the bottom of the phenomenon of consensus there is an experience not unlike communion or a mystical participation. It is interesting to note here that although Professor Knight is one of the most distinguished economic theorists of the present century, and one

who

prefers the ground of reason to any other principle of policy, he is It is from his religious studies that

also a profound student of the Bible.

he has drawn the understanding of the mystical union which enters into his conception of consensus. The consensus which is agreement about the justice of the rules of public life is insufficient. Professor Knight suggests. The individual14 See Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 502a-503d. Aristotle says, in an earlier passage in Politics that "justice the principle of order in pois the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice ... is litical

society"

(p.

446d).

253

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

istic tradition in

which Professor Lipset

still

to the sense of participation in a collectivity

existence of

its

own. Through membership

stands cannot do justice which has a value and an

in

it,

the individual

human

being transcends his individuality and becomes part of a common culture. Of course, the individual organism and the self-consciousness

organized around it does not cease to exist. What does happen some of the individual's self-consciousness is dissolved and he acquires to some extent a sense of being not just a separate member but a continuous part of a collective whole. The dissolution of individuality is very seldom so far-reaching, except in certain mystical states. Something of it exists even in what is called normal experience. Thus far,

which is

is

that

social scientists, with their inherited distrust of anything that smacks of religious experience, have been shy of coping with this subtle and

elusive

phenomenon. The

situation

is

now changing somewhat.

Much

of the credit for such change as has occurred must go to Professor Parsons for his repeated efforts to develop the ideas of Durk-

heim about "collective representations," and to those authors who have tried to elaborate Max Weber's idea of charisma {e.g., Reinhard Bendix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait, New York, 1960). The growth of understanding of this component of our social existence is extremely difficult. It has to contend with the resistance which arises from the individualistic and utilitarian tradition in which most of us have been brought up and which we affirm ethically. Because we are so little at home in thinking about it, it is difficult to investigate it. The techniques of contemporary social science are still insufficiently sensitive,

still

Nor

too superficial, in their penetration into

the task made any easier by the rhetoric have caught a glimpse of the phenomenon of which we speak. C. G. Jung and Mircea Eliade {Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, 1961) are among the most distinguished of these, but their idiom is so anchored in their own tradition, and their grasp of modern social reality is so faint that it is difficult for empirical and individualistic social scientists to assimilate what they have to teach. Nonetheless, the gradual dawning of an awareness of the quasi-religious nature of the dispositions and attachments which make political democracy feasible represents a great step forward in social scientific the depths of the mind.

of writers

who appear

is

to

It is, furthermore, a renewal, with a heightened realism, of the profound insight of the great political philosophers.

thought.

Politics

As we

and mass

society

have just shown,

have advanced in their cohesion and equilibrium of large modern societies, particularly democratic societies. In their effort to further their understanding, they have come up against social scientists

l\ appreciation of the consensual element

in the

the fact that in the great societies of the twentieth century, there

254

is

a

The polls of the Greek city-state was a face-to-face society

problem which has never before been faced on an equally grand scale, namely the problem of very large numbers. This is a problem which Aristotle did not have to face. The polls was a face-to-face society and the mass of the population did not share in the making of political decisions. Moreover, even the numbers of those

who

lived in the city but did not share in the privileges or responsi-

bilities

of citizenship were as nothing compared with the populations in antiquity, of popular

of modern societies. There was a general fear, participation in politics.

The

great historians of the decline of the

Roman

Republic and of the ordeals of the Empire paid attention not only to the brutality and cynicism of the political leaders, but also to the fickleness and unruliness of the urban mobs and their readiness to join in any type of public disorder. ^^ Shakespeare's Corlolanus epitomizes this conception of the political capacities of the mass of the the

Roman Empire

to the tumultuousness of the

uneducated and

population,^^ and Gibbon's Decline also

makes references

and Fall of

unpropertied in the public sphere.^'' The authors of The Federalist inherited this tradition, and they did not, despite their republican and liberal ideas, attenuate it greatly. Their great genius went, among other things, into the softening of the impact of the masses in politics. ^^ Their apprehensions did not yet

reach to the problem of a vastly populous and far-flung society which 15

See, for example, Tacitus' Histories, Vol. 15, pp. 197d. 265a-b. and Plutarch's Lives, Vol. 14.

pp. 809c-810c. 16 See Vol. 27, pp. 351a-392a, c. 17 See, for example, Vol. 40, p. 510b-d. 18 See, for example, Vol. 43, pp. 192c-d, 205c-d, 214c-215a.

255

LAW

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

admits the masses into

Alexis

de Toqueville

its

political life. Alexis

de Tocqueville

in his

America was the first writer who confronted this problem. He feared that a mass democracy might degenerate into an amorphous mob, without the discipline of ethical standards, but insistent on uniformity. Professor William Kornhauser has tried to deal with the problem in The Politics of Mass Society (1959). He carries the problem a stage further than Tocqueville. He is no longer fearful of the disintegrative social effects of the entry of the mass of the population into politics. He is concerned rather with the danger to democracy of extremist minorities arising from the tendency of a large-scale industrial society, democratic and equalitarian in its political ethos, to generate anti-democratic attitudes. With more than a century of democratic life separating him from Tocqueville, Kornhauser's book represents what

Democracy

in

social science with

its

new

techniques can contribute to the analysis

of enduring problems. Whereas Tocqueville proceeded largely deductively,

Kornhauser has

at his disposal

a vast body of information on

many monographs on

political movements, demoand anti-democratic. On the whole, Kornhauser's conclusions are optimistic, on the condition that a pluraHstic society is preserved. As long as there is a multiplicity of contending elites, each of which is attached to the system which allows them to exist, there is, he thinks, little danger. Danger comes only when the poHtical and civic concerns of the whole society become polarized into a few massive organizations dominated by aggressive and ruthless leaders acting nominally on be-

voting behavior and

cratic

half of a large but apathetic following.

As long as members of a society live in their normal multiplicity of attachments to kin and church, neighborhood and place of work, poparty and civic association, there is little danger of their becoming vulnerable to the demagogy of a mass movement. Only those who have, as a result of the excessive mobility sometimes exacted by the industrial system, suffered the rupture of their network of attachments are in danger of being swept into a vast mass movement which attempts to overthrow the existing society on behalf of some simplilitical

fied principle.

When man

ceases to be a "political animal," he becomes "tribeless,

lawless, heartless," as Aristotle

said,

quoting Homer. ^^

When

ceases to be a "political animal," he "plunges into a passion" for

he

civil

The great problem is: What causes him to cease being a "poHtical animal"? The destruction of the pluralistic network, of his ties to family, neighborhood, profession, church, and friends drives him to put all of himself into the political sphere. The result is ideological politics, to which the consensus of the political order means nothing. It is this rather than the sharing by the mass of the population in political decision that endangers democratic society.

war.

19 Politics, Vol. 9, p.

256

446b

Edward A.

Mass

Shils

culture

fear of the ancients that the mass of the population, Thegreat might become a

living in

mob, destructive of the social order, has not only been taken up by modern social scientists, like Professor Kornhauser, and resolved, but it has also been extended into the sphere of culture, where it has been given a new meaning. The political interpretation of the dangers of the mob was given a cultural emphasis in cities,

the course of the nineteenth century. Tocqueville thought that political

democracy would have profound

cultural

consequences and on

the whole result in a lowering of the cultural tone. Similar views were

expressed by later writers

like

Burckhardt and Nietzsche who had be-

hind them, in addition to the revolutions which Tocqueville

knew when

he wrote Democracy in America, the European revolutions of 1848, and the Paris Commune of the coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon of 1 85 aristocratic European thinkers to attributed by 1871. All these were political and cultural population into of the of the mass intrusion the 1

,

life.

on the whole, concern themselves with the consequences of the entry of the poor into zones of society from which they had hitherto been excluded. The vulgarity of the comSocial scientists did not,

cultural

mon pleasures, the coarseness of popular culture never penetrated the concerns of social scientists. The results of folklorists' research did not reach sociologists, and political scientists and anthropologists did

WENTWORTH STREET by Gustave Dore Until recently, studies of the poor were concerned only with their poverty, livini,'

conditions,

and rootlessness

!57

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

not give any attention to the folk and popular culture of

modern

soci-

A

few exceptions, such as Geoffrey Gorer's Hot Strip Tease, found no echo among social scientists; and H. L. Mencken's The American Language, which is the greatest record of American popular culture as precipitated in the language of the country, has been completely disregarded by social scientists. Social scientists did study the poor, but it was the misery of their lives arising from poverty, their insalubrious living conditions, their alleged loss of a framework of traditional beliefs and practices which were the main objects of interest. It was generally assumed that such pleasures as they got from life did no harm to anyone except possibly themselves. It was expected that with the improvement of their material conditions and with better education they would come to share in the great cultural inheritance already enjoyed by the educated classes. Sociologists and political scientists began to analyze the content of the mass media — particularly radio and television — more than two decades ago. However, they began to take a more critical look only in eties.

the past decade.

When

the simpler quantitative analysis of content

was

replaced by a more complex, sometimes impressionistic, sometimes statistical

assessment, the political and broader cultural ramifications

of mass culture

and

came

into the foreground.

Here again Tocqueville's,

to a lesser extent Nietzsche's, critique of the superficiality of the

modern

culture and the base moral qualities of the lower classes provided the tradition. Another factor in the attitude of social scientists was the disillusionment with Marxism and its romantic outlook which

had claimed a superior moral quality for the mass of the population. All these preoccupations were expressed in the large collection of essays on Mass Culture, edited by Bemhard Rosenberg and David White (1957). Few recent works have given such full disclosure of the basic attitudes of social scientists and those writers who have inspired them.

Few show

so clearly the limited scientific basis of their judg-

ment.

For the most part, social scientists have confined themselves to the examination of the content of broadcast and television programs and the extent of listening or viewing in various sections of the population. The studies are summarized in Professor J. T. Klappers's The Effects of Mass Communications (1960), but even they do not inquire into the actual culture of the listening public but only into the specifiable effects

They certainly do not indicate anything remotely resembling an identity between the content of programs and the beliefs and attitudes of the audience. The actual culture of the mass of the population, their knowledge, their beliefs, and their moral standards tend on the whole to be disregarded by sociologists at any level deeper than that of the public opinion poll. Certainly there is no conclusive evidence that the culture of of mass communications.

the less educated sections of the population has been particularly debased by their experience of the mass media. What small evidence

258

Edward A.

Shils

is shows practically no deep and lasting impact on more fundamental moral attitudes. Critics of the culture of the mass of the population in contemporary society are not satisfied with their claims about the impoverishing impact of the mass media on the culture of the mass. They also claim that the vulgarity of mass culture is bringing about a deterioration in the quality of the higher culture produced and consumed by the more edu-

there

cated classes. There

is

However,

it

a certain originality in this contention, but

does have the virtue of raising once more, in a somewhat fresh manner, the question, canvassed since the eighteenth century, concerning the conditions of effective intellectual and cultural growth. In the eighteenth century in England and France, writers like Godwin or Condorcet believed that once intellectual life was emancipated from the pressures of superstition and tyranny, the human mind would unfold its capacities for rational thought and for the enjoyment of beauty. The Marxian doctrine foresaw the same outcome, but it supported its conclusion with a more complicated argument. It regarded intellectual life in modern bourgeois society as hamstrung by the alienation of man from his fellow man, and from his own true nature, by the system of private property. Alienation compelled men to little

truth.

think "ideologically," and forced

ness."

It

was only

in the

working

them

into a state of "false conscious-

class, the harbinger of a society with-

out alienation, that "class interest" and truth concided. In the future society — the communist society — truth and beauty would grow and

be appreciated without obstacle. In the society of the present day, however, such would not be the case. The critics of the cultural state of mass society, many of whom are influenced by Marxist preconceptions, even where they are not Marxists, allege that the system of private property in the media of mass communications damages intellectual culture by corrupting the creative artists and thinkers. It does this by debasing their prospective audience and by corrupting them through the temptation to enter into its service. The large-scale demand of an affluent mass society forces cultural production into bureaucratic forms and this, too, has a degenerative influence. Mr. Dwight Macdonald is the most vigorous

view (presented in his "Theory of Mass Culture," in Mass Society). It has been put trenchantly by a number of contributors to the Daedalus symposium on Mass Society and Mass Culture proponent of

this

(1960), reprinted as Culture for the Millions: Mass Media in Modern Society (1961). The most profound critic of the cultural consequences

of mass society is Miss Hannah Arendt, whose essay in the symposium attempts to show that even the highest cultural creations have become the objects of a basically new and basically unappreciative attitude because of the change in the attitude towards labor in mass society.

To

the present author, practically

all

these judgments

259

seem super-

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

SATURDAY NIGHT The culture of the mass of the populace has been deficient in all societies

and incorrect. Even the weightiest of them, those expressed by Miss Arendt, neglect equally the great creativity of contemporary Western societies in science, art, and literature, as well as the deficiencies of the culture of the populace, and even of most of the elite, in practically all societies outside the contemporary West, whether they be large or small, democratic or oligarchical, affluent or impoverished. They distort the real problem, which is the establishment, extension, and maintenance of high standards of cultural and intellectual creation and experience in populations which have not previously known them. This is a task in contemporary Western societies, where ficial

sections of the populations previously without contact with the great cultural tradition of the it.

It is

West

are

now

being brought into contact with

equally a task in the societies of Asia and Africa, where the

ruling groups are seeking to

modernize their societies and, in the course of doing so, to create a modern culture. The conduct of intellectual life does face problems today which it did not face two hundred years ago. It has become much more organized It is

in

universities

much more

and

in

research institutes than previously. ^^

the object of governmental patronage, with

bureaucratic arrangements which that entails.

involved as scholars, writers, scientists, and students

ever before and growing

all

all

the

The number of persons is

larger than

the time; this entails a far

more com-

system of administration. Furthermore, what these large numbers do is much more in the public eye and more likely to be sub-

plicated

The output has work has become so much more specialworld is in danger of coming apart into non-

ject to the pressure of public opinion than in the past.

become

so

much

greater and

ized that the intellectual

20 The development of "research institutes" was anticipated by Bacon more than 400 years ago. See New Atlantis, Vol. 30, p. 214a-d.

260

Edward A.

communicating life in

the West.

sectors. All of these are

They have

new problems

Shils

for intellectual

arisen from economic growth, from the de-

pendence of technology on research, from the increased size of modlife which the populations desire to enjoy. In some respects, these problems do pose serious threats to intellectual life — but none of them is a product of the barbarity or vulgarity of the mass of the population. In the new countries of Asia and Africa, the great problem is the development of high standards of performance, such as are already widely observed in the advanced countries of the West. The primary problem is the need for indigenous scholars and scientists who can come to share in the standards of the international intellectual community. There are other problems which are more dramatic, such as the antipathy of political demagogues, who denounce the foreignness ern societies, and from the higher level of

of modern intellectual

own

their

life in

countries; intellectual

life is,

methods, even where the substance is indigenous. There is also the resistance presented by the traditional indigenous culture, both within the minds of those who would become modern intellectuals and among those who regard mod-

for the time being, foreign in the origins of

its

ern intellectual activities as a betrayal of the culture of the ancestors.

Then, too, there

is

the resistance to

political bosses, fanatics,

modern

and zealots,

intellectual creation

in totalitarian

from

countries and,

and with less effect, in democratic countries. This brief and very incomplete list of the factors working on and

to a lesser degree

sometimes against the creativity of intellectual and artistic life is suffishow the superficiality of an argument which concentrates on mass culture {i.e., the culture which is offered through the mass media) as the explanation of an alleged and undemonstrated decline in intel-

cient to

lectual standards. 2^

Of

the factors which determine the creativity of genius in science

or literature or

spite the beginning its

nothing

art, practically

of efforts

is

known

systematically, de-

by contemporary psychologists

nature and the conditions of

its

manifestation.

A

to study

large critical bib-

liography on Creativity has been assembled by Morris Stein (1960) which should be helpful in the beginning of inquiry into one of the most crucial problems in the study of man. Interesting work has been

done recently on the activity

— not just

its

social aspects of the effectiveness of intellectual

influence or usefulness but also

The

its

actual success

which influence the effectiveness of intellectual achievement range from the subtlest features in the relationship between student and teacher and the mechanisms of as an intellectual undertaking.

factors

the communication of insight, to the apparently cruder, statistically measurable dimensions of the educational system as a whole.

21

present author has tried to put the problem into its broader context in "The Intellectuals and the Powers," reprinted in part in The Intellectuals (ed. G. B. de Huszar [Chicago: Free Press. I960]), as well as in The Intellectual between Tradition and Modernity: the Indian Situation

The

(1961).

261

LAW

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

The most

penetrating observations on these subjects have

recent years from Professor Michael Polanyi,

who

role of traditional elements in intellectual creation

the traditions of intellectual creativity

come

in

has analyzed the

and the way

in

which

grow and are transmitted

{Per-

sonal Knowledge, 1958). Certain aspects of the structure of the scien-

community

propounded by Professor Polanyi have been in The Logic of Personal Knowledge: Essays presented to Michael Polanyi, 1961). The intellectual world has its own institutions, with a life and equilibrium of their own. These institutions recruit and train, promulgate and allocate tasks, render judgment regarding performances, and promote and propagate accordingly. This community, which is never completely organizable into formal institutions and which depends on a traditionally transmitted discipline of sensibility and imagination, is not, of course, completely autonomous. It is naturally aff'ected by what goes on in the economic and political orders of society. In contrast with the Marxian view, however, which makes intellectual life wholly a function of the relations of production and of classes to each other ,22 the sociological view contends that the scientific and other cultural spheres possess, and must possess if they are to work effectively, a genuine, if partial, autonomy. Like all parts of a larger system, they are contained within a larger system without being simply a by-product of tific

first

elaborated by Bertrand de Jouvenel ("The Republic of Science"

that larger system.

Thus,

we

see that Polanyi's inquiry results in ideas similar to those

from contemporary sociological thought, though the two fields have little contact with each other. Each is in its way a product of a broader tradition from which the inspiration for present work^ has come. Polanyi's ideas have been much influenced by Gestalt psychology, which in turn drew much from the German "philosophy of nature," in which Goethe's ideas of "wholeness" played a central part.^^ The sociological conception of "cultural systems" has been much influenced by Hegel.2^ Both of these sources have a common older arising

source in the Platonic notion of the realm of ideas. ^^ Of course, both Polanyi and contemporary sociology have added, synthesized, and modified considerably the traditions within which they have been working.

The

significant thing for

cient inheritance has criticism

our present purposes is that an anto contemporary problems for the

been adapted

and correction of interpretations of the relations between culand mass society — the latter a phenomenon with no spe-

tural creation

cific parallel in antiquity.

22 "In every historical epoch the prevailing mode of economic production and exchange, and the social organization necessarily following from it, form the basis upon which is built up, and from " (Preface to which alone can be explained, the political and intellectual history of that epoch Manifesto of the Communist Party, Vol. 50, p. 416c-d) 23 "Into the whole how all things blend.

Each

other working, living!" {Faust, Vol. 47, p. 13a) 24 See Philosophy of History, Vol. 46, pp. 176b-177d. 25 For a summary exposition of Plato's theory of ideas, see Parmenides, Vol. 7, pp. 487c-488c.

262

in the

Edward A. Intellectuals

Shils

and ideology

T

he recognition of the existence of a scientific community has gone hand-in-hand with a richer appreciation of the intellectual community in general. It is part of the increasingly sophisticated effort to understand the relationship between culture and the larger society. The role of the intellectual — of the specialist in general ideas, systematic knowledge, and techniques requiring disciplined theoretical study, and of those who cultivate their creativity in the arts — has come to the fore in recent years. One particular aspect of this role has long held attention and continues to do so now, not only because of the great tradition but also because of the unceasing urgency of the problem, i.e., the relationship of the intellectual community to the political

community.

The

interest in the political implications of being

an

intellectual

was

formulated in Plato's distrust of poets in The Republic.^^ Hobbes, anti-classical though he was, continued the classical distrust of men of letters in politics. He extended it, moreover, to a distrust of all those 2"^ who raised questions in politics about the foundations of authority. The role of the philosopher in eighteenth-century France was seen in

first

same way by Tocqueville in L'Ancien Regime. This great anti-intellectual tradition expressed a primarily conservative standpoint. It feared the disruptive effects of great ideas in poli-

the

was, paradoxically, complemented by the socialist attack upon the bourgeois intellectual as a revolutionary. This was the achievement of Marx and Engels, most notably, in The Communist Manifesto, and of Proudhon, whose dislike of literary men went back to Plato. 28 Lenin's great vade mecum of the professional revolutionary, What is to be Done, brought all these currents of thought together. Lenin, like Marx and Engels, believed that the intellectual had too tics. It

many attachments to the bourgeois order ary. Yet Marx and Engels, despite their working class

in bringing

to

become

a true revolution-

primacy of the about the revolution, could not overlook the belief in the

and middle-class revolutionaries in providing the ideas and leadership of the revolutionary movement. Lenin went them one better and said that without the intellectual turning himself into a pro-

role of upper-

fessional revolutionary schooled in theoretical principles, the revolution would never come about. His distrust of the working classes was

even greater than his distrust of intellectuals. These traditions are brought together in The Intellectuals: A Collective Portrait, edited by George de Huszar (1960). The traditions, however, as almost always, contain only part of the truth. Reality has been different. Intellectuals are certainly not always revolutionary in politics; they are not always alienated from public life, nor are they 26 See Vol. 7, pp. 432d-434c. 27 ^ce Leviathan, \/o\. 23, pp. 102d-103a, I49c-I52a. 28 See Vol. 50, p. 432a-d. It is interesting to note that Marx and Engels considered Proudhon himself a pre-eminent example of the bourgeois intellectual.

263

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

always doctrinaire or extremist. They are not always disruptors

in

politics.

A

more

image of the political relationships of the which he lives is required to do justice to actual experience. Intellectuals have always been among the most responsible governmental administrators in many great societies. Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s history of the Roosevelt administration shows what an important part intellectuals played in the United States in the great reforms of the 1930's. Sir Charles P. Snow's Godkin lectures on far

differentiated

intellectual to the polity in

Science and Government (1961) represent another such effort to analyze the position of the intellectual — in this instance, the scientist — as an adviser to government. Snow draws his material from the experi-

ence of two eminent British scientists, Sir Henry Tizard and Lord Cherwell, as advisers to their government on defense policies before and during World War II. (For C. P. Snow's contributions in literature, see pp. 157-160 above.)

Inquiry into the role of intellectuals in their society raises funda-

mental questions about the nature of the social order, and the importance to it of common belief. Professor Lipset, in a chapter of Political

Man,

asserts that the alienation of the

their society has

now

American

ended, and that they are

now

intellectuals

from

integrated into the

main patterns of American thor's

life. Although he quotes the present auskepticism concerning the possibility of perfect integration,

Professor Lipset seems to believe that a state of practically perfect integration can exist.

American

He

thinks that the continuing complaints of

intellectuals against their society are not evidence of imper-

from the distorting influence of the alienwhich the intellectuals are still subject, and which hostile towards the existing order. Professor Lipset

fect integration but only arise

ative traditions to

cause them to feel makes it appear as if such ahenation as exists is unilateral; in doing so, he takes up a position contradictory to his own pluralistic outlook as a

and as a political philosopher. The alienation does not come from the side of the intellectuals. There is a real strain between the outlook connected with an attachment to ideas, general principles, and symbolic constructions in art, science, and literature, on the one hand, and the particular exigencies of daily life. The routine life of society is as alienated from intellectual life as intellectual life is alienated from the executive tasks of ordinary existence, both at the level of the most grandiose decisions and on the humbler planes of society. There is a continuous and subtle interpenetration of the two spheres, through the medium of the educational system and the religious institutions, through the absorption of persons with intellectual training into industry, commerce, administration, and politics, through the media of mass communication, and through books. Those who produce intellectual things such as works of art, literature, and science are drawn into closer contact with those who consume them, and the impact spreads outward through a series sociologist

solely

"There is a real between the outlook connected with an attachment strain

to ideas

.

.

.

art, science,

and

literature,

on the one hand,

and

the particular

exigencies of daily life"

264

Edward A.

Shils

of concentric circles. There

is neither total alienation nor total consensus and integration. There never has been and there never can be. The extremes are only theoretically conceivable extremes; as social science becomes more realistic and more subtle in its techniques, it

will learn to deal

more adequately with complex combinations of con-

sensus and dissensus.

Those who believe

any society could ever be completely inteit as desirable also assume its possibility - ordinarily put forward the view that the integration is to be achieved through the universal acceptance of a coherent system of values and beliefs. Plato was the first of the great minds who asserted the necessity of an all-encompassing body of beliefs — or myths — to make the society stable. ^^ The hardheadedness of Aristotle did not permit him to go this far, but it has been the Platonic view which has had the upper hand in intellectual tradition. The Platonic desire for an integrated society received a powerful impetus in the Reformation. The response to every threat to the prevailing order of society until well into the nineteenth century was to assert the need for a unified system of beliefs authoritatively expounded and, if necessary, coercively enforced. The belief that a society could survive and be effective even though it had no uniformity of belief, no unifying ideology, was the great achievement of British liberalism, particularly of Milton and Locke.^^ They argued that a society would lose more by coercing its members into the acceptance of a common system of belief than it would gain. John Stuart Mill in his essay On Liberty took the next step and asserted that the diversity of views in a society was a condition of that society's progress. ^^ He had no fear that social order would be destroyed by the diversity of grated -and those

that

who

regard

opinions.

However, the Hobbes regarded

away in modern times. some measure of dissensus,

Platonic view did not fade diversity of opinion,

i.e.,

as utterly incompatible with the consensus necessary for order:^^

Rousseau's conception of the "general will" likewise put

all

emphasis

on the need for a fundamental uniformity of opinion;^^ the prescriptions of Auguste Comte for the regeneration of society on a positivescientific basis after the convulsions of the French Revolution, which he attributed to liberal metaphysical speculation, were likewise in favor of a regime of uniformity.

has been the Platonic view which has fascinated sociologists. a conception of an organic society unified by common beliefs. Marxism, with its insistence that only a society or a It

They have operated with

29 See The Republic, Vol. 7, pp. 321a-324c. 30 See Milion, Areopagitica, Vol. 32, pp. 384a-388a, and Locke. A Letter Comernini; Toleration, Vol. 35, pp. 15b-17c, 18d-21c. See Vol. 43, pp. 288d-292a. "Only through diversity of opinion is there, human intellect, a chance of fair play to all sides of the truth." (p. 290a) 32 See Leviathan, Wo\. 23, pp. 102d-103a. 33 See The Social Contract, Vol. 38, pp. 395a-398b. 31

in the existing state

265

of

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND social

umph the

LAW

movement with a coherent and compelling ideology could trior even survive, has influenced even anti-Marxists. Thus one of

most outstanding of the younger sociologists

in the

United States,

Professor Phillip Selznick, has described liberal society as vulnerable to a movement with a powerful ideology such as communism, simply

because

liberal society is not completely integrated in structure or uniideology {The Organizational Weapon, 2nd ed., 1960). Not sociologists resisted this view of the necessity for ideology, par-

fied in

many

ticularly of the necessity for

Toward

an ideological

politics of the intellectuals.

the end of the last decade, however, the argument for plu-

ralism rather than complete integration, and for civil rather than ideological politics, gained

Opium of the

much

ground.

Raymond Aron

published The

and the present author, "The End of Ideology" {Encounter, 1956) and "Ideology and Civility" {Sewanee Review, 1958). The latter two have been reprinted in The Intellectuals and the Powers (1961). The notion of an "end of ideology" became established and was taken up by Professor Daniel Bell as the title and the theme of his collection of essays {The End of Ideology, 1960), as well as by Professor Lipset as the title and topic of the final chapter in Political

As still

Intellectuals (1957),

Man.

a direction of empirical sociological research, the

in its early beginnings.

As

new

line is

a direction of political philosophy, how-

only makes articulate, in the idiom of contemporary discussion, it adds the Burkean critique of ideological politics. Following Burke's critique of the docever,

it

the great tradition of liberal utilitarianism to which trinaires of the

French Revolution of 1789 {Reflections on the Revo-

lution in France), this

new

affirmation of liberal pluralism stresse,s the

inescapability as well as the prudence of accepting the tradition.

This

new

attitude has already aroused

new and more

framework of

among a few

sociol-

approach to the structure of consensus. While insisting on the necessity for consensus, this view has equally stressed the impossibility of a complete consensus and the damage done to a democratic policy by aspiring toward it. This has compelled political philosophers, anthropologists, and sociologists to make a real effort to describe the characteristic value system of any society as more flexible, less consistent, more ambiguous and fragmentary than has been previously asserted. It has also induced a renewed effort to come to grips with the nature of tradition in advanced societies. Naturally, the opposing view has not simply folded up and left the field. It is too deeply rooted in a great philosophical vision of an orogists a

realistic

ganically unified society,

it is

of present-day society, with

too inextricably involved in the critique its

heritage derived from

Marx and from

the romantic reactionary parentage of sociology, to give up so easily. forth a scatter of resistance from the "new and the United States, in such periodicals as Dissent and the Universities and Left Review. These journals tend on the whole to view with dismay and disapproval the dissolution of what It is

already

summoning

left" in Britain

266

Edward A.

was once regarded as the proper outlook of the They reaffirm the tradition of alienation, reclothed affluent society

and the mass

society, both of

Shils

critical intellectual.

in the critique

of the

which they view with

horrified repugnance.

Modern

The

outlook which

entails ety. It

and

society

an

the family expressed in the slogan "end of ideology" understand anew the nature of modern soci-

is

effort to

has long been a cliche that modern society

which moral

is

a soulless machine,

and traditions have been destroyed, in which individualism has run rampant in building an apparatus in which the individual has ceased to count. Concerned only with profit-making, modin

ties

ern society has subordinated every human activity to the pecuniary The organic ties of family and territory have disintegrated;

calculus.

religious faith has evaporated.

Man

is

bound

to

man

only by consid-

eration of prudence and advantage. Urbanization, industrialization,

bureaucratization,

depersonalization,

dehumanization

atomization,

have become the key terms of this interpretation of the nature of modern society. (A summary of some of the sociological inquiries which are alleged to provide the empirical foundation for this interpretation is to be found in The Eclipse of Community: An Interpretation of American Studies by Maurice R. Stein, 1960. Professor Stein shares the melodramatically exaggerated views of the authors whose work

he presents.)

The

idea that an urban society

tion goes

back

philosophers

to antiquity. It

who

is

a scene of sin and moral dissolu-

was not

the view of the great

Greek

regarded the city-state as the highest form of social

BLER STREET

AND GIN LANE — from "The

Hogarth

idea that an urban

a scene of dissolution goes hack to antiquity" society sin

is

and moral

267

LAW

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

was born

life.^"^ It

the austere

in the

Roman

denunciations of the

moralists and historians

Hebrew prophets and in who mourned the death

of rustic Republican virtue amidst the debauchery and corruption of morals and politics in the capital. ^^ Rousseau's praise of the simple life of a small society and his disparagement of the liberal pluralist

modern foundation for this moral reprehension of urThe Marxist critique of capitalistic society had much in common with the Hebrew classical denunciation of the decay of morals in the great city. Marx gave it a "scientific" form by adapting the Ricardian analysis of the market economy to the needs of his moralpolitical problems.^*^ Henry Sumner Maine's Ancient Law, basing idea provided a

ban

life.^^

itself

on the

oped

in the

between "status" and "contract" as devel-

distinction

Hegelian tradition of legal historical studies, also contributed to the "scientific" establishment of this outlook. According to this conception, obligations in past societies were functions of a person's status as a member of a kinship group or a territorial society, while in modern society obligations are no more than contractual. There is, in other words, no spontaneously acknowledged moral bond which holds men together in modern society. Tawney's Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, which assimilated modem society to a joint stock company, drew much from this tradition and greatly strengthened it. The upshot of this tradition is a conception of modern society which lays stress on what are alleged to be its unique qualities among all societies in world history. Beliefless, ration-

and

it seems by biological drives and economic ambitions. Urban sociology, which was for many years the major branch of American sociological inquiry, by selecting certain aspects of Amer-

alistic, secular,

individualistic to the point of inhumanity,

to be driven forward only

ican society for study, appeared to corroborate this view.

The

discus-

"mass society," which accompanied the discussion of "mass culture," has accepted these themes without seriously investigating sion of

their validity.

The

counter- movement in contemporary social science, which has

reasserted and reformulated the idea of consensus and criticized the

conception of ideological politics, has also made itself felt in the analysis of social structure. It has not done so by direct frontal attack, but through a series of studies of the family. Modern writers, not only revolutionary critics of

modern

liberal society like

.Marx and Engels

but also conservatives like Le Play, have claimed that the growth of

modem

society has disintegrated the family.

allege, in

34 See

The Communist Manifesto,

Marx went

that the family

so far as to

had been confined

Politics, Vol. 9, p. 530a-d. 35 See, for example, Tacitus, who complains that the vigor of the soldiers of Imperial Rome "was undermined by luxury, a luxury that transgressed our ancient discipline and the customs of our ancestors, in whose days the power of Rome found a surer foundation in valour than in wealth" {Histories, Vol. 15, pp. 232d-233a). 36 See The Social Contract, Vol. 38, pp. 403a-404a. 37 See Capital, Vol. 50, pp. 37 lc-378d.

268

Edward A. and degraded to nothing more than an exploitative sexual

Shils

relation-

Le

piay^ in his vast studies of family structure {Les Ouvriers Europeens), reported the breakdown of masculine and parental auship.38

and therewith the moral decay of the whole society. These views have been widely accepted by the majority of recent sociologists. It has become a truism of modern sociology that the fam-

thority

ily

has lost

functions except those of procreation and of providhas shrunk to a nucleus of husband and wife and their has been reduced to the nuclear or conjugal family. It is

all its

ing affection. children:

it

It

thought that social mobility has broken the

which binds parents and and sisters lose contact Cousins have become strangers tie

their adult children together, that brothers

with each other on becoming adults. to each other. All this is regarded as part of the process of the dissolution of affectional, moral, and religious ties, characteristic of modern, large-scale urban, industrial society. How different this is from the image of society which was propounded by that most civil-minded of ancient authors, Aristotle, who viewed the family and the household as the most central of all social institutions.^^ The household was an economic institution; it was an institu-

which human beings learned their place in society, in which in which they found care in time of need. was taken for granted, throughout antiquity and in early modern

tion in

they were disciplined, and It

times, that the family

was

the prototype of the larger society, as well

as the seedbed in which the major virtues of social

life

were learned.

Since ancient social thought did not confront a large-scale society, spread over a vast territory,

it

did not contain the corrective for the

which we have been describing. The correction has come rather from the improved realism of empirical inquiry, and from the heightened awareness of the necessary pluralism of any large-scale society, which has been extended to the study of distortions of reality

family relations.

The same

trend of thought which resulted in the restoration of the

to the center of our efforts to understand the the stereotype of the isolated nuclechallenged political order has now landmarks in this reversal of the the of important ar family. The most

problem of consensus

trend of thought just described has been a series of studies of family life in London, conducted by the Institute of Community Studies

(Michael Young and Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, 1957, and Family and Class in a London Suhurh, I960). These are simple investigations into the kinship ties of London working and lower middle-class persons in an old working class district and in a suburb. They testify to the persistent strength of ties beyond the immediate family, and to the important part played by the wife's mother in the maintenance of the extended kinship group. They demonstrate the frequency of conviviality and helpfulness among adult 38 See Manifesto of the Communist Parly, Vol. 50, pp. 427b-428a. 39 See Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 445d-447a.

269

Recent studies testify

to the persistent

strength of

family

ties

even

in industrialized,

highly mobile societies

siblings, the

concern for older

reveal similar features of family

The

and the persistence of connecOther studies in the United States

relatives,

tions over widely dispersed areas.

life.

general theory of action (to which

we

shall refer later) has also

contributed to the reassessment of the situation and structure of the family in modern society. Working within the framework of this theory,

and Ezra Vogel have assembled a number of the most valuable recent writings on the family {A Modem IntroducProfessors

Norman

Bell

tion to the Family, 1960).

The processes of integration

within the fam-

ily, the mechanisms for the maintenance and transmission of moral standards, and the modes of linkage between the family and other insti-

way which demonstrates the power of the family to withstand disintegration. The claims of those theorisits of mass society who declare that modern society is the scene of "atomization" and "dehumanization" are rendered meaningless by this new approach. The basic patterns of all societies are akin and integral to the life of the species. The degree of disorder which the more extreme tutions are presented in a

critics

contend

bility as

is

long as

The need for

characteristic of

human

modern

society

is

not even a possi-

beings remain what they are.

the study of tradition

mode

of change and traditional attachments {i.e., attachment to symbols of the past as regulators of change) were

Tradition

as a

not greatly stressed in the inheritance which modern social analysis received from antiquity. Traditions were accepted as existing, but it was the task of philosophers, as various as Socrates and Bacon, Hobbes and Descartes, to criticize them. Criticism did not necessarily entail the task of understanding why, despite their incapacity to withstand the rational criticism of the philosophical mind, traditions still persisted. It

was not

until

Edmund Burke

criticized the efforts of

French

revolutionaries to create a society according to a rationally precon-

ceived pattern that the analysis of the nature and processes of tradition

270

Edward A.

Shils

The development of linguistic and of folklorist studies in Germany brought to the fore a considerable body of cultural products,

began.

which were transmitted largely if not exclusively by oral communication and which underwent the unplanned adaptive modification which

we now call traditional change. modern society the analysis of tradition made no progress whatsoever. Then slowly, as part of movement we are indicating here, sociologists began to

In the empirical study of for a long time

the larger

awaken

to the

importance of traditional elements

in authority, in sci-

ence, in politics and, indeed, in every sphere of life. The work of Professor Talcott Parsons, here as elsewhere, has played a very important

through his interpretation of the thought of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim and through the frame of reference which he worked out in The Structure of Social Action and in subsequent writings. The task of understanding the nature and working of tradition remains more prominent on the agenda of the social scientists than on the record of their achievements. The effort to reassess the structure of modern society has not yet been expressed in empirical investigapart,

On the theoretical side, howbeen made by a number of writers who have been concerned with the contention that modern society is traditionless. Professor F. A. Hayek (The Constitution of Liberty, 1960) devotes an important chapter to an analysis of the nature of tradition and its role in a free society. Hayek goes back to Burke, as must every tion outside the field of family studies.

ever, real progress has

other author who wishes to treat this so much neglected subject. The present author attempts to advance the analysis of tradition in "Further Thoughts

Afro-Asian

on Tradition and Modernity" (in The Problems of the London, 1961), drawing once more on Burke,

New States,

on his own observations concerning attitudes towards contemporary Asia and Africa.

as well as dition in

.^s=r^*^

*llIfe.

&-vn ^M^ mi^^ _^.#€vi WAY ^^^.^^^^~

VICTIMS

OF THE TERROR

ON THE THE GUILLOTINE

The analysis of tradition began ith

Edmund

Burke's

criticism

of the efforts of the French revolutionaries to create a wholly

new

society

tra-

m ti^m^^w^JiA

mm

^Bl*.

W^'^kK^^

T iH^^BF ._^^ ^^^ '

^^\

271

\ '

.7«-?t^^ri^B

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

The problems involved ficult.

in the

study of tradition are extremely

Social anthropologists have studied

societies."

what they

dif-

call "traditional

However, they have never

of tradition or the grounds for

its

directly confronted the nature acceptance or rejection. No one has

yet studied the adaptability of traditions and their compatibility with non-traditional and anti-traditional elements, such as rational thought, scientific research, revolutionary ideology, critical attitudes

which seems at as such, and each of which

authority, etc., each of to tradition

variety of ways.

The study of

tradition

first

towards

glance to be uncongenial

is

dependent on tradition

is

a subject for which there

in

a is

guidance in classical social and political thought or in contemporary research techniques. An appreciation of its importance for the understanding of contemporary large-scale societies has only very relittle

cently emerged.

The

class structure of society

of men, within each society, into grades according to The division capacities and merits comes down modern their

their

to

social

science from the very origin of Western social thought. Plato regarded the acceptance of differences in merit as the basis of order.'*^

The very

idea of a three-fold division of social classes — the rich, the poor, and

— comes from Aristotle, and it has been unquestionby generations of social scientists. ^^ Karl Marx ac-

the middle class ingly accepted

cepted it and put his powerful rhetoric at its disposal.^^ This division has caused much confusion in sociological analysis and has served as a block to new thought in the same way in which Aristotle's jdeas blocked the development of original ideas in physics. Since the idea of the tripartite division of classes has actually helped to form society, this

problematic theory has acquired the appearance of validity be-

cause of its influence on actual life. Since antiquity, the antagonism between the rich and the poor, between propertied and the unpropertied, between moneylenders and debtors, has been regarded as a major clue to the understanding of society. It was one of the causes of revolution enumerated by Aristotle. ^^ It was adduced by Roman historians to explain the decay of the Roman republic and the violent convulsions which preceded its end.^^ Classical writers were concerned not only with class conflicts; they were also interested in other concomitants of the differences in wealth and power. They were concerned, for example, with the ambitions of individuals and families — Sallust gives much weight to this in his analysis of the Civil War, and Tacitus does the same in his exam40 See The Republic, Vol. 41 See Politics, Vol.

9, pp.

7, pp. 340b-34 1 a. 495c-496d.

42 See Manifesto of the Communist Party, Vol. 50, pp. Allc-AlSz.. 43 See Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 495c-496c, 505a-b. 44 See Plutarch, Lives, Vol. 14, pp. 674c-680d, 682c-689a, and Tacitus, Histories, Vol. 224d-225a.

272

15, pp.

Edward A

.

Shils

ination of the turbulence of the Imperial Epoch.^s bitious

men, sensitive

The action of amand eager to redress the families by guile and con-

to their lowly origins

balance, to elevate themselves and their spiracy has never again been so shrewdly treated. When the matter-of-fact understanding of society was renewed by historians and political philosophers in early modern times, these

themes were taken up again. Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Clarendon, Hobbes, and many lesser minds perceived the central importance of differences in social status, differences in wealth and power, and differences in education and in family connections in attaching people to

them against it. Other writers, especially were more concerned to understand became differentiated into classes, and why some roles

the existing order or turning the

Scotsmen

why

societies

(e.g.,

John

Millar),

were more highly regarded than others. Contemporary social science has not on the whole concerned itself with the first of the great themes of classical social analysis, i.e., revolution. Revolutions have interested many sociologists and political scientists, but the phenomenon has been too grandiose for them to encompass by the methods which they like to use. Interviewing and statistically controlled analysis of the dependence of one kind of action on another are methods of research which are more appropriate to stabler, less violent situations.

phenomenon of

More microscopic

treatments of the

have been more common. The relation between employers and employees in factory and office has become one of the common subjects of sociology; the correlation between class position and intelligence, school achievement, political attitudes, electoral choice, reading habits, television viewing, style of life aspirations, and child-parent relations have been gone into as perhaps no other problems of modern social life. Much of this is summarized by Leonard Reissman in Class in American Society ( 959). It cannot be said that the value of these studies goes beyond a more careful documentation of conclusions which would be reached by a fairly careful observer using more impressionistic methods. A greater deficiency is the fact that very few of the authors attempt to go beyond class

1

their results

which demonstrate

that different social or occupational

or income classes have different modes of hfe and correspondingly different attitudes toward a variety of objects. The great problem dealt with by classical political philosophers and historians, and by those modern historians inspired by Karl Marx -the problem of class conflict in

relation to revolution

-is scarcely dealt with by sociologists,

who are generally Marxist in outlook. Perhaps sociolhave come to recognize so many other factors operative in the

even by those ogists

causation of revolution that they pay little attention to class conflict. Nor do they deal with the inner connection between wealth and poverty on one hand, and self-esteem and self-disparagement on the other. 45 See, for example, the career of Sejanus

in

Tacitus. Annals. Vol.

15.

pp.

273

63d-S4d passim.

12*

•

"Movement between the manual working class

is

and

the

middle class approximately the

same

in all

advanced countries"

Although a good deal of material on the status accorded to different occupations has accumulated, little thought has been given to why some occupations are more highly esteemed than others. Elliott Jaques (The Measurement of Responsibility, 1956) differences

and the tivity

among

a partial exception.

is

The

individuals with respect to their sensitivity to status,

and social consequences of such differences in sensitheme of historians and moralists in the sixteenth and

political

—a

great

seventeenth centuries as well as of the ancient Roman historians — likewise pass without much inquiry. One aspect of social stratification has, however, been very effectively studied in these past years. critics of the ancien regime from

great stress

upon each man's

That

Adam

is

social mobility.

The

liberal

Smith to John Stuart Mill

laid

right to the opportunity to use his talents

according to his lights and to develop himself to the best of his abilities.^^ The argument for equality of opportunity through universal education and the elimination of monopolistic barriers to entry into was a common feature of

the various occupations and professions liberal social philosophy. It

was

was long thought

moved closest world were much more

the country which had

that the

United States and that the

to this ideal

restricted in the range of societies of the old opportunity which they allowed to the gifted and the ambitious. Indeed, part of the explanation of the alleged disintegration of the moral fabric of the "mass society" was seen in the higher rate of social mo-

United States as compared with the more traditional among e.g., Great Britain. Professors Lipset and Bendix {Social Mobility in Industrial Society, 1960) attempt to synthesize all the available data on mobility between occupations all over the world. The authors conclude that the relative amount of movement between the manual working class and the middle class is approximately the same in all advanced countries regardless

bility in the

the advanced societies of the West,

46 See

Adam

293b-302c.

274

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Vol. 39,

p.

300a-c, and

J. S.

Mill,

On

Liberty, Vol. 43, pp.

Edward A.

Shils

of religious or other cultural characteristics which were once thought to be determinative of social mobility. further, although less defin-

A

itively

demonstrated, result of

this inquiry is the

conclusion that the

dichotomy between rigid societies, which permitted no movement between classes, and open societies, which had no restrictions on such movement, is largely a fiction. Thus gradually the wheel is turning. Modern Western industrial society

is

history.

being restored to

There

no attempt

is

but a real attempt

being

its

kinship with other societies in world

to assert that

made

from

all

societies are identical,

to soften the sharp

disjunctions which were once said to societies

all

and unbridgeable modern, advanced other societies of the past and from the modern civilis

mark

off

izations of Asia or Africa.

In

modern

societies the scale of social organization

set to social organization require

and the tasks

modes of administration and types of

authority which were not so frequent in other civilizations. Technological changes have brought economic changes which have rad-

changed the occupational structure of modern societies. The standard of living has been changed by the increased productivity of the modern economy. ically

Yet, with

all,

what was

The fundamental

essential to

man remains

essential to him.

and death, the scarcity of the fruits of nature, and the need to economize resources impose certain basic patterns which limit the range of variation. There is a tendency in men to esteem themselves and others according to their possession of certain characteristic features, and these, too, impose a common pattern. The ties of kinship and affection, the inevitability of authority, the disposition to be autonomous as well as submissive, the need to form a meaningful map of the universe, the sense that some things or symbols are infused with sacredness — all these impose a universal pattern. Variations do occur, and the accumulation of an inheritance from the past, which makes for uniformity, also makes for differences, since no societies which succeed one another in time ever receive the same inheritance. But all these uniformities and variations belong to a single scheme of things. The basic problems of social life remain, because the basic determinant situations remain the same. It is the achievement of contemporary social science to have restored this sense of sameness to our consciousness. The achievement is all the greater since the stock of knowledge, the range of past experience, is now so much richer and more diversified than what was available to our Mediterranean ancestors two millennia ago.

Consensus

facts of birth

in the

new nations

of a movereassessment of the nature of modern society Thement obtain the widest possible frameof thought which seeks is

part

to

for the understanding of social life. Our own society is being seen in a wider historical perspective. This makes us more aware of

work

275

3 SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW common

the problems which our society has in

the past and present. This process involves a

with the societies of

more intense knowledge

of other societies and the process of their development.

This extension of our interest

is

in

a purely internal intellectual progress.

A

some measure a product of few decades ago

social sci-

became aware that genuine intellectual progress in their subwas being blocked as long as each social scientist confined him-

entists

jects

self to the

partment.

boundaries defined by the jurisdiction of his academic dea result of this awareness, political scientists began to

As

absorb the results and methods of sociology, sociologists began to learn more about psychology, etc. Social scientists felt increasingly the inadequacy of an approach which confined them to a single society or a single civilization; this was a result of increased intellectual sophistication, of the emergence of a new intensity and range of curiosity.

The widening of interest is also prompted by the contemplation of Asian and African countries, long lain recumbent under foreign rule, which are now attempting to vitalize themselves. These countries are trying to become modern, and becoming modern means becoming like other contemporary countries. It means trying to acquire institutions and outlooks which have not grown from an indigenous tradition, but which are established as a result of the belief in their efficacy and validity beyond the place of their origin. Ancient Greek philosophers could not have appreciated a situation like this. It was never thought of in antiquity. Barbarians were, and had to remain, barbarians. Their golden splendors and bizarre mores were thought to be separated by an impossible gap from the condition of civilization. Since nations did not progress — there was no notion of progress but only of degeneration — there was no possibility of the barbarians becoming like Greeks. They could only be what they were. Herodotus' interest in oriental empires did not extend to seeing them as a part of a universal pattern. historical development, the discovery of the difference between antiquity and modernity, the consciousness which the Renaissance and the Enlightenment both had of their advance over

The conception of

the "dark ages" class

mark

which believes

the change from antiquity.

in progress

Only an

intellectual

could develop a concept of moderni-

zation.^'^ It is

against this background that the situation of the newly formed

Asia and Africa must be seen. They are trying to become modern. To a considerable extent, they wish in the first place to become nations. They wish to conduct their governmental and political life in a modern style, to pursue policies of economic and social advancement. They wish their governments to foster their nationhood — a conception utterly alien to antiquity. They wish to enhance their status in the world; and in order to do this they must states of

47 For further discussion of the idea of progress, see the introductory essay ter on PROGRESS, Vol. 3, pp. 437a-444a, c.

276

to the

Syntopicon chap-

Edward A

.

Shils

acquire the habiliments of modern societies. Otherwise, they will not feel themselves worthy of respect. They wish to improve their

economies, make their people less poor. They wish to have a modern educational system. They wish to have modern administrative and political institutions. They wish to have popular legitimation for their government; and thus, at least in some measure, they wish to be democratic.

These aspirations raise problems which ancient social thought was not prepared to contemplate. For example, the process of the formation of a society which did not grow out of a kinship group or a household or which was not created by the conquest of one territorial group by another was anticipated neither by Aristotle, nor by Plato, nor by Cicero. They took the existence of their polities for granted. They foresaw the possibilities of their decay, but they had no realistic explanation of their origins. For one thing, they scarcely had the conception of a nation as a collectivity bound together by a sense of affmity among its members. The contract theory offered no explanation of the

formation of either a nation or a state. Nor did a myth of common The idea of a nation as the basis of a state was foreign to ancient political thought. How can Aristotle's discussion of the divine origin.

which men know one another, be made relevant to the Congo, where about 13,000,000 people live in a territory as large as Europe, speak different languages, have no adequate system of transportation and no common educational system? Nor is Machiavelli much more helpful. He gave advice to rulers on how to keep themselves in power; he did not tell them how to form a body of citizens."*^ The great tradition of social and political thought refers to the dangers of the decomposition or disaggregation of what already exists.

polis,^^ in

Even there, the tradition is not very helpful. The disaggregation of Congo after the abdication of the Belgians did not result in a war of each against all. It resulted in the aggravation of rivalries among the

politicians speaking

and acting on behalf of

tribes.

structure of social relations remained intact.

Much

of the sub-

Not everything

is

de-

continued existence on an all powerful government — as Hobbes thought^^ — any more than in contemporary society, bureaucracy and mass communications control and fill the lives of the people. Yet a society needs a coherent government, especially when some of the people demand services and conditions for which wealth

pendent for

its

and authority are necessary. Again, the classical conception of the nature of governments did not envisage such a wide range of activities. This is the situation which contemporary social scientists face in attempting to understand the problems confronting the human race over a large part of the earth's surface. Over the past few years, American, British, and French social scientists -especially the 48 SeePo////c5,Vol. 9,530d. 49 See The Prince, Vol. 23, pp. 3a-36b. 50 See Leviathan, Vol. 23, pp. 99a- 101a.

277

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

Americans — have not hesitated to throw themselves into these tasks. An orderly and intelligent summary of present-day understanding is contained in The Politics of the Developing Areas (1960), edited by Professors Gabriel Almond and James Coleman, and From Empire to Nation (1960) by Rupert Emerson. The former is one of the most valuable works of recent years because it not only attempts to formulate a theoretical, analytical scheme which utilizes the important advances of social thought

in recent years,

contributions of Professors Lucien Pye,

but

it

also attempts, in the

Myron Weiner,

Professor

Coleman himself, Dankwart Rustow, and George Blankston, to apply that scheme to recent and prospective developments in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The work is of outstanding merit as a factual account of the present situation and as an interpretation of the main problems. In a smaller compass, the present author has surveyed the aspirations, the conditions, and prospects of the new states in Political Development in the New States (1961). In all these writings, consensus is at the center. It is of as much relevance to those who would understand underdeveloped societies as it is to those concerned with the advanced societies. The problem of the formation of a polity is the same as the problem of the formation of consensus. In a society and economy which assigns powerful authority to the polity, whether it be democratic or oligarchical, there is a pressing need for a rather far reaching consensus. Modem societies which institutionalize conflict and which require much internal collaboration need consensus to limit conflict and to facilitate co-operation. Underdeveloped societies need it to keep the support of the government intact and to prevent the government from being torn apart. They need consensus so that the measures which their governments enact for the development of the economy and for the modernization of the society will be regarded as legitimate and worthy of obedience and execution. There are different obstacles to consensus: tribal and ethnic loyalties are even greater in backward societies than in advanced societies; the contents of modern education and of the indigenous culture of the populace are even more divergent than in advanced societies, etc. But its functional importance and the conditions of its emergence and maintenance are the same as the problems dealt with by Professor Lipset in Political Man and by other contemporary writers. And insofar as a "civil sense" is at its root, consensus is ultimately connected, through many complications and with many additions, with Aristotle's and Cicero's ideas about the nature of citizenship.^^ The ancients stressed the need for the justice of the existing system of authority to be generally acknowledged. Modern governments aspire to accomplish more than ancient governments, and their citizens are more inclined to view their governments as instruments than as awe-

5

1

See

278

Politics, Vol. 9, pp.

47 1 b,d-475d.

Edward A.

some

repositories of authority.

ments than the populace did

They demand more from in

Western antiquity or

Shils

their govern-

ancient Insofar as an approximation to modern public opinion takes form in the underdeveloped countries, there is pressure oriental

in the

societies.

on government to achieve all sorts of things. For this reason, contemporary social scientists think that in addition to appearing just, governments must give the impression of effective accomplishment if they are to legitimate themselves and thus achieve a society-wide consensus. Authority must be effective to be legitimate. This much contemporary social scientists have learned from Machiavelli. But for modern social scientists, effective authority must do more than proceed decisively against conspirators and revolutionaries. It must accredit itself by its probity, its justice, and its effective purposefulness.

None

of these attributes can be realized without a well-organized

To this matter, Mr. Kenneth Younger has devoted a book. The Public Services in the New States (1960), in which he examines the administrative problems arising from the aspirations of the new states and makes recommendations for the provision of adequate personnel for the administrative service. The educational requirements of a self-modernizing society are subjected to a remarkably comprehensive and imaginative treatment in the report of the Ashby Commission of Post School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria: Investment in Education (1960). With economic and social development so high on the agenda of the new states, it is clear that the adaptation of existing scientific and technological knowledge to their problems, as well as much new research, will be needed. A wide survey of these problems is offered in the symposium on Science in the Advancement of New States (1961), in which Professor Arthur civil

service.

solid

Lewis' "Science and Economic Development"

is

especially valuable.

Economic growth of an The effectiveness or of educational

elite is

not just a function of energy or good

The management and of the econgrowth the of promotion the and of an economic system advanced most the on based art complex of a omy involve the mastery will

scientific research.

of the social sciences. The study of the conditions of economic growth is something new in human history. The classical philosophers and historians thought that countries become rich by conquest or by commercial aptitude or

by the good fortune of the possession of ample natural resources. The notion that a ruler or a government could improve the economic situaand that such policies could be part of a far from the thought of the ancients. The most that a ruler could do by his own artifice was to keep wealth

tion

by deliberate

policies

general theory of the in the

economy was

country. Only in the seventeenth century,

when 279

Mercantilist

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

became articulated into a theory, could it be said that there was now an intellectual, theoretical foundation to the pursuit of na-

policies

tional

enrichment, through governmental policy. In the eighteenth

century, the promotion of economic growth through governmental policy

came

to

be the proper, concern of economists. ^^ Through the

nineteenth century, the science of political economy, from John Stuart Mill to Alfred Marshall, was concerned with the increase of the national

wealth and the enhancement of individual welfare. The emergence of new states in Asia and Africa in the mid-twentieth century, the

the

by the older states on these continents as well as in Latin America to modernize themselves, and the debate about the relative merits of the Western and Communist types of economies have given a great impetus to this branch of economic study. One particular aspect of the discussion of economic growth is releefforts

vant to our discussion in these pages. This is the consideration of the ends of growth and of the consequences of the successful fulfillment of a policy of growth. In antiquity, a balance of virtue and moderation in action and enjoyment was regarded as the right ideal by writers as different as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca. ^^ In modern times, the end of economic policy has been national and individual enrichment. The volume of material goods produced tends to be regarded as the criterion of growth and as a good in itself. The conception of man has also changed. Hobbes's conception of man as a creature restlessly aggrandizing himself as a means of assur-

was basic to the notion of man as Hobbes made no virtue of this; he merely

ing his perpetually threatened safety

a consumer without limits. declared

its

inevitability

and accepted

it

as given.^'* Mandeville^went

a little further: he said that positive benefits for the society would flow from man's efforts to indulge and enrich himself. In general,

throughout the nineteenth century, the classical and medieval condemnation of luxurious and immoderate acquisition and consumption, the

abhorrence of luxury which was so common among the ancient politiand moralists, faded. ^^ It was not only those who favored the bourgeois order of society, with the regime of private property and the freedom of enterprise in a market economy, who accepted this new standpoint. The critics of bourgeois society, too, were hedonists. Marx was not averse to the limitless elevation of the level of material consumption as a general ideal. He was hostile only to the social system in which it was so uncal philosophers

52 See Wealth of Nations.Vol 39, pp. 182a-300d,esp. 182b-192c, 279b-300d. 53 See Plato, Phaedrus, Vol. 7, pp. 120b-c, Laws, p. 715d; and Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Vol. 9,pp. 351c-355a,c. first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind a perpetual and restless deof power after power, that ceaseth only in death. And the cause of this is not always that a man hopes for a more intensive delight than he has already attained to, or that he cannot be content with a moderate power, but because he cannot assure the power and means to live well, which he hath present, without the acquisition of more." (Leviathan, Vol. 23, p. 76d). 55 See, for example, Aristotle, Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 451d-452b; Plutarch, Lives, Vol. 14, pp. 291d292b; and Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Vol. 19, pp. 615d-616c.

54 "In the sire

280

Edward A.

Shils

equally attained.^^ Professor R. H. Tawney's The Acquisitive Society, written from the standpoint of a guild socialist and in the tradition of

William Morris, is one of the few famous socialist books which looks with repugnance on a society in which men make the material standard of Hving their chief interest. Tawney's viewpoint has not found many adherents among those who

concern themselves with economic development. For one thing, most of them are too impressed with the terrible poverty of most of the world, outside the English-speaking countries and northwestern Europe, to think of the problematic moral and aesthetic aspects of a high level of consumption of material goods. Furthermore, most of them really accept the postulate of the goodness of such a style of life. Very recently, however. Professor J. K. Galbraith in The Affluent Society (1958) and M. Bertrand de Jouvenel in Efficiency and Amenity (1960) have brought the entire principle into question. Both these writers, neither of whom is a socialist, ask whether the ideal of a limitlessly rising standard of private consumption is the right ideal of mankind. Both put forward as alternatives, not a regime of austerity or asceticism, but a greater concern with objects of public consumption, such as schools and parks, and a greater concern with the aesthetic consequences of private consumption. De Jouvenel goes further and inquires into the values of higher standards of material consumption purchased at the prices not only of aesthetic values but of such values as satisfaction in work, comradeliness and affection, etc.

The renaissance of the comparative method

The

questioning of

civilization has

some of

the fundamental assumptions of our

been prompted,

in part,

by the

partial realization

of some of the important goals of the humanitarian program of the past two centuries. It is also a function of a greater detachment and a wider and more critical perspective on our own civilization and our own epoch. The transcendence of the departmental boundaries, of academic

gone hand-in-hand with the expansion of the interests of the social sciences to other countries and periods. The extension of interest to the new states of Asia and Africa, with special attention to the two problems of the conditions of political democracy and the conditions of economic growth, which we have cited here for illustrative purposes, is evidence of this multiple transcendence of conventional disciplines, has

standpoints and boundaries.

Asia and Africa used to be the subjects of anthropologists and linguists. Now these specialists are joined by sociologists, economists, political scientists.

There are

still

some

persistent differences.

The

anthropologists tend to confine themselves to village studies, but they now are more frequently inclined to see their villages in the context 56 See Manifesto of the Communist Party, Vol. 50, pp. 428d-42yb.

281

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND

LAW

in a way which they seldom did before. Sociolsegments of the urban population; they are, however, more sensitive now to kinship and to traditional culture and other features of social and cultural life which were previously in the jurisdiction of anthropologists. More fundamental, however, than any of these specific extensions of knowledge is the broadening of perspective which social scientists have recently been experiencing on an unprecedented scale. The result is a renaissance of the comparative approach. It could be said that Aristotle, with his collection of Greek constitutions, and Herodotus, with his gathering of information about people outside the Greek cultural area, were the founders of the comparative method in the best sense.^'^ But Aristotle did not make explicit the relationship between his diverse data and his theory, while Herodotus did not attempt to construct any theories from his data. It was really only with the intellectual aftermath of the age of discoveries that the comparative method — the use of data from diverse societies as a basis for forming general theories — was revived. In Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Vico, and Rousseau are to be seen the antecedents of the present pattern of comparative analysis. Of course, their data about preliterate societies were much more fragmentary than our own, and the validity of these data was extremely doubtful. In the nineteenth century, the assessment of the situation of one society in the context of other societies underwent a reversal, which ended by casting discredit on the very conception of the comparison of societies. For a long time, the "comparative method" remained in the shadows because it was believed to postulate, and in many cases did postulate, a unilinear scale of progressive development on which all societies had their place. This was the result of the influence of the theory of evolution. The comparative method nowadays means only the employment of a scheme of concepts and hypotheses which are applicable to all societies and not just to one's own or to those very similar to one's own. It is a means of testing hypotheses about why a given social phenomenon has happened in a certain way in one country (e.g., why the military took over political power in Iraq or Pakistan) by comparing the situations in which it happened with those of other countries where such events did not occur (e.g., India or Great

of the whole society ogists tend to study

Britain).

The contemporary revival of the comparative method has certainly been greatly stimulated by the growth of interest in the new states. It is not, however, entirely attributable to that development. Indeed, interest in the

new

states might be in equal part attributed to the quest for

a wider framework of social analysis. Social scientists, in breaking out of the narrow confines of their

academic specialization and

their

own civilization and epoch, have

57 See Aristotle, Politics, Vol. 9, pp. 465h-47\d, Athenian Constitution, Vol. and Herodotus, History, Vol. 6, esp. pp. 49a-88a, c.

282

9, pp.

also

553a-584a-c;

Edward A.

Shils

been impelled by an awareness of the unsatisfactoriness of a theory which pretends to universality while reflecting only a parochial and particularistic frame of mind. One of the most revealing indications of this broadening of outlook is the new journal Comparative Studies in Society^ and History, begun in 1958, which is edited by a group of American anthropologists, historians, Islamists, sociologists, and Sinologists, with collaborators from all over the world. It is the explicit aim of this quarterly to foster the comparative approach to the study of societies and their constituent institutions.

Among

the subjects

it

has treated are the position and

role of intellectuals in various societies, frontiers, ethnic minorities, political

and religious sectarianism, bureaucracy, peasantry,

etc.

The theory of action

The

social sciences are not only extending their scope in time

space.

theory

They

are also being deepened by theoretical efforts.

now emerging in the social sciences is interested in man and human action which will have

a conception of

and

The

developing a place for

whatever has happened in the course of history and in all parts of the is no easy task. It is a task at least equal in magnitude to those undertaken by Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, and Hegel. It is not a totally new conception of man which the social sciences wish to promulgate, but one which, growing out of the great intellectual achievements of the past, will also be disciplined by the tremendous accumulation of scientific and historical observation of the past century and a half. The data which have been accumulated by disciplined techniques require an effort at synthesis. It is not an encyclopedia of all recently gathered knowledge which is necessary, but a new system of concepts and hypotheses. Only through these concepts and hypotheses will the classical conceptions of man and society be given a new life more appropriate to the particular concerns of the present world. This

time.

This

is

the direction of the social sciences today.

It is still

very ten-

ambiguous and great gaps remain, but the movement is on its way. The theory which attempts this synthesis may be referred to as the theory of action. It draws on the tradition of utilitarianism, as embodied in Marshallian economics, on German idealism as reinterpreted and modified by Max Weber, and on French positivism in the interpretation given it by Emile Durkheim. The first important stages of the synthesis were undertaken by Professor Talcott Parsons nearly twenty-five years ago, and the work has gone forward since then. It has drawn not only on political philosophy and economtative. Its results are

ics,

still

but also on experimental

psychology,

psychoanalysis, social

and economic history. anthropology, comparative religion, and man as a biological enfor place find a to The theory of action tries acquisition of knowthe power in his for potentialities, tity with plastic social

LAW

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ledge, for his

need for moral judgment, and for aesthetic expression.

attempts to confront the fact that society is not simply an outgrowth of man's nature but is also a product of man's nature operating in an It

environment of other human beings and of physical resources and conwhat arises necessarily from the fact that human action takes place in the context of a system of actions and that this system has its own inherent properties which are not simply derivable from the properties of man as such. ditions. It tries to discern

The exigencies of the

social situation give rise to certain

phenomena

such as authority, organization, and stratification. Man's fundamental moral, cognitive, and expressive needs generate a culture which imposes itself on these phenomena, and they, in their turn, give problems to the culture.

Even though the properties of man remain fundamentally the same through time and in space, and even though every social system has certain common properties, it is necessary to acknowledge also that societies and cultures differ among themselves in the course of history and over the earth's surface. The theory of action must not only be adequate to the basic properties of individual action; it must also be equal to the comprehension and explanation of the diverse forms taken by human society. It is obvious that this program is still in its beginning stages.

The

historical sources of this

direction

mented

new

which the new synthesis in

a large

compendium

is

and the expounded and docu-

theoretical enterprise,

taking, are

entitled

Foundations of Modern

Sociological Theory (1961), edited by Professor Parsons, the present author, and several younger collaborators. This work is intended to

by reproducelements from which it has

disclose the present state of the theory and to exemplify, tion of the

main

texts, the intellectual

grown.

The emerging theory will be more scientific than the ancient and modern political philosophies in the sense that the data on which it is based are more rigorously gathered and more systematically analyzed. The logical structure of the emerging theory will also be closer to the structure of the scientific theories of today. This does not mean, however, that the great

books of the past have now outHved

their useful-

ness.

The

great value of these books does not

scientifically valid theories. It

lie in

their presentation of

Hes rather in their discovery of the most

fundamental problems, and the most fundamental concepts for the analysis of these problems. As long as man remains what he has been, a creature of reason and passion, with a moral conscience, with biological impulses and aesthetic capacities, and as long as man is doomed to die and nature is niggardly, the fundamental concepts which were discovered in Western antiquity will retain their crucial relevance. Contemporary and future social science can improve them, refine them, deepen them, and revise them, but it cannot discard them. 284

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NOTE TO THE READER central issues and Many of thephilosophy are touched upon

the treatment of national, racial,

in social

and

political

in

this

review

of recent developments.

Readers interested

much

religious minorities

The

clash of economic interests

and

political factions: the class

war

valuable mate-

the Syntopicon and in the selections

included in Great Books of the Western World. For a general introduction, the

reader

(2)

in further discussion of

these issues will find rial in

5d

should consult the

essay

in

For

Syntopicon chapter on State.

the dis-

cussions of specific issues, the essays and

below

topics listed

be most

will

For discussion of the entry of the masses into public

la.

World

lb.

Lawless mob-rule: the tyranny of

The incompetence of

Books of

cracy

under the following topics:

3^.

Comparison of of the

of

people

the

and the need for leadership: the superiority of monarchy and aristo-

cited in the Syntopicon

Constitution preservation 7. The

cited

the majority

For discussion of the factors contribut-

the Western

see the Syntopicon essay

Democracy

helpful.

ing to stability or instability in the social

order, see the passages in Great

life,

on Aristocracy, and the passages under the following topics:

constitutions:

the political

many and

wisdom

the few: the

mixed

regime as including both

factors tending toward their dissolution la.

The

relative

stability

of different

types of constitutions

Revolution 3c. The causes and

Art effects of revolu-

under different forms of government

tion

State 3/?

(1)

Man

as

by nature a

animal: the

Love

human need for civil bond of men

and patriotism Fear and dependence as the cause of social cohesion: protection and security

5 J (1)

The opposition

The sources of

experience, im-

in

art

agination, and inspiration

For discussion of the

role of the intellec-

community

his participation or

tual in

life,

alienation, see the passages cited

and justice as the

in states: friendship

3/

5.

political

society 3e.

For discussion of the nature of creativity, see the passages cited under

of social groups:

under the

following topics:

Philosophy 6d. The philosopher

as a man of theory or vision: neglect of the practical: withdrawal from the affairs of men

and the marketplace !87

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND State Sd

The

(3)

LAW cumstances: conditions favorable to democracy; progress toward

role or function of experts

democracy

the service of the state

in

State For discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of diversity of opinion, see the essay on Opinion, and the passages cited

3a.

3d.

Truth covering the truth: freedom thought and discussion

of

For discussion of the changing function of the family, see the essay on Family, and the passages cited under the following topics:

society or the state: universal

For discussion of economic growth and value as an end of society, see the essay on Wealth, and the passages cited under the following topics:

Progress 3a. The

increase of opulence: the of labor as a factor in progress

division

Wealth 9a.

Family 1. The

8.

social contract as the origin of

its

8^. Civil liberty as a condition for dis-

2c.

The civil

consent as the basis of the constitution or government of the state

Opinion Advantages and disadvantages of freedom of discussion

of the state from

other communities

under the following topics:

5b.

The development

nature and necessity of the family

Wealth as an element cal common good

in the politi-

9b. Factors determining the prosperity

The

place and rights of the family in the state: the control and education of children

or opulence of states: fluctuations in national prosperity 9d.

Historical observations on the institution of marriage and the family

Government

regulation of produc-

tion, trade, or other aspects of eco-

nomic lOa.

For discussion of the importance of tradition, see the passages cited under the fol-

life

The nature

of wealth as a good: place in the order of goods and

its

its

relation to happiness

lowing topics:

Custom and Convention

It

Custom as unifying a community Custom in relation to order and pro7a.

8.

gress:

the factors of tradition and in-

vention class structure of

society, see the passages cited

6

under

State

Herodotus, The History Thucydides, The History^ of the Pelo-

ponnesian War Plato, The Republic, Statesman, Laws Politics, The Athenian 9 Aristotle, 1

The

classes or sub-groups arising

from the division of labor or

dis-

Constitution

tinctions of birth: the social hier-

14

archy

Numa PomMarcus Cato, Pompey, Alexander, Caesar, DemosPlutarch,

pilius,

For discussion of the in organizing a

the

passages

new

cited

difficulties

involved

under the following

15 Tacitus,

20

Democracy The

suitability of

stitutions to all

288

democratic con-

men under

all cir-

Lycurgus,

Solon, Pericles,

thenes, Cicero

political society, see

topics:

4d.

reader to be reminded of

these are:

For discussion of the

5c.

may help the many works

of social and political philosophy included in Great Books of the Western World. The most important of

the

23

The Annals, The Histories

Thomas Aquinas, "Treatise on Law" in Summa Theologica NicoLO

Machiavelli.

Thomas Hobbes.

The

Leviathan

Prince

Edward A 32 35

John Milton, Areopagitica John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration, Concerning Civil Govern-

ment 38 Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws Jean Jacques Rousseau, On the Origin

of

Inequality,

On

Political

and for

tions their

Declaration

of

Independence

The Constitution of the U.S. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, The Federalist J. S. Mill, On Liberty, Representative Government, Utilitarianism 46 Hegel, The Philosophy of Right, The Philosophy of History

the Analysis of the Ego, Thoughts the Times on War and Death,

Civilization

Right

The

Shils

50 Karl Marx, Capital Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party 54 Sigmund Freud, Group Psychology

Economy, The Social Contract Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Immanuel Kant, The Science of

Articles of Confederation

.

and Its Discontents

For a general introduction political

to social

and

philosophy, the following selec-

particularly recommended for brevity and their concise treat-

are

ment of the central issues: Plato, The Republic, Books and II Aristotle, Politics, Book Machiavelli, The Prince HoBBES, Leviathan, Chapters 13-21 and 29 Locke. Concerning Civil Government Rousseau. On Political Economy Mill, On Liberty I

I

Marx-Engels, Manifesto of munist Party

!89

the

Com-

GILBERT CANT 1949. 1

940.

has been the Medicine Editor of Time magazine since

He was born and educated He has worked for several

a war correspondent for the

New

in

England, and became a U.

British

S. citizen in

and American newspapers and was

York Post.

He

joined the staff of Time in

1944. Author of three books on naval history, he has also written several Public Affairs pamphlets on medicine, and has appeared frequently on evision, notably

290

on NBC's Today.

tel-

Biological sciences and medicine GILBERT CANT

By the agency of man, a new aspect of things, a new comes into view.

universe,

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

four-hundredth anniversary of the TheBaron

birth of Sir Francis Bacon, Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, was little noted though his name will be long remembered. Under the joint sponsorship of the University of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society, commemoration exercises were held at which the Provost of the University, Loren C. Eiseley, delivered the principal elegiac address. To eulogize Bacon is no easy task. The biographical introduction to his selected works in Volume 30 of Great Books of the Western World recognizes his intellectual greatness, but it is weighted heavily by concern for his ethical shortcomings. Such an ambivalence, suggested Eiseley, has been characteristic of every age since Bacon's. Perhaps because he left his name — in his own phrase — for the "next ages" to judge, each succeeding age has felt itself obliged to sit in judgment upon him. In Eiseley's post-Freudian view, each age, in so doing, is judging itself and projecting upon the memory of Bacon its own fears, its own hatreds, and its own failures of understanding. Although the importance of Bacon's role in laying the groundwork for the establishment of the Royal Society (which celebrated its tercentenary in 1 960) may be disputed, as his own claims to be considered a serious scientist are emphatically disputed, there is no denying that in his writings there is to be found a prophetic outline of virtually all that modern science has set out to do and is already achieving in part. For his posterity, the most important single element of Bacon's philosophy is a basic attitude of mind. Despite his own religious, legal, and philosophical training, he was able to cut loose from traditional anchors and to sail boldly toward a New Atlantis of the mind. To do so, he was obliged to go directly counter to the prevailing attitude towards the natural world, or as Bacon put it: is not to be narrowed till it will go into the understanding (which has been done hitherto), but the understanding to be expanded Then, and only and opened till it can take in the image of the world.

The world

.

.

.

291

^

BIOIOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE we no longer be kept dancing within little rings, like persons bewitched, but our range and circuit will be as wide as the compass of the then, shall

world. ^

To break

out of the

"little

many

rings" in which so

poraries were content to remain.

Bacon

great circles of scientific investigation

laid out for

— some

of his contem-

himself a series of

of them so remote from

the generally accepted understanding of his time that he had to present them as part of a Utopia. In the closing pages of New Atlantis, he

Francis Bacon

sketched most of the lines along which modern biochemical, biological, medical, surgical, and pharmacological research has been directed, with appropriate attention to horticulture and animal husbandry. His

we

reference to "chambers of health, where

qualify the air as

we

think

good and proper for the cure of divers diseases, and preservation of health," might well be invoked by the champions of air-conditioning. Not yet generally accepted but under intensive study is the concept that health and a feeling of well-being depend largely upon the ionization of the air: there is some evidence that most people feel more energetic and pay less attention to minor ills if they inhale an atmosphere which is strongly charged with negative ions. It may also be are in such as suggested that Bacon's description of "drinks effect meat and drink both" is a foretaste of formula diets which have recently become popular and widely publicized items in the United exquisite distillations and States. His reference to "fermentation forms of composition, whereby they incorporate alseparations most as they were natural simples," describes the manufacture of antibiotics and the synthetic analogues of natural substances such as hor.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

mones.

The new universe which Bacon strove so greatly to bring about includes not only the outer universe of space and galaxies, but equally and no less momentously, the inner universes of man (his body, his mind, and his soul), of all living things, and of the essence of life itself.

In the year under review,

man

has

made remarkable

progress in the

much proThe trend of discovery, plotted on paper, is an exponential curve. More than half of all the research scientists who have ever lived and worked on earth are living and working now. One scientist, with more humor than many of his colleagues, suggests that

biological sciences. In a way,

it is

not remarkable that so

gress has been achieved.

since researchers are increasing in

numbers at a faster rate than the more research scientists than

general population, there will soon be there are people on earth.

A

fortunate though coincidental aspect of

much

recent work in the

has effected a confluence of several hitherto discrete currents in speculative investigation. The merger process begins with the nucleic acids (ribonucleic acid or RNA, and deoxyrib-

biological sciences

1

2

is

that

it

Parasceve, Aph. 4 in Works {Boslon: 1863), Vol. See Vol. 30, pp. 21 lc-212c.

292

8, pp.

361-363.

Gilbert

Cant

onucleic acid or DNA), so named because they are found in the nuclei of all living cells, and determine their growth and reproduction. They

key elements in the study of genetics and of heredlower organisms and in man himself. Similarly, the nucleic acids are found to be essentially the same as the cores of viare, therefore, the

itary defects in

ruses and, therefore, intimately associated with the infectivity of these particles — and with a host of diseases. There is also a growing belief that cancer in the human, as well as in many subhuman species, is caused in some manner by viruses or virus-like particles. In this way, the chain of sciences beginning with biochemistry and linking genetics and immunology approaches an end point at which it may explain the origin and eventually supply effective treatment for one of the most devastating groups of human diseases. Dr. Warren Weaver, formerly of the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke during the year of the "vanishing of intellectual boundaries ... between chemistry and physics." He noted: "At superficial levels of application — the cookery level of chemistry and the hardware level of physics — one can still tell the two subjects apart. But fundamentally they have now become one." Dr. Frank Horsfall, who became director of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in 1960, carried this analogy a step farther and suggested that the physical and biological sciences have now met on common ground in the nucleic acids. These master fractions of all living things have molecular weights running into the millions. They are, therefore, far more complex than anything that the physical scientists, whose view of the universe has been scaled to the atom, have hitherto dealt with. At the same time, biological scientists have worked downward in the size of the components with which they deal, from elephants and man, through smaller organisms such as the protozoan parasites and the bacteria, to viruses of which the infective portion is a nucleic acid molecule. Thus, says Dr. Horsfall, it is now possible to speak of "infective molecules" -something which would have been inconceivable only a decade ago. At the same time, the concept of what is life has had to be modified. For almost half a century there has been debate as to whether a virus could be considered a living particle, since it could not reproduce except by invading a more highly organized cell, and since some viruses could be extracted in chemically pure form and crystallized. It was, therefore, reasonable to argue that viruses were essentially chemical particles and belonged not to the animal but to the mineral kingdom. Dr. Wendell Stanley of the University of California, one of the world's outstanding virologists, applies a rough and ready rule: he reasons that

capable of making copies of itself ("self-replication"), an inescapable mark of life and admits the particle to the animal or vegetable kingdom. if

a particle

that ability

is

is

Dr. George W. Beadle, who recently left the California Institute of Technology to assume the chancellorship of the University of Chicago, submits that there is an unbroken spectrum from the smallest and 293

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE atom to the most highly organized and complex of mammalian Hydrogen atoms, under the influence of some forms of radiation, combine to create more complex atoms. To Dr. Beadle, this is essentially the same process as mutation in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Above the atomic level, the mutations are more clearly identifiable and more obviously entitled to be so designated: atoms combine to form molecules which can readily be modified to form other molecules. As they combine, for example, in the case of the amino acids, they create more complex macromolecules such as proteins. simplest species.

Other relatively small molecules combine, by a different system, to form the giant molecules of the nucleic acids. Some nucleic acid (DNA) molecules are as yet indistinguishable from the units of heredity that we customarily call "genes" and may prove to be identical with them.

There

is

no question

that the

gene

the basis of evolution. That there

is

is

mutable, for

its

mutations are

a continuous subspectrum from

one-celled animals up to the most complex of higher organisms has long been recognized. Therefore, Dr. Beadle contends that there is no single point at which a line may be drawn horizontally, through the ascending order from the simplest atom to atom-destroying men, at which it can be said: "Below this line there is non-life and above this line there

delighted

is

life."

some of

The

classic simplicity of this concept

the ancient

Greek philosophers, but

it

would have would have

been disputed by others.^

BASIC BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH Viruses

Virus sist

particles

have been likened

to golf balls

because they con-

of a tight core of nucleic acid, with a shell or "overcoat" of

protein. The core may consist of either ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). A tremendous amount of ingenious effort

has been devoted to ascertaining the detailed structure of the

DNA

molecule, in the hope of learning how this relatively huge but submicroscopic particle is able to dictate not only its own reproduction, but that of all the organisms in whose cell nuclei it occurs. The molecule is in the form of most widely accepted view is that the a double helix, with each of the two intertwined helices containing the sugar and phosphate portions, while the four bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) are arranged in horizontal bars like the rungs still

DNA

3

Plato and Aristotle made a clear philosophical distinction between living and non-living things: only the former move themselves. See Plato, Laws, Vol. 7, p. 763b-c; Aristotle, Physics, Vol. 8, pp. 339b-d, 345b, and On the Soul, Vol. 8, p. 641a-b. Aristotle, however, noted that it is very difficult to say whether certain things are lifeless or living: "Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact line of demarcation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form should lie" {Histor\ ofAnimals, Vol. 9, p.

294

114d).

Gilbert

Cant

of a ladder, joining the helices (see drawing). Complex as it is, this hypothetical structure has been useful to researchers because it fits

many observed phenomena which could

Now

not be otherwise explained. Dr. Robert L. Sinsheimer at the California Institute of Tech-

nology has shown that there is at least one exception to the doublehelix structure in DNA. This is in the core of the smallest virus so far detected, named ''0X 174" and found as a parasite of the common colon bacteria Escherichia coli. Visualized by the electron microscope, molecule is found to consist of only a single helix. Further this details of its structure remain a mystery.

DNA

is important because of its bearing on the mechanism by molecules are able to make copies of themselves. From the postulation of a double-helix structure, it was reasonable to suppose that in reproduction each helical strand made a mirror image of itself. The usual analogy is to represent the molecule as having two

The

which

subject

DNA

By some chemical magic still not even guessed at, the right the manufacture of a new left hand, while the original commands hand left hand directs the manufacture of a new right hand. Presumably, the "ribs" comprising the four bases could also make copies of themselves. This hypothesis may still be proved correct for double-helix molecules,

hands.

^

Model of a

DNA

acid) molecule,

(deoxyribonucleic

left.

A proposed structure of DNA, beUm-

SUGAR-PHOSPHATE STRANDS

AAdenme GGuanme C-Cytosine

TThymine

295

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE

DNA. But the discovery of 174 requires a new theory to explain its self-duplication. The original theory may have to be further modified in the light of research which indicates that some molecules may consist of more than two strands. which may be the commonest form of

DNA

single-strand

in

0X

DNA

The most remarkable probing into was reported from Dr.

the intimate substructure of a

Stanley's laboratory, and concerned the tobacco mosaic virus. This has long been a favorite of researchers and is known for short as TMV. It is a relatively small and also relatively simple virus, with a nucleus of RNA. It attacks the leaves of tobacco plants, causing a disease in which the leaves are marked in a mosaic pattern. was already noteworthy because it was the first virus to be crystallized. Stanley's group had previously determined that the protein overcoat of consisted of a great number of units of a single protein, each unit of which comprised no fewer than 158 amino acids in a chain. Early in 1960, these researchers showed that when they treated the virus with chemicals and altered a single amino acid — it happened to be No. 157 in the chain — this resulted in the creation of a virus with distinctly different infective powers, but with its ability to replicate itself unchanged. The next question was how the 158 amino acids are arranged in the protein chain, and how many such chains or blocks there are in the virus's overcoat. The detailed structure of proteins had previously been determined only for insulin, which contains 5 1 amino acid units, and the enzyme ribonuclease, with 124 units. An incomplete analysis of the 158 amino acids in had been proposed by researchers working in Tubingen. In 1960, Stanley's group established that each particle's overcoat contains about 2,200 molecules of its distinctive protein. Each of these, in turn, was calculated to have a molecular weight of about 1,800, giving a molecular weight for the entire overcoat of almost 40,000,000. By using exquisitely delicate techniques to break down the protein with enzymes, the Stanley group determined the order of the 158 amino acids and identified them all. Their findings require some modification of the proposals made by the Tubingen group, but do not inliving particle

TMV

TMV

TMV

TMV

dicate that the

German work was

points out,

possible that the two laboratories were working with

it

is

slightly different strains or

the

first

virus to have

its

necessarily incorrect.

"breeds" of the virus.

As

Stanley

TMV thus becomes

protein structure determined in detail.

Genetics and heredity

Abbe Mendel's work was belatedly recoghad been assumed that all hereditary information was transmitted by the "units of heredity" or, as they are more familiarly

Since

the importance of

nized,

it

known, "genes." From should be "genetic,"

296

this,

i.e.,

it

followed that

all

hereditary information

gene-determined. This evidently

is

an over-

Gilbert

simplification.

animal

The

fact that there are other hereditary

from the chromosomes and

cells, distinct

virtually

demands a

their

Cant

mechanisms

DNA

in

content,

revision of terminology: "genetic" cannot be con-

synonomous with "hereditary." The existence and importance of non-genetic information mechanisms have been emphasized and to some degree explained by Dr. Winston Salser of the University of Chicago. The discovery of a type sidered as necessarily

of cell inheritance controlled by the structural organization of the cell itself, regardless of the genes in the chromosomes of its nucleus, was re-

ported by Dr. Tracy

M. Sonneborn of Indiana

He showed Paramecium

University.

that radically differing types of the one-celled animal

reproduced themselves true to type in his laboratory, and their progeny established different lines of heredity, despite the fact that they had identical genes. The additional factors influencing heredity are independent not only of the genes, but of the cytoplasm, the jelly-like mass of the cell surrounding the gene-carrying nucleus. Sonneborn and his colleagues had previously shown that there were factors controlling heredity in the cytoplasm, and called them "partners of the genes." The most recent work indicates that factors of a third type reside in the cell. The role of these non-genetic mechanisms of heredity is at present as obscure as was that of the genes themselves for more than half a century. However, much detailed information has been found as to how genes work, and what inborn defects in human infants can be directly attributed to gene abnormalities. The breakthrough came in 1958 when Dr. Jerome J. L. M. Lejeune of Paris showed that a 47th chromosome was

cortex (outer layer) of the

commonly known as monupon the reluctant recognition

present in victims of the congenital defect golian idiocy. This followed so quickly that

man

normally has 46 chromiosomes, instead of 48 as had long that Lejeune's findings were received skeptically at

been assumed, first.

Within two years these findings were reproduced and confirmed in other laboratories, and they were quickly extended to at least a dozen genetic defects other than mongolism. As the result of agreement reached at a conference in Denver in 1959, there is now an international,

uniform system of numbering the human chromosomes

in

pairs

up to No. 22. Mongolism is associated with the tripling of chromosome No. 2 1 Other abnormalities, some of which result in stillbirths or death soon after birth, have been traced to the presence of additional chromosomes numbered 13 through 17, and to defective chromosomes (of which certain parts are missing). Perhaps the most interesting are the .

"intersex" abnormalities resulting from the presence of an additional chromosome. (The two sex chromosomes are not numbered.) A or superfluous X (female) chromosome in a genetic male (normally XY)

X

Y

gives the

XXY combination, which results in an infant whose basically may be obscured by marked feminization of physredundant X in a genetic female gives the combina-

male characteristics ical structures.

A

297

45

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE tion

XXX,

or "superfemale." There

is

also a "double male," with an

XYXY pattern. and

identified

in the

The

The chromosomal anomalies which had been explored by March of 1961 are shown in the accompanying table

order of their discovery. last

item in the table

especially interesting because

is

it

covers

certain forms of leukemia (surprisingly, not the acute leukemia of child-

hood). The aberration detected here is not an additional chromosome, but rather a defective one which may lack one or several of its normal complement of genes. Lejeune has shown that this is associated with a metabolic defect of mongoloid children who are especially subject to

leukemia.

They excrete abnormal amounts of

three biochemical sub-

stances involved in a metabolic chain reaction involving serotonin,

which has been called a "brain hormone." Serotonin is beheved to play an important though as yet undefined role in brain function. Lejeune suggests that mongoloid infants are affected adversely by a low serotonin content in the brain.

Disorders Identified with Chromosomal Aberrations Disorder

Chromosomal Anomaly

Mongolism

One extra #21 chromosome (trisomy)

Clinical

Flattened skull, oblique

eye Klinefelter

One

Syndrome

in

Turner's

One

extra

X chromosome, resulting

XXY pattern

idiocy effects,

sometimes

impaired intelligence

X chromosome missing (XO)

Immature female sexual development

Translocation — fusion of #22 to

#

1

3,

Lesions of the vertebrae,

with some loss of genetic material

borderline intelligence

Same

Exceptional

Extra #21 chromosome, with trans-

Mongolism

location of one to

Unnamed

One

as yet

slit,

Feminizing

Syndrome Polydyspondilism

Symptoms

extra

#

1

7

#

1

3

#

or

as other

chromosome

Multiple malformations;

always

#

#

Trisomy of Patau

Trisomy of either

Superfemale

Trisomy of X chromosome (XXX)

Hypofemale

Part of one

1

3

or

mongols

1

fatal

Anophthalmia, always fatal

1

X chromosome missing

cleft palate;

Impaired intelligence

Female with somewhat masculine appearance

(Partial)

XXXY pattern

Hyperklinefelter

Same

Syndrome

as Klinefelter syn-

drome, with primary amentia

Double Male

XYXY pattern

Malformed

Chromosomal Mosaic

Mixed populations of cells such

True hermaphrodites

as

XY/XO or XXY/XX

Leukemia (chronic

Abnormal autosome

granulocytic and

loss of portion of #2

chromosome

chronic myeloid)

©

1961 Medical World

298

genitalia

resulting 1

or

#22

from

Progressive anemia, internal

hemorrhage and other symptoms of leukemia

News (adapted and reproduced by permission)

Cant

Gilbert

There is evidence from earlier work with the fruit fly Drosophila to suggest that defects of this type, resulting from the lack of certain genetic material,

may be

preparation of

DNA

correctible.

or "digested"

The treatment would

DNA

involve the

containing normal genetic

and the injection of this material into the defective child to left by nature's oversight. Such treatment probably would have to be initiated promptly after birth, because the brain damage may occur within the first few days of life, and prove irreversible unless material,

the gap

fill

counteracted immediately. In a few cases, extraordinarily high chromosome counts have been reported as the result of the failure of chromosomes to divide ("non-

one individual, every chromosome pair had divided abnormally, leaving an additional chromosome for each pair, for a total of 69 chromosomes. In a recent report from Roswell Park Memorial disjunction"). In

Institute in Buffalo, a leukemic child was found to have no fewer than 87 chromosomes — the greatest number yet recorded in a human

being.

Somewhat comparable changes in the genes within chromosomes now postulated to explain the sickle-cell anemia and possibly other

are

blood abnormalities found in Africa and around the Mediterranean. The hemoglobin of "sickling" victims has been found to have the amino acid valine as a substitute for the glutamic acid of normal hemoglobin. This is the end result of a long biochemical process. To explain it, researchers have worked both backward and forward, and suggested how an abnormality in the genetic material, perhaps within a molecule, may operate through a series of complicated steps to pro-

DNA

duce the anemia. The but the hypothesis

is

series of steps as postulated

nevertheless important.

It

may

not be correct,

represents the

first

plausible attempt to show, at this intimate biochemical level, the devel-

opment of a conspicuous abnormality. All mutations are not necessarily harmful, and all chromosomal abnormalities need not hinder the bearer in the struggle for survival, as is shown by the fact that victims of sickle-cell anemia enjoy an unusu-

degree of resistance to malaria. This explains, superficially, their survival in such large numbers that they make up a majority of the population in the most malarial regions of western tropical Africa. So far, there is not a more fundamental explanation of how the defective hemoglobin affords this protection against malaria, unless it is by ally high

medium for the parasites. may produce mutations in the genetic

the simple lack of a suitable

Among

agents that

material

of the chromosome, radiation continues to receive major attention from investigators as well as moralists because of concern over fallout from explosions of atom bombs of various types. The role of radiation was described by Dr. H. J. Muller of Indiana University as 'Mike that of a

shop -if it displaces or breaks one plate, that corresponds to a gene mutation -but if it knocks over a whole shelf, that is equivalent to an abnormality involving an entire chromosome.'^ In

bull in a china

299

Professor H.

J.

Midler,

Nobel Prize-winning geneticist,

with students

Muller's view, whole-chromosome abnormaHties are not likely to persist for more than one generation because the bearers of these defects

do not usually reproduce. (Though an occasional exception in a childbearing mongoloid has been reported.) So only the small-scale mutations, involving abnormalities at the gene level, are likely to be transmitted to future generations, as in sickle-cell anemia. Despite the concern resulting from the dangers of atomic weapons, appears that so far the bulk of the radiation damage in the l^uman species can be traced to X-rays used by physicians. It is too soon to tell how much of this damage consists of gene mutations which may be reflected in future generations. There were notorious cases of the it

misuse of radiation in the 1920's and 1930's by both reputable physicians and outright quacks. At that time, radium preparations were available for prescription and sale with a few or no legal restrictions. Much greater numbers of patients were involved in the later series of medical fads and fashions, when it became customary to use X-rays for such simple and benign conditions as acne and enlargement of the thymus gland in the newborn. Disturbing evidence reported in the year under review suggests that these treatments of a generation ago are being followed by a markedly increased incidence of cancer in patients. Cancer reflects a mutation in somatic (the body's ordinary) ceUs; since radiation was used so haphazardly, it seems unlikely that the specialized genetic cells could have escaped damage in many patients. But there has been favorable news about the X-ray examination of pregnant women. Reports from England in 1957 had suggested that the offspring of women so examined had a higher than average incidence of leukemia. This is not so, according to a more comprehensive British study reported in 1 960. 300

Gilbert

Cant

ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY The

origins of man

One of

the most perplexing problems

earliest

man

arises

from the

in

fact that

determining which

"man"

is

the

almost as difficult to define as is "life." Most paleoanthropologists have concentrated on anatomical features. Dr. L. S. B. Leakey, curator of the Coryndon Museum in Nairobi, belongs to the school which holds that a more reliable

and

what modern man should be willuse of tools that he him-

significant diagnostic feature of

man is the consistent manufactured^ (Many anthropoids and

ing to recognize as early

self

is

modern

the

great apes

have used available ready-made tools such as pointed sticks and sharp stones.) In the Olduvai Gorge, at the southern end of the Great Rift Valley in Tanganyika, on the shore of a prehistoric lake, Leakey has found artifacts which convince him that deliberate tool-making had taken place there, and that the toolmakers must have been close enough to Homo sapiens to be considered "human." Not until 1960 did Leakey report in the National Geographic Magazine, which has supported his work, that a year earlier his wife and co-operator, Mary, had found the skull of what he believes to be the earliest known man. Mrs. Leakey's find consisted at first of the palate of a young male. The palate had been cleft down the center line, but it retained its teeth. These are remarkable for the small incisors and canines, used for biting and tearing, and for the extremely large molars, which are used for chewing. From these dimensions, and from the fact that many artifacts were found in association with skull fragments, Leakey deduced that the owner of the palate and his kin relied upon tools to skin and dismember the small game which is shown by accompanying remains to have been part of their diet. The large molars would be suitable for the original and primarily vegetarian diet. Virtually all the fragments of the same individual's skull were found close to the fractured palate during painstaking work, with a camel's hair brush and dental picks, extending over 19 days. The lower jaw, which might be even more revealing, has not been found. The brain pan of this early man or manlike creature is approximately half the size of modern man's, and the forehead must have shown about the same slope as that o( the modern gorillas. However, Olduvai man evidently walked erect more con-

do the gorillas. Leakey has named his find Zinjanthropus from the ancient Arabic word Zinj for Africa, and has given it the specific name hoisci, in honor of one of the financial backers of his explorations. sistently than

The difficulty in of human ancestry

evaluating the place

o'i

Zinjanthropus

in

the scale

from the manner in which l,eakey has conunder his own auspices and those of his investigations centrated the human remains would eventually be oldest the that Certain backers. results

4 Cf. Aristotle, Parts of Animals, Vol. pp. 295C-296C.

4. pp. 2

I

Sc

2

I

^>c; iirul

Daiu

in. /

//.

Oisanl of Man.

30!

\

ol.

4^.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE

Dr. L. S. B. Leakey

measures

skull

o/Zinjanthropus, which he claims is the world's oldest

At

human.

the left

is

the skull

of a chimpanzee £ National Geographic Magazine

found

in Africa,

he was convinced by 1931 that they would be

lo-

cated at Olduvai. His subsequent finds there serve somewhat too aptly to fulfill his own prophecies. It is also remarkable that they are associated with what he insists

is

a

museum

historic pig as large as a rhinoceros, a at the

of ancient giants: a presheep that stood six feet high

shoulders, a short-necked but heavily-an tiered giraffe, a ba-

boon which he believes to have been the biggest of all primates, and an ostrich which appears to have dwarfed the extinct moa of New Zealand. Despite Leakey's enthusiasm for the

human

qualities of

Zinjanthropus, the creature had a sagittal ridge along the top of skull,

somewhat

like that of the

modern

gorilla,

its

although less promi-

nent.

No

less important than the

lutionary scale

is its

dating.

radioactive carbon- 14 years.

From

is

placement of Zinjanthropus

The

in the

evo-

dating of archaeological finds with

not accurate for more than about 50,000 number of geological as-

the associated fauna and a

sumptions, Leakey makes Zinjanthropus about 600,000 years old. This is somewhat older than the generally accepted ages for Java man {Pithecanthropus) and Peking man (Sinanthropus). It is somewhat younger than the Transvaal hominids, Australopithecus and Paranthropus, which are believed to have lived about 750,000 years ago, and very much later than the ape-like Proconsul, found in 1948 by Leakey and believed by him to be 25,000,000 years old. In the next digging season, Leakey found the fossil remains of part bones, fragments of a skull, some teeth, two and two ribs, at a site close to that of Zinjanthropus. If these remains also prove to represent Zinjanthropus, they should shed considerably more light on the species' relationship with other forms of the

left foot, six finger

collar bones,

302

Gilbert

man

of early

or pre-man, because the structure of the hand

is

Cant

closely

related to the stage of brain evolution.

Since modern

man is so addicted own genealogical

ancestor-worship and to childmost popular interest in anthropology is centered on the findings of early human forms which may be assumed to be in the direct line of descent of Homo sapiens. It ishly climbing his

to

tree,

is still far too early to judge whether Nutcracker man, as Zinjanthropus has been nicknamed, will eventually be accorded a place in this line of

descent. It

is

now

generally conceded that Neanderthal

man

is

not

in the

direct line, but that the species stands in the relationship of a cousin,

which was exterminated (probably during a cannibalistic era) by Aurignacian forms of Homo sapiens. Nevertheless, considerable interest persists in the study of Neanderthal forms, which have been found distributed over an area extending at least as far east as Iraq. In diggings at the Shanidar Caves, three virtually complete skeletons of

Neanderthal forms were unearthed by Dr. Ralph Solecki. From estimates of the temperature changes occurring in the recent geological epoch, the Pleistocene, Drs. John Rosholt and Cesare Emiliani have computed that the last interval between ice ages recorded its highest mean temperatures about 95,000 years ago. The oldest skull now generally accepted as attributable to Homo sapiens was deposited at approximately this time. The earliest man on whose identity there is substantial agreement has hitherto been estimated as anywhere from 50,000 to 150,000 years old. The latest 95,000-year estimate strikes a happy medium.

The beginnings of civilization "n

r

became

civilized. Dr. Paul

tutes of Health has turned to the

Squirrel

monkeys

man (of whatever genus and MacLean of the National Instisquirrel monkey {Saimiri sciurea) for

elucidating the processes by which

species)

MacLean kept two female and four male squirrel monkeys same cage and found, as expected, that one male quickly came

clues.

in

the

to

dominate the entire group, while the other males had a descending status order corresponding to the "pecking order" in chickens. More surprising was the finding that when the dominant male made an aggressive sexual display, this might be either for the purpose of courting

one of the females and inducing her to copulate, or simply to intimidate one of the males lower down in the group's social structure. Male No. 2 used this aggressive sexual display only to intimidate the two males below him in the structure, and male No. 3, only to establish his superiority over male No. 4. It has long been known that display of male genitalia, especially during arousal, has a disturbing effect on human societies -even those

which customarily go almost entirely naked. The findings in squirrel monkeys, combined with observations of human societies, lead to the 303

lOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE hypothesis that concealment of the male genitalia is one of the most important preconditions to the process we call civilization. As long as display by one male was commonplace and certain to evoke anger and hostility in other males, it would be difficult for human social units to grow beyond the single family with one dominant male, one or more mates, and their subadult offspring.

The vast literature, notably the contributions by Sir James Frazer and Sigmund Freud and his followers, on the "primal horde" and on the killing of the aged tribal leader in order to replace him with a younger man, all testify to the survival down to our own day of what may be an archetypal or racial memory of the primitive conditions which have been studied in connection with the monkeys.^ If further investigation shows that it is reasonable to extrapolate from MacLean's findings with squirrel monkeys to Homo sapiens, it will appear that the breechclout is one of the most important factors — if not the most important single element — permitting the civilizing process to develop. It would be difficult for a species in which sexuality is evident the year around, instead of being associated with estrus cycles, to develop an organization involving units larger than the family, without

upon the

hostility

some such brake

and aggression which would be provoked by the

display of sexual arousal. It is

certain that in other

subhuman primates, aggression and

Among baboons

sex-

each subtribal group, a dominant male who makes his own law in regard to both sex and aggression and who will brook no competition from other males. On the other hand, among the howler monkeys of the g^mx^ Alouatta of South America, a more "civilized" tribal structure has developed, but only, it appears, through the suppression of much hostility and aggressiveness, and therefore of overt sexuality.^ uality are closely related.

there

is,

in

New theories concerning ''mind" questions of what "mind" and how related matter Thehave agitated philosophers since the time of the ancient Greeks."^ is

In recent years including

it

to

is

it

has been generally accepted that mental processes,

memory and

reasoning, are largely dependent

upon the

trans-

mission of electrical impulses to the central nervous system — principally the brain — which has been likened to a telephone exchange. This ,

analogy has failed to explain how the nervous system can react to these electrical impulses and store the memory of them. At a meeting in San Francisco in 1960, a Swedish neurophysiologist. Dr. Holger Hyden, reported on some exquisitely delicate experiments 5

See Descent of Man, Vol. 49, the Ego, Vol. 54, pp. 686c-689b.

p.

581a-b; and Freud,

Group Psychology and

the Analysis of

6 Cf. Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, Vol. 54, pp. 781c-789b. See, for example, Aristotle, On the Soul, Vol. 8, pp. 661b-662d; Descartes, Rules, Vol. 31, p. 20a-b, Discourse on Method, Vol. 31, pp. 51d-52a, Meditations, Vol. 31, pp. 77c-81d, 10 Id- 102a; and William James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. 53, pp. 95a- 107b, 6a9b.

7

1

304

1

1

1

Gilbert

Cant

with single neurones which offer at least a brilliantly original working hypothesis as to the biochemical — or, more precisely, electrochemi-

cal—processes of the mind. Hyden and his colleagues separated neurones from their adherent glial or "gluey" cells. They found that when neurones had been stimulated (in monkeys spun on a centrifuge), they showed an increased output of ribonucleic acid (RNA). The glial cells showed a corresponding drop, indicating that they had furnished this

RNA

to

meet the neurones' requirements.

The Hyden

thesis

is

that the neurones need this

RNA

as a source

of energy to generate electric currents to originate or transmit nerve

Hyden suggested, the stimulus may change the arrangement of

impulses. In the higher brain functions, arrives as an electrical impulse and

the bases or other submolecular components on the backbone of an

RNA

molecule. This altered molecule, serving as a template for the

complex chemicals which the neurone produces,

will

then dictate that

the stimulated neurone produce proteins in a pattern specifically re-

message. By this reasoning, memory becomes the imprinting of a chemical code on RNA molecules or their component parts. Each neurone contains thousands of RNA molecules, and a human brain has about three billion neurones. So the number of possible combinations is almost beyond the grasping power of the human brain so composed. Since each neurone may participate simultaneously in many memories because of its variety of imprinted RNA molecules, and since many neurones may participate in the same memory process flecting the recently received

through the imprinting of parts of their RNA content, memory ceases to be a single and relatively simple function like the reaction in a tele-

phone exchange when a particular number is dialed. It becomes at complex as a conference call with several participants. It is not yet certain that Hyden's thesis can be confirmed in other laboratories. However, the Swedish investigator has tentative evidence that

least as

increased suggestibility, reflecting a change proteins produced, can be effected in

man by

in

neuronal

RNA

and the

administering small doses

of a substance called tricyano-amino-propene, and that the process may be reversed with a chemical antidote. At a somewhat different level, a New York neurologist and psychi-

Dr. Harold G. Wolff, suggested that what we call "mind," and commonly regard as being essentially a function of the central nervous system, may actually have a broader biochemical basis extending to the whole organism. He noted that among men who are subjected to atrist,

unusual and prolonged deprivations, generally while in solitary confinement in prison, there is an actual loss of neuronal function. It appears that the central nervous system requires continual stimulation there apif it is to remain fully operative and efficient. Furthermore, and the stimulation neuronal between connection direct a pears to be responsiveness of all somatic cells. In this way. Dr. Wolff suggested,

"mind" may be

said to be inherent in

all

the body's cells.

305

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE

A new hypothesis about dreams most Onemanof has been the

familiar

and universal of phenomena

interested since earliest times

is

in

which

that of his

own

dreaming. Sigmund Freud developed a theory that dreams were for the purpose of preserving sleep, by allowing a partial discharge of psychic energy which, if uncontrolled, would be disturbing.^ He con-

cluded that if a dream awoke the sleeper, it had failed in its sleeppreserving purpose. Freud only hinted at the alternative or comple-

mentary possibility that dreams which awake the sleeper might also have a definite value and purpose in preserving the well-being of the organism. He did not pursue this. Now Dr. Harold M. Voth suggests that the arousal value of dreams may be extremely important. Granted that under many conditions, especially those upon which Freud concentrated his studies, the best adaptation of the sleeper to moderately disturbing psychic products is to remain asleep, there are other conditions in which awakening is a more suitable reaction or adaptation than remaining asleep. Thus, cases of arousal as a result of dreaming may not be failures, as Freud thought, but positive cases of a second mechanism fulfilling its purpose. A more sweeping hypothesis was put before the American Psychiatric Association in 1960 by Dr. William Dement, who had worked in Chicago with Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman. In a series of carefully controlled experiments.

Dement

sleeping volunteers, and

attached electrodes to the eyelids of

by observing the onset of

flickering

was able

dreams. On the average, the subjects did not after they had been asleep for about ten minujes.

to judge the beginning of

begin to dream until

If they were awakened whenever the onset of dreaming was signaled and were thus deprived of dreaming, they showed no appreciable ill effects for one or two nights. But by the third or fourth night of dream deprivation, they showed severe mental changes corresponding to the hallucinations observed in subjects deprived of sensory stimuli. The

longer the dream deprivation, the

more severe

the hallucinations be-

came, no matter how much dreamless sleep was permitted. The hallucinations ended when dreaming was resumed. Dement suggested that the function of dreams might be more important than Freud had envisaged: nothing less than the preservation of sanity.

The occurrence and development of genius Street neurologist Sir Russell Brain addressed himself Theto Harley the genius. Looking the

age-old question of what

problem from

man cells

makes a

at

his specialist's viewpoint, Brain pointed out that the

of genius does not necessarily possess a greater number of nerve than the non-genius. What is important is the organization of

these cells. Brain suggested that in the genius the neurones 8

"Dreams

are the

means of removing, by hallucinatory

sleep." (General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis, Vol. 54, p. 499c) See pp.

306

may be

ar-

satisfaction, mental stimuli that disturb

496b-504d passim.

Gilbert

Cant

ranged in especially complex patterns, to account for "the delicacy of perception and imagination that distinguish genius from talent." Equally time-honored is the question whether geniuses necessarily or only coincidentally show a high incidence of emotional disturbance. Again, Brain's hypothesis covered the admittedly high incidence of mental abnormality and instability in outstanding individuals: this may be simply due to the unusual neurone pattern. Sir Russell saw evidence for this in the fact that the form of insanity most often associated with genius is manic-depressive psychosis. Among the outstanding victims of this disorder, he listed the poet William Cowper, James Boswell, George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, and Sir Isaac Newton. He also made a neurological diagnosis and critique of Jonathan Swift and Samuel Johnson. Considering the formative level, several investigators were concerned to find what it takes for a genius to appear in childhood and for him to be encouraged so that his unique gifts will bear full fruit. Dr. Annette Rosenstiel, a sociologist at Mills College of Education in New York, said that genius must be detected in a child before he goes to school, and she deplored the recent tendency among adults to force unusual children into conventional patterns of play and behavior with their less gifted contemporaries. "By the time a child goes to school," she said, "his early curiosity may have been blunted, his eager probings

iP

for

knowledge thwarted, his questioning sidetracked, and his desire by what to him may appear to be adult disinterest

for learning dulled

and actual opposition." Following a study of geniuses who have graced the American scene in

recent years, Victor Goertzel, a

that the so-called "ideal" family

New York

life, in

psychologist, declared

which parents get along with

each other and with their children, all of whom get along well with each is the worst possible background for outstanding talent or genius. Far better, he suggested, is the family in which disputation is encouraged and freely indulged, but carefully restrained within the bounds of normal civilized disagreement. The ideal family, he proposed, is one in which frequent and furious arguments are resolved, other,

not in the ring, but by resort to a dictionary or encyclopaedia.

STREET SCENE IN

INDIA

Some

experts predict that

within the next

hundred years — if present trends continue — all ire as of the world will be as congested as this Indian district

Population control

According to Heinz von Foerster of the University of Illinois, L Doomsday will fall on Friday, November 13, in the year 2026, because by then the human species will have multiplied so greatly that

its

members

will

be squeezed to death by physical pressure. This is not very far

admittedly exaggerated forecast, printed in Science,

removed from the more pessimistic estimates of what in the in

next hundred years

if

will

happen with-

medicine continues to cut the death rate

underdeveloped countries and

if

the birth rate

is

not substantially

checked. 307

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE Methods of birth control, or as it has become more euphemistically known, "family planning" or ''planned parenthood," which are applicable in the developed countries of the living

and

West with

high standards of

relatively high cash incomes, are not applicable to the devel-

oping countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As a result, miTch research has been directed to the development of an oral contraceptive

be cheap enough for virtually universal distrienough in dosage schedule and method of administration to be used by the illiterate masses. The nearest approach to this is a synthetic chemical, related to the natural progestational hormones which prevent ovulation when a woman is pregnant. The synthetic analogue is taken during the middle part of the menstrual cycle to prevent ovulation. The one which had been most extensively used by the spring of 1961 was Enovid, produced by Searle and Company. In large-scale trials in Puerto Rico and elsewhere, Enovid proved almost, if not completely, successful in preventing ovulation, and therefore in preventing conception. With one doubtful exception, the only unwanted conceptions during the trial were among women who had missed taking their pills for a few days. Most important, the synthetic hormone had no deleterious effect on fertility. On the contrary, there seemed to be a rebound effect, so that immediately after the medication was withdrawn because a couple had decided that the time had come for them to have another child, the wife conceived much sooner than might have been expected without the previous medication. Another important factor was the apparent freedom from untoward effects, most notably a predisposition to cancer of the cervix or uterus. It was too soon to evaluate with any certainty the statistics so far available, but it appeared that the incidence of cancer in the female reproductive tract was no higher, and perhaps actually lower, in the women who had taken part in the which,

it

is

hoped,

will

bution, and simple

trial

than in the general population.

The

principal

drawbacks

to

Enovid and

similar synthetic proges-

togens are their cost and the necessity for taking them on each of 20

days during each menstrual cycle. When they were first made available for birth-spacing, the daily doses were marketed at about 50 cents, making the annual cost of $120 prohibitive for all but a small minority in the most highly developed countries. After a broad market base had been established, the manufacturers were able to reduce the price so that the annual cost was no more than $40 or $50. This was still prohibitive for the peoples with the greatest need for effective contraception, and the rigid daily dosage schedule made this means of popu-

The next stages of laboratory research included efforts to develop a "depot form" of a similar progesto-

lation control generally impractical.

gen, so that a

much

smaller

number of

pills

would give the same

anti-

ovulatory protection for several days at a time.

Some researchers believed that a more practical way to prevent unwanted conceptions was by suppressing the man's production of 308

Gilbert

Cant

spermatozoa. The theory was that the husband, with a smaller number pills, could obtain longer-lasting effects, independent of monthly cycles. Dr. John MacLeod of Cornell University Medical College reported on a series of tests with prisoner volunteers in both New York of

and Los Angeles. In these preliminary studies, a synthetic hormone analogue suppressed both the numbers and motility (which may be equivalent to viability) of the sperm produced. It was also found that sperm production returned to normal shortly after withdrawal of the drug. However, this method of conception control, no matter how attractive in theory, is subject to a more serious criticism and contains

more potential hazards than the corresponding treatment in the female. The great danger is that when the motility and viability of the sperm are reduced, conception

may

still

occur, but result in the union of a

subnormal sperm with the ovum, and eventually or a monster.

Much

in

a handicapped child

further research along these lines will be required

before any such method of birth control can be considered safe enough to

be generally recommended.

PROGRESS

IN

MEDICINE

Immunization physiology and medicine was awarded to Nobel Prize TheSir1960 Frank Macfarlane Burnet of Melbourne and Dr. Peter Brian in

Medawar

of University College, London. Their prize-winning

involved the

immune mechanisms which

work

are valuable to the higher an-

imals in acquiring resistance to infectious agents, especially viruses.

But these same mechanisms have balked the velop ways of transplanting parts of one

surgeons to de-

efforts of

human body

to another, or

of transplanting the organs of lower animals to man.

As

early as 1949, Burnet had formulated the theory that the

mechanism by which an animal pecially protein,

immune

rejects invading "foreign" tissue, es-

from another animal, even of the same species — ex-

cept in the case of identical twins — was acquired during

life in

the

womb

and was not genetically determined. Professor Medawar and his colleagues proved the theory by inoculating mouse embryos, still in the womb, with tissues from a different strain of mice. After the inoculated animals were partly grown, tissues from the donor animals were grafted onto them, and the grafts "took." However, in control animals which had not received the prenatal anti-immunizing treatment, the grafts were rejected in the conventional fashion. It has been suggested — and had been so suggested before the Nobel award — that the Medawar work opened up the possibility of injecting a

human

is still

immediately after birth when the immune mechanism who might serve as a source for skin grafts or organ transplants. The prac-

infant,

only partly developed, with tissue from a donor

in later life

309

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE aside from the moral, difficulties of such a proposal are apparent. However, it is hoped that through an understanding of the mechanisms

tical,

by which immunological rejection develops, it may be possible to suppress them at least temporarily, or to control them sufficiently to permit grafting in

human

adults.

So far, the only means of achieving suppression of the rejection mechanisms in human patients have been too drastic to be of widespread use. It was reported in 1960 that Yugoslav atomic energy workers who had been accidentally exposed to normally lethal doses of radiation in a reactor accident had survived (with a single exception), thanks to daring treatment administered in Paris. This comprised the transfusion of large volumes of donor blood and the infusion of donor bone marrow, which apparently succeeded because of the accidental suppression of the rejection mechanism. At the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York, a number of child victims of acute leukemia have been deliberately subjected to what would normally be a fatal dose of radiation to suppress the rejection mechanism in their bone marrow, and have then had donor marrow injected. Even if

these children should survive appreciably longer than other patients

it would appear that a few have been bought at too great a cost. At the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Dr. John Merrill and his colleagues have been working for several years on the problem of transplanting a kidney from a donor to a victim of kidney disease in which both organs are failing and thus threatening life. Previously they had achieved this only in transplants between identical twins. In 1960, however, they made a transplant which survived for at least a year, and apparently with functional success, between brothers who were fraternal rather than identical twins. Even this notable success must be qualified, because the fraternal twins had many antibody mechanisms and other biochemical characteristics more nearly alike than have other siblings or unrelated individuals.

treated by conventional chemical means,

added years of

Afflictions

With

life

of the aged

the lengthening of the average

life

span, already achieved in

most highly developed countries of the Western world and approaching achievement in the still-developing countries, the problem of health

in the

aged

is

preoccupying the medical profession as well More evidence was adduced in 1960

as sociologists and politicians.

than ever before to show that, regardless of the severity of chronic illnesses which are often loosely called "degenerative diseases," the principal factor impairing the health of the aged

is

emotional: the feel-

unwanted, and rejected. The emotions arising from this feeling are powerful components in all bodily ills. With the growing number of aged and of ailing aged, there has been a revival of efforts to arrest the failing of faculties which so often acing of being useless,

310

Gilbert

"The

Cant

principal factor impairing

the health of the aged is emotional: the feeling

of being useless, unwanted, and rejected"

companies advancing years. The most optimistic claims for success in this field came from Dr. Anna Asian, a Rumanian, who reported that she had arrested the degenerative process of chronic disease in the aged, and that in some cases the patients seemed actually to have achieved a turning back of the clock. This, she said, was the result of long-continued injections of procaine (better known by its trade name. Novocain).

Although early in 1960 these reports were greeted with extreme skepticism by American investigators, toward the end of the year it appeared that the difference between Asian's results and those reported by the first American researchers who tried to reproduce them lay in the method and duration of treatment. Careful and conscientious researchers at Rockland State Hospital in New York said they had found some schizophrenic patients who had failed to respond to all other treatment, but showed marked improvement if the procaine injections were continued for several months. In a New Jersey home for the aged, patients with mental deterioration, but apparently free of

schizophrenia,

showed comparable improvement.

Effects of climate

and weather on health

Hippocrates must have devoted

a great deal of thought to the in-

fluence of climate and weather

upon health and human tempera-

ment, for he discusses their apparent interactions in elaborate detail.^ His attempts to find direct cause-and-effect relationships between observed weather changes and health phenomena led to what are now obvious oversimplifications. In recent years, medical scientists have been dismissing Hippocrates' theories along with old wives' tales on the 9 See

On Air,

Waters, and Places, \o\. 10, pp. 9a-19a,c.

311

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE same

subject.

Now there is a growing body of scientific evidence which

no matter how wrong that both short-term weather appears he may have been differences and changes may have climatic longer-range and changes pronounced effects not only upon day-to-day health, but also upon

was

suggests that Hippocrates

right in principle,

in detail. It

the development of

human temperament and even upon an

individual's

inborn constitutional equipment. At Ohio State University, Dr. Benjamin Pasamanick and his wife, Dr. Hilda Knobloch, have studied the effects of high temperatures and humidity upon pregnancy. They have concluded that mental deficiency and other congenital defects are more common if the early months of gestation fall within the hottest part of the mid-continent summer, when the mother is so distressed by the weather that she is likely to subsist on an inadequate diet — including an excess of sweet, cooling drinks. In 1960, these researchers reported on a study of admissions to the Columbus State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital over a 30-year period. They concluded that there had been a definite association between the incidence of schizophrenia and the weather conditions at the time of the patient's conception. There is nothing to indicate that the effect of the weather upon the fetus is direct. Rather, it appears that summertime changes in eating and drinking habits early in pregnancy, when the fetus is most susceptible to "insults," may have a deleterious effect on the child. Drs. Pasamanick and Knobloch have found that the southern states with semi-tropical summers have "far lower" spring birth rates than the states with more temperate summers. Such a reduction in midsummer conceptions in areas with the highest temperatures and greatest risk to the normal development of the fetus may represent one of nature's automatic compensating and protective mechanisms. The expression "feeling under the weather" may also have unsuspected scientific validity. There is no question that infections of the upper respiratory system are most numerous in temperate climates during the winter months and the month or so immediately preceding and following winter. The plausible explanation, although it has not yet been scientifically proved, is that these are usually months of high humidity, when many infectious organisms can multiply most readily, and when the human host's resistance is at its lowest. But some noninfectious disorders also show increases or exacerbations on a seasonal pattern. Peptic ulcer

is

usually a chronic condition, yet

torious for acute and painful aggravations in spring and

fall.

it is

no-

There

is

also an unexplained increase in the detection (and perhaps, therefore, in the severity)

of diabetes

in

March. The combination of high temperashown by Dr. George E. Burch of

ture and high humidity has been

Tulane University

be especially threatening to victims of heartOrleans area. He urges such patients to take maximum advantage of air-conditioning during the hot months. It does not appear to be necessary for them to stay continuously in a moderate artery disease in the

312

to

New

Gilbert

temperature: the objective

is

for

them

to avoid sustained

Cant

exposure to

high temperature with high humidity.

The ability of mammalian cells and tissues to low temperatures was demonstrated by Drs. J. Stanley W. Jacob at the University of Oregon hope of developing means to preserve human

withstand unbelievably Engelbert Dunphy and Medical School. In the tissues and organs for

eventual transplantation (after the immune mechanisms discussed above have been overcome to permit grafts), the researchers froze human spermatozoa to a temperature of -272.2" C, almost exactly one degree above absolute zero. After thawing, the spermatozoa were still fertile. Viruses exposed to the same extreme low temperature retained their ability to induce disease, and whole organs of animals were suitable for grafting. The surprising viability of the tissues was explained by partial dehydration of the material, and freezing it under high pressures. In ordinary freezing, water expands to form ice crystals and continues to expand until a temperature of -2.2^ C. is reached.

These processes destroy living tissues. Water cannot expand or if it is under high pressure. The Oregon researchers prevented expansion and crystallization partly by substituting glycerol for much of the water in the tissues, and partly by maintaining pressures of several atmospheres during the freezing process. crystallize

Infectious diseases

Of

the

many groups

of illnesses to which

prising the infectious diseases has

man

seemed

is

subject, that

for

more than

com-

a cen-

tury to be yielding most significantly and hopefully to the advances of

medicine. However, as in

all branches of science, as soon as the anone question or the solution to one problem was achieved, other questions or problems of equal urgency appeared which had hitherto not been evident. It was so most conspicuously in 1960 in re-

swer

to

gard to poliomyelitis.

Experience with the killed vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk Some of the vaccine had been "killed" (more precisely, inactivated with formaldehyde) with such excessive vigor that it was no longer capable of serving as an effective antigen to stimulate inoculated subjects to produce protective antibodies. As a result, statistical studies, showing that the vaccine had been generally 75% to 909c effective in conferring protection against paralytic polio, were misleading. No individual could be sure whether he or his children had received a course of three inoculations - possibly followed by a fourth or "booster" shot -all of which were potent, only some of which were potent, or none of which were potent. In the late 1950"s and in 1960 many children developed paralytic polio despite a full series of inoculations with Salk vaccine, which evidently lacked of the University of Pittsburgh had been spotty.

full

potency. 313

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE Since poliovirus multiplies mainly

in the digestive tract, the

eradication of poliomyelitis as a disease and the

more

complete

difficult

achieve-

ment of eradicating the virus itself from human surroundings depend upon medical measures to sterilize the gut against it. No killed vaccine can achieve this: all it can do is protect the central nervous system against invasion by poliovirus after multiplication in the gut and dispersal through the blood. However, a "live" vaccine made from an attenuated strain of the virus, which is still capable of multiplying although no longer capable of causing paralytic disease, will sterUize the digestive tract so that no future infection by poliovirus of any type can take hold. It is assumed that severe forms of the disease and eventually the virus itself can be wiped out if it is denied this breeding ground. To achieve this, three teams of American researchers have been working for many years to prepare live- virus vaccines against polio. first group to bring such a vaccine to the point of wide-scale clinical testing in the United States was Lederle Laboratories, with the vaccine strains developed by Dr. Herald R. Cox. Early in 1960 the Cox-Lederle vaccine was given in a single oral dose to 414,000 children and adults in Dade County, Florida— the city of Miami and its environs. Meanwhile, a comparable live-virus vaccine developed by Dr. Albert B. Sabin at the University of Cincinnati had been administered to about 75,000,000 people in the Soviet Union. During the summer of 1960 an advisory committee of the U.S. Public Health Service studied both the Cox and Sabin preparations, together with a third developed by Dr. Hilary Koprowski, and concluded that only the Sabin product was safe enough to be approved for mass manufacture in the United States, with a view to licensing in the imme-

The

diate future.

The

objection to the other vaccines

tained remnants of viruses found in

monkey

was

that they con-

kidneys, the basis of tissue

cultures used as a seedbed for poliovirus in the preparation of vaccines. It was feared that these monkey viruses might prove eventually to cause disease in man. The U.S. Public Health Service licensed only the Sabin vaccine. Five American pharmaceutical companies had already invested

large

sums of money and had trained technical staffs in the preparation A changeover from this killed preparation to the live

of Salk vaccine.

Sabin vaccine presented many technical difficulties. As a result, the vaccine could not be prepared in the United States in sufficient

live

quantity, and tested adequately for both safety and potency, before the

1961 peak season for polio. Public health authorities, therefore, urged the continued use of the Salk killed vaccine during 1961, in the ex-

pectation that the Sabin oral vaccine would be available at the end of the year, or early in 1962, to permit wide-scale immunization in time for the

1962 peak season.

It

was

ironic that the Sabin vaccine took so

long to reach the American market, since

adopted

in the

Soviet Union

it

had been unhesitatingly

more than two years

earlier.

The Russians

reported a reduction of paralytic polio almost to the vanishing point, 314

Gilbert

and

insisted that they

had had no untoward incidental

effects

Cant

from the

oral vaccine.

The pendulum has swung away from

the viewpoint of the late ninecentury (based largely upon a misinterpretation of Louis Pasteur's findings) that nearly all bacteria and other microorganisms

teenth

are harmful to

man and

should be eliminated. Increasing recognition

being given to the symbiotic relationship between the human species and many varieties of bacteria. Experience with antibiotics of the tetracycline group has shown that if the bacteria normally inhabis

now

iting the

human

digestive tract are too ruthlessly reduced in numbers,

other organisms

may

multiply and cause diseases which are harder to

treat medically than the condition for

which the drugs were prescribed.

a result, physicians are putting more emphasis on pinpointing their attacks on the infectious cause of the immediate disease problem, so as to remove only the particular microorganism responsible for this con-

As

dition.

To do

so requires the careful selection of sulfa drugs or antiand is directly opposed to the "shot-

biotics for this specific purpose,

which antimicrobial drugs are used indiscriminately. One of the worst aspects of the misuse of modern medicine has been the promotion of combinations of antibiotics which were advertised to the medical profession and too often prescribed with no regard to their incidental effects. It is a striking commentary on the tendency for such practices to persist that "polypharmacy" was condemned early in the sixteenth century by Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus. Noting that one drug tended to neutralize the beneficial effects of another, he advocated simgun" approach

plicity rather

in

than multiplicity in prescription.

The success of antibiotic treatment of most bacterial infections penicillin became generally available (about 1945) has resulted

since

in an epidemic of polypharmacy. This has aggravated one of the greatest difficulties

confronting physicians treating patients in hospitals: the

spread of bacterial strains which are resistant to penicillin and to the tetracyclines. The species which shows the greatest capacity for developing resistance is Staphylococcus aureus, so the problem of resistant bacteria

is

commonly

referred to as that of "hospital staph." In

1960, two antibiotics were marketed which offer a substantial contribution toward the defeat of these resistant organisms. The first was

DMCT

or demethylchlortetracycline, an improvement on the earlier

soon reaches higher concentrations in the and therefore leaves less opportunity for the emergence of resistant strains. The second was the perfection of a modified penicillin, based upon the recent synthesis of penicillanic acid, which is the basic substance of all antibiotics of the penicillin group. The modification known as methicillin, marketed in Great Britain as Celbenin and in the United States as Staphcillin, has proved remarkably potent in its action against the stubbornly resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus. tetracyclines because

it

patient's bloodstream,

315

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE

Diseases of the heart and arteries Heart attacks are now by far the commonest in highly

single cause of death developed Western countries. But the causes of the

underlying disease, atherosclerosis

(literally

"mushy hardening") of

the arteries in and near the heart, remain the subject of intense dispute

among medical

researchers. Only a few years ago, a clue to the frequency of coronary atherosclerosis and resulting fatal heart attacks at relatively early ages in these Western cultures, especially among men, seemed to have been found. The high incidence was associated with a diet which included a high proportion of animal fat, such as that found on red meat and pork, in eggs, and in butter, cheese and other milk products, and in the hydrogenated shortenings now used in place of oldfashioned lard. Next it was learned that the question was not simply one of animal versus vegetable fats: the Eskimos who live largely on

marine mammals, including whales, with notoriously thick layers of blubber, appeared to be free of atherosclerosis even at relatively advanced ages. The question then came down to a chemical difference: the "saturation" of the fatty acids involved. Those animal fats which are solid at ordinary room temperatures, like the fat in beef and milk products, contain fatty acids which are "saturated" by the chemist's definition — they have hydrogen atoms attached at all possible points to the carbon atoms in their molecular chains. Vegetable fats, with the exception of coconut oil, are mainly unsaturated, meaning that there is room at several points on the carbon atoms for additional hydrogen atoms. Fish oils and the fats of marine mammals like the whale and seal are now

ESKIMO INFLATING SEALSKIN HUNTING BLADDER Eskimos, whose diet consists largely of "unsaturated" fats in marine mammals, are almost completely free of heart disease

found

Gilbert Cant

resemble vegetable fats in being "'pohunsaturated." Consewas relatively easy to evolve a hypothesis whereby the heavy consumption of saturated fats by the privileged few in Western cultures contributed to atherosclerosis and the higher male death rate

known

to

quently,

it

from heart disease. (Women on the same diet are protected until the menopause by female hormones, and the protective effect, although not understood, usually does not wear off until women are well into their seventies.)

This simple assumption seemed to accord well with the known fact that the underprivileged and largely undernourished masses in underdeveloped Asian countries have very little fat in their diet, and subsist largely

on carbohydrates from

cereals, notably rice.

some protein with accompanying

fat.

it is

of the "Nev'v- ^'ork cut" sirloin steak.

with the

known

lo\^

When

they do get

not likely to be the hard

The hypothesis

fat

also accorded

incidence of earh' coronary disease in the peoples

of Greece, and of Southern Italy, where the staple of the diet

pasta.

is

and the fat consumed is usually in olive oil. During the year under review, no simple answers to the many questions posed b\ an attempt to apply this hypothesis to the United States death rate were produced. On the contran." most of the recent evidence proved to be conflicting or at best confusing. The effects of saturated fats in the diet are numerous and too complex to be readily measured. So the

level of cholesterol circulating in the blood

is

generally accepted

as an admittedly crude index to the total effects. Special diets and diet

lower the blood cholesterol were widely advertised and — although there is still no proof that lowering the blood cholesterol will reduce the risk of hean attacks. Some American studies suggested that the diet was less imponant in determining an individual's susceptibility to atherosclerosis, and his risk of hean attacks, than his temperament and his reactions to the

supplements

to

gained some popular acceptance

modem

At the same time. Dr. Edward Ahrens of the Rockefeller Institute reponed preliminan.- studies on a small number of patients in which he showed that a diet high in carbohydrates, but low in proteins and fats of any kind, was also capable of causing an elevastresses of

living.

tion of blood cholesterol.

able finding

was

One

explanation of this seemingly irreconcil-

that the subjects of Dr. Ahrens" study

were

receiv-

all

more than adequate diet in termiS of total caloric intake, and therefore were susceptible to an\ influence that might cause atherosclerosis. The underprivileged peoples who subsist mainly on carbohydrates are usually on the edge of starvation. When the body

ing an adequate or

needs

all

likely to

its food supply — from whatever source — for fuel, waste any by letting it accumulate in the blood.

it

Intensive studies of this complex subject must continue for

years before generally acceptable answers can be expected.

is

un-

many

The

re-

search findings to date suggest that no single factor will ever be isoall the premature or "excess"" deaths from Western countries.

lated as responsible for

hean disease

in

317

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE in any of the many coronary arteries, despite the fact that heroic efforts had been made to do this over a period of several years. These included an operation known as "endarterectomy," in which that portion of a coronary artery which has been clogged by atheromatous deposits is reamed out. Dr. Charles P. Bailey, who attracted much attention for the extreme daring of his heart surgery while in Philadelphia, suggested that corrective surgery to overcome the results of a coronary occlusion might depend upon a more radical rerouting of the blood flow within the heart itself than has so

In 1960-61, no substantial progress

attempts at surgical correction

far

been considered

By seemingly have attempted

was reported

of defects

in the

practical.

gentler but in fact no less drastic means, physicians to control the effects of atherosclerosis

administration of female hormones to male patients. So

hormonal substances or synthetic substitutes used

through the

far,

in

none of the

experimental

studies has received the general approval of physicians. Neither has

any of the methods of administration. The ideal would be a substance, probably synthetic, which retains the artery-sparing powers of the natural female hormones, without any of their feminizing effects. In 1960, the William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati announced that it had found such a substance in triparanol, which it marketed under the brand name of MER/29. At the end of the period under review, triparanol was receiving both intensive and extensive trial as a prophylactic against heart attacks. readily available means for judging its physiological effecwas the measurement of the blood cholesterol level. Any conclusive judgment as to the value of triparanol, or any substance offered for the same purpose, must wait at least five years, so that the heartattack rate and death rate of large numbers of treated patients can be compared with those of patients suffering from comparable disease but

The only tiveness

not so treated.

Diseases of the kidney

Disorders

of kidney function are almost invariably associated with

some cases they result from a previously exblood pressure, while in others a defect or disease in the kidneys results in the secretion of substances which cause high blood pressure and thus damage the general arterial tree. A human being can survive with only about 5% of the normal kidney function, but when the organs are so damaged as to fall below this minimum performance, it is almost impossible for medical science to sustain life except by arterial disease. In

isting high

The most familiar of these measures is use of the many ingenious models and refinements have in the last twenty years. However, all require round-

heroic measures. artificial

kidney, of which

been perfected

the-clock attendance of specially trained physicians, nurses, and technicians while the patient

318

is

hooked up

to the machine. This

hook-up

is

Gilbert

Cant

achieved by inserting plastic tubes into an artery and into a vein, and leading the blood out of the body through the former to the artificial kidney, which then removes metabolic poisons from it by the process

of "dialysis," and returning the cleansed blood to the venous system. This method requires the insertion of the tubes into the blood vessels

each time the patient is to receive a treatment. As only a small number of arteries and veins in the extremities are suitable for this purpose, all accessible blood vessels are scarred and weakened beyond repair after a few treatments. Use of the artificial kidney has therefore been confined to short-term emergencies, especially after kidney function has been impaired by poisoning.

At and

the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Belding Scribner

his colleagues

were able

to

keep several patients alive from 1960

into 1961, although they had far less than the minimal 5% of normal kidney function remaining. This was achieved by making permanent

implantations of the tubes into an artery and vein in the forearm, and leaving them in place, so that the patients could be hooked up to the

kidney at intervals of a few days. One of the Seattle group's had been maintained (as of March 31, 1 96 1 ) for fifteen months, with only one day a week devoted to dialysis. The permanently implanted cannulas or tubes in his arm were hooked together during the remaining six days of the week to form a shunt through which the blood passed freely, and thus reduced the danger of clotting. This patient, with only 2 1/2% of normal kidney function remaining, was at that time probably the only man in the world kept alive by such means, and in sufficiently good condition to be able to work and live an outwardly normal life. Three other patients, with more severe damage from kidney disease, had been maintained almost as long; because of their age and other handicaps, they were unable to work, but they lived at home and engaged in many normal activities. artificial

patients

Cancer

The

word "cancer"

is

used here to cover

all

forms of malignant

lymph sysbetween studies of the causation of cancer and studies of viruses and infective molecules of DNA has already been noted. In 1960-61, there were two major developments involving the neoplastic disease, including those of the blood and

tems.

The

relationship

human cancer. Investigators at the National Health had recently isolated from leukemic mice a virus which produced not leukemia, but solid tumors, after it had been grown in tissue cultures and injected into healthy young animals. Since this viral agent produced several different kinds of tumors, it was named the "polyoma" virus. It soon showed its versatility by crossing the species barrier and inducing tumors in rats, rabbits, and hamsters. Dr. Sarah E. Stewart, who first isolated the polyoma virus, has found that it is widespread in laboratory mouse colonies, and is such a potent antigen virus causation theory of Institutes of

319

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE that antibodies giving

immunity against

it

are passed to

mouse

off-

spring in their mothers' milk.

To

establish conclusively the cancer-causing properties of the virus,

Dr. Stewart and her associates had to produce large quantities

in tissue

absence of antibodies. Electron microscopy has shown that the polyoma virus has a diameter of .0000027 millimeters, and chemical analysis has established that its core consists of DNA. When stripped of its protein overcoat, the naked of the polyoma virus has proved itself to be an infective molecule in the sense that Horsfall described — capable of infecting cells with cancer and of inducing cells to make complete virus particles containing both the core and the protein coat. There is evidence from Stewart's laboratory that, like some viruses which infect bacteria, the polyoma virus goes through a latent stage in which it cannot be detected in the cells and during which it presumably does the cells no harm. However, by triggering mechanisms not yet clear, this latent particle can be activated culture,

and

in the

DNA

DNA

to initiate cancer.

From

W. Toolan reported human cancers which have been transanimals. The elusiveness of this agent is em-

the Sloan-Kettering Institute, Dr. Helene

the isolation of a virus from

planted into laboratory

phasized by the fact that it has not been found in the tumors as they occur in the original human victims. It has been found in the liver and spleen of patients suffering from advanced cancer, but not in similar tissues of patients dying viral

from other causes. Most puzzling,

agent causes a disease in hamsters that

to cancer

and shows greater resemblance

to

is

this

same

superficially unrelated

some of the physical mal-

formations associated with mongolian idiocy. It

seems probable

that the viruses

known

to

cause cancer

in

lower

animals, and suspected of causing cancer in man, initiate the disease

process by a variety of mechanisms.

It is

possible that in

some cases

they require activation or triggering by chemical or physical means. In

any case, the virus theory is not likely soon to lead to an effective treatment for most forms of cancer. There is a danger that present enthusiasm for the theory may lead to the uncritical acceptance of unreliable or irrelevant data.

A report prepared early in 1961 for presentation to the American Association for Cancer Research was misleading in that it suggested that a virus extracted from monkeys had been proved capable of growing cancers in human volunteers. This was not the case. The tumors induced by this monkey virus were not malignant. (The common wart is caused by a virus, but is a benign tumor.) The work, therefore, casts no light upon the mechanisms of cancer causation in man. The controversy over the relationship between heavy and prolonged cigarette smoking and the increase in lung cancer, especially among men, continued unabated, but it developed more heat and smoke than light.

ately

320

The factual scientific data were consistently and often delibersubmerged under high-speed press releases designed to discredit

fiifn

mK i^T^WIP

SMOG Smog in

IN

LOS ANGELES may stimulate

inhalation

the development of lung cancer

cigarette smokers

the research reports. The most constructive work during the year under review indicated that there may well be a factor in addition to cigarette smoking that is needed to initiate the cancerous process in the human lung. Smog alone does not appear to be capable of initiating this form of cancer: a careful study of smokers and non-smokers in the Los Angeles area, equally exposed to atmospheric pollution, showed that lung cancer was almost entirely confined to the smokers. But since smog extracts have been found to produce cancer when concentrated and painted upon the backs of mice, the smog inhaled in areas of high atmospheric pollution may serve as a co-carcinogen, and facilitate the cancer-causing process initiated by small quantities of substances known as polycyclic hydrocarbons, found in cigarette tar. It has been suggested that the increase in lung cancer is a natural consequence of the decrease in deaths from tuberculosis. Patients with arrested tuberculosis still have scars in the lung, and two researchers, one in the United States and one in Austria, have voiced the belief that these scars are the sites at which cancer later forms. However, analyses of lung cancer deaths show no appreciable correlation with

previous tuberculous disease. severe influenza

may

so

More

damage

plausibly,

it

was suggested

that

the lung tissues as to prepare a seed-

bed for the later initiation of cancer by hydrocarbons from cigarette smoke. This was first proposed by Professor Milton C. Winternitz, who died in 1959, but it was generally believed to have been disproved. Now, Dr. Dean V. Wiseley and a research team at the University of Southern California have found that whereas mice will not normally develop lung cancer of the human type, many of them do so if they are first exposed to influenza virus. There may be a delayed eff"ect of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic in the increase in lung cancer which be321

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE gan to be noticed during the 1930's.

If this is

confirmed,

possible for researchers to establish whether there

is

it

should be

any connection

between

later epidemics of influenza, in which the disease is more have been accurately diagnosed and recorded in the patient's history, and subsequent cases of lung cancer.

likely to

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS Porpoises

Porpoises and

dolphins have previously been notable mainly for the

pleasure that their aquatic antics accord ocean voyagers, but they

now emerging as important subjects for serious studies of physical performance, communication, and brain capacity. ^°

are

For the somewhat anomalous purpose of finding an improved basis Department of Civil Engineering of the University of California has worked out a co-operative study with the officers of the 5. 5. Monterey, which makes regular passages between San Francisco and Australia. Many sightings of porpoises and related marine mammals have made it possible to check on reports that these animals are capable of swimming at extraordinarily high speeds. One such record, dating from 1936, is of a porpoise clocked at 19.7 knots. The recently collected data from the Monterey's cruises suggest that, for an animal six to eight feet long, this may have been the equivalent of the 100-yard dash. Many observations were made of porpoises (of various species) keeping up with the ^hip at speeds between 19.7 and 21 knots, but in every case the animals dropped behind after about two minutes. Large groups of porpoises were seen swimming in calm seas for as long as 25 minutes at speeds between 14 and 18 knots. The prevalent cruising speed of porpoises for calculating the value of "surface drag coefficient," the

of this size appears to be closer to 12 knots.

The speed of the Cetacea

evidently increases with size in accordance

with a mathematical formula. "Blackfish" (whales, believed to be

Globicephala melana), 12 to 15 feet long, had no difficulty in circling was cruising at 22 knots, and keeping up with it for several days. They readily passed the ship, went well ahead of it, and then dropped astern to look for food. The sustained speed for this species, both as calculated and as observed, comes out to 22.7 knots. One killer whale (Orcinus orca), which is actually a form of porpoise, was observed while travelling at speeds up to 30 knots. This animal was about 18 feet long, and the calculations suggest that 30 knots would be its top speed, and that it would be capable of a sustained speed of as much as 26 knots. How these marine mammals are able to maintain such speeds rea vessel which

10 Aristotle discusses the speed and voice of the dolphin (porpoise) in History of Animals, Vol. 9, pp. 62c-d, 156b-d.Cf. Melville, .Wo^v D/cA., Vol. 48, pp. 104a- 105a.

322

Gilbert

Cant

mains something of a mystery. One suggestion is that the drag associmovement through the water is reduced by either of two methods: through heat transfer to the water, or mechanically, by wrinkling the skin. The forward part of the animals, where the water flow is relatively smooth, is almost bloodless. Toward the tail, where turbulence and drag normally increase, the skin is loose and has a superabundant blood supply. The more generally accepted assumption is ated with fast

that this relatively elastic surface automatically "ripples" in a manner which reduces turbulence as required by the animal's speed and ma-

neuvering. Preliminary observations indicate that a porpoise

of generating ten times as

much horsepower in

proportion to

is

capable

its

muscle

weight as do land mammals, including dogs, horses, and man. No less remarkable than the porpoise's swimming powers are the methods by which it seeks food. An old bull animal which was the subject of research in 1955 "creaked" as he searched for food. This creaking, something like the sound of a rusty hinge, was recorded and found, when played back at reduced speeds, to be actually a series of clicks repeated from 10 to 400 times a second. The most recent work shows that porpoises are capable of making several distinct sounds, including what are commonly referred to as squawks, snorts, whistles, gurgles, and buzzes, as well as squeaks. It is also suggested that these various sounds the alphabet, to

So

may be combined make a "word."

in different orders, like the letters

of

no translation of porpoise language has proved possible, but is confident that he has established the meaning of one porpoise sound. Not surprisingly, this is the distress signal — a protracted squeal which rises and falls in pitch, far,

Dr. John C. Lilly, at the University of Miami,

like the

warbling of some air-raid sirens.

It is

characteristic of the dis-

both birds and mammals that the nature and purpose of the call may be understood by unrelated species, even when the caller is a bird and the hearer is a mammal. Evidently, there is a quality about distress which is almost universally appreciated. What that quality is remains to be determined. A four-year old female porpoise, weighing 180 pounds and 6 feet long, is being intensively studied at the Naval Ordinance Test Station tress calls of

Trained dolphins at play

323

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE in

China Lake, California. Nicknamed "Notty," from the

initials

of the

she has not yet attained speeds higher than 16 knots, but this believed to be because of the size of the tank in which she is kept.

facility, is

She has established a record by making sounds involving frequencies ranging from 750 to 300,000 cycles per second — as compared with the upper limit for human hearing of 20,000 cycles per second. There is no definite proof that porpoises can detect 300,000 cycles per second by conventional hearing, but it seems certain that they must have some receptor mechanism for any sounds they are capable of emitting.

Biological clocks

Research

Antarctica has been concentrating on the "biological

in

clocks" of both plants and animals. Virtually

all

living

organisms

them some intrinsic system for rhythmic regulation of their activities. Just as some plants fold up their leaves at night and open them with the coming of daylight, so the hamster sleeps during the day, but becomes active at night, even though it may be unable to see the change in lighting conditions from the bottom of its deep burrow. Birds migrate each year according to set patterns which have been shown to be independent of weather changes and food supply. There has been much speculation as to whether these rhythmical systems are governed by internal metabolic changes, or whether they are activated and controlled by external factors, such as changes in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, or by the earth's rotation. The influence of the earth's spin was determined close to the South Pole with fruit flies, fungi, and hamsters. The organisms were kept on turntables which could be counterrotated to the earth or rotated at speeds to create a "day" of more or less than 24 hours. Hamsters failed to show any loss of their natural daily rhythm over a period of ten days, although different groups were rotated so as to give them either "no day," or "days" of 20, 24, and 28.8 hours. Evidently, the have

built into

biological clock sible influence all

is

built into the animal, at least in this case.

The

pos-

of light on such a rhythm was eliminated by keeping

the turntables in total darkness for the entire period.

Birds beginning TheNorth

of the year under review brought good news for

ornithologists. On April 3, 1960, and for several succeeding days, a bird which was identified with great care by several competent observers as an Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) was observed on Galveston Island, Texas. The species had been gen-

American

about a quarter of a century to be extinct. A simihad been seen in the same area a year earlier. The extent to which the characteristic songs of different species of birds are inherited has never been satisfactorily determined. It may erally believed for

lar bird

324

Gilbert

Cant

prove to be variable between species, and certainly between genera and However, James M. Hartshorne of Cornell University has established that for the Eastern Bluebird {Sialia sialis) the characteristic song pattern is not inherited, but acquired early in life. This was determined by isolating bluebirds from families, or other larger groupings.

their parents before hatching. call

notes and what

is

The young were

able to utter the simple

described as the "primary song," but not the

typical song. The possibility that there is some genetically determined imprinting of the bluebird to make it receptive to this particular song pattern is suggested by the fact that young birds, reared in isolation, became extremely excited when they first heard the full adult song. If this exposure occurred before the young were 15 months old, full

they tried to repeat the song with varying degrees of success. After 15 months of isolation, no matter how much the birds were then exposed to the full adult song, they

The migration of

were incapable of acquiring

it.^^

birds remains, as in Aristotle's time, a subject of

layman and of frustration for the scientific investihave been several attempts to explain the long-distance navigation of birds by extrapolating from the ob-

fascination for the

gator.i2 In recent years there

served behavior of individual birds kept captive

planetarium dome.

Many

in

an enclosure with a

of the conclusions reached by early investi-

gators, including the too-simple statement that birds navigate

observation of the

The research

ture.

more

moon and is

stars, are

by direct

now known to have been prema-

continuing, and will have to be enlarged to cover

species, in a greater

number of different

parts of the world, and in

better controlled experimental settings, before any sweeping deductions will be justified.

Probably the most important contribution to ornithology, and cerone with the widest possibilities for application to other forms of life, including man, was a paper by Professor Charles G. Sibley of Cornell University, in Ibis, on a comparison of the proteins contained in the whites of 3,000 eggs representing almost 700 species. tainly the

The

basic concept of using these proteins as a guide to the relationships

is based essentially upon the antigenic quality of eggwhite proteins. This makes some people allergic to influenza vaccine or other vaccines which are prepared by incubating the virus in fertilized hens' eggs. Animal proteins are such complex substances that

between birds

they cannot usually be separated and identified by ordinary analytic methods, but evidence of diff'erences and similarities can be obtained

by paper electrophoresis, in which solutions of the proteins are separated into groups of components which can be "read" by studying their optical density.

In his

1

first

report on 359 species, Sibley

Bird songs are described by

Darwin

in

was able

The Descent of Man, Vol. 49.

pp.

to

confirm some

456b-463a.

12 See History of Animals, Vol. 9, pp. 122b- 123d. Darwin comments on the strength of the migratory instinct in The Descent of Man, Vol. 49, pp. 308a-b, 3()9c-d, 312c-d.

325

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE taxonomic relationships which have been generally accepted on the basis of anatomical characters, and to question a number of others. Flamingos have posed a problem because they resemble the ducks and geese in some ways, but the herons and storks in others. In their eggwhite proteins the flamingos resemble the herons more closely than the ducks, and therefore presumably should be regarded as a family in the same order with herons and storks. On the other hand, the long-winged diurnal birds of prey, the falcons, have generally been assumed to be closely related to the short-winged hawks such as the Goshawk, because of the superficial resemblance of anatomical characteristics which are important in their food-gathering habits. Egg-white protein patterns suggest that the vultures and ospreys, the Secretary Bird and the short-winged hawks are all quite closely related, but that the falcons are sufficiently remote by genetic standards to justify their being accorded a suborder of their own. The inference is that the superficial resemblance between the hawks and falcons is the result of convergent evolution rather than close kinship in descent from a common ancestor. The hybridization of the turkey and domestic fowl, reported in 1960, becomes somewhat less remarkable in the light of the obvious similarities between the egg-white proteins of the two species. Sibley accords the turkeys the status of only a subfamily, not far removed from that to which the domestic fowl is assigned.

Problems of classification

The taxonomy or classification of as of birds, eff'ects

all

highly organized forms of

life,

reasons: (1) the conflicting of divergent and convergent evolution; (2) the fact that closely is

difficult for several

may diff'er in one important anatomical character but be alike in another, and it is largely a matter of the observer's discretion to determine the relative importance of each of these; (3) all the taxonomic groupings, from "kingdoms" through phyla, classes, families, and genera to species, are artificial, and are not recognized by the related species

creatures that

The

man compresses

into them.^^

proteins in the blood are probably as good an index of genetic

relationships as any.

They

are readily available from the sera of human

beings of most races, but not so readily from the sera of

of mammals.

Of

obligingly supplies a sample of shell

many

species

the higher animals, birds are the only class which

and readily available for

its

proteins, neatly

scientific analysis

packaged

in

an egg

without the necessity

been objected that in studying egg-white proteins, investigators are not studying the circulating pro-

for killing or capturing the parent. It has

teins to

13

be found

in the

bloodstream of the adult

bird.

This objection

Aristotle discusses problems of classification in Parts of Animals, Vol. 9, pp. 165d-186c. Classification is a major topic for Darwin; see, for example, Origin of Species, Vol. 49, pp. 207a-217b,

and The Descent of Man, Vol. 49, pp. 331a-350a.

326

i

Gilbert is

not valid. While not

all

Cant

of the adult forms of circulating protein are

present in the egg-white, enough of them are found there for the sam-

method to be adequate and reliable. For application to mammals, and especially to man, the serum proteins must be classified by different standards from those applied to birds, and different factors must be looked for. One of the most famUiar pling

Rh

for the rhesus monkey in occur in the blood of about 85% of the inhabitants of North America. This is important primarily in connection with the development of a severe, and potentially fatal, disease of the newborn, resulting in destruction of blood cells. Early detection of an Rh incompatibility between parents now makes it pos-

protein antigens

which

it

was

first

is

the

found, and

factor,

named

now known

sible for physicians to avert the

to

most serious consequences of

this

antigen-antibody reaction in the great majority of cases.

methods to other human proteins, comparable with those used by Sibley in birds, will depend upon the isolation of such elusive proteins as the "Diego factor." This was first isolated from the blood of a Venezuelan woman who was later found to have had an Amerindian ancestor. Then the factor was found in the Indian community from which this ancestor had been derived. It next appeared in Buffalo, New York, which puzzled hematologists, until they determined that some of the patient's ancestors had lived in Eastern Europe at the time of the Tartar invasion. The assumption is that the Diego factor is characteristic of Mongol and Mongoloid peoples. Further study of this and of other comparable factors should go far to clarify the relationships between the races of man and their subdivisions. No fewer than 36 antigenic proteins which can be used for these studies have already been detected in human blood.

The

application of electrophoretic

for purposes

Flight of insects

While

the

phenomenon of migration by the Monarch butterfly in America is fairly well-known, a more obscure,

eastern North

but no less interesting, example of long-distance travel by one of the

Lepidoptera involves a species found in Great Britain in springtime. theory was that this moth {Nomophila noctuella) had breeding grounds between North Africa and the British Isles. The other theory was that the moths bred only in North Africa, and covered the entire distance to Britain by migration under their own wing power. After the French atomic bomb test in the Sahara early in 1960, Dr. H. B. D. Underwell of Oxford University reasoned that if the moths reaching England that spring had indeed originated in North Africa, it would be possible to confirm this by their radioactivity. This was done at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. This

One

moth evidently was able to travel at least 1 ,500 miles. Another question involving the aerobatics of insects has to do with their wing loading. Many have heavy bodies and such small wings that small

327

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE an aircraft designer would assume that they could never get off the ground. The explanation lies in extraordinarily rapid wing beats, up to at least 1,000 per second. This, however, does not explain the neuromuscular control of such feats. As the nervous system cannot transmit messages at that speed, the activation of the muscles must be by

some other mechanism. Another

British investigator. Professor

reported that the

flight

of midges

is

Vincent B. Wiggles worth,

controlled by two sets of opposed

These work reciprocally, one set them down. The system is essentially automatic, like that of the diesel engine, which requires no electrical ignition system: once it has been started, presumably by a nerve-impulse command, the midge's wing-muscle assembly keeps running until it is switched off by another such command. spring-like muscles in the thorax.

elevating the wings and the other pulling

Boiling of crabs "carcinology," Theas term crabs, used

for the study of large crustaceans such because the same Greek root has been adopted in oncology (the study of tumors) to denote the commonest form of malignant tumor, the carcinoma. A question which agitated carcinologists in 1961 was the most humane way of killing the bigger and hardier crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, and spiny lobsters, which are commonly marketed alive and kept alive until it is time for them to be dropped into the cooking pot. Gordon Gunter of the Texas Game and Fish Commission suggested in Science that the practices of dropping a live crustacean into boiling water, in home or restaurant cooking, and the use of live steam by commercial packers are inhumane. He argued: "Anyone who observes the violent reactions of crustaceans being scalded to death can see that they suffer extreme pain .... Thousands of American housewives will not cook fresh lobsters or crabs for that reason." Gunter proposed as an alternative that the crustaceans be immersed in cold or lukewarm water which, over a slow flame, is raised to a temperature of 40° C. He contended that they then die quickly "without suffering distress." The biological explanation is that most marine invertebrates, and especially those from the colder and deeper layers of ocean, cannot survive in a temperature above 37° C. There was immediate objection to Gunter's argument, on the ground that the "violent reactions" which are distressing to him and to housewives are only assumed, and have not been proved, to be indicative of pain. In all probability, they are like the Galvanic reflexes seen in many lower forms of life, or in the oftencited (but less frequently observed) phenomenon of the "chicken with its head cut off." The correspondence columns of Science then tackled the question whether the crab does not, in fact, suffer more pain, and certainly more prolonged pain, by being brought slowly to a temperis little

ature

328

beyond

its

capacity for survival.

Gilbert

Cant

Photosynthesis century-old attempts Theachievement of nature

by laboratory researchers to match the manufacturing fats, sugars, and other high-energy metabolic fuels from water and carbon dioxide, with the aid of sunlight, took a great step toward fulfillment. Previous eiforts to synthesize chlorophyll had been disappointing, but had laid the basis upon which one of the most brilliant synthetic chemists. Dr. Robert B. Woodward of Harvard University, was to build. Woodward was already noted for his syntheses of quinine, cortisone, and strychnine when he took the commonly available chemical, acetoacetic ester, and broke it down into four constituents. Then he reassembled these to form the skelton of a new molecule which, with appropriate atoms and radicals attached, produced both the active chlorophyll-a and its inert mirror image. Dr. Woodward and his colleagues were able to achieve the difficult separation of these two, and to isolate a minute quantity of the active isomer in pure form. This chlorophyll-a has proved incapable of photosynthesis, presumably because when the same substance is found in the green leaves of plants it has a special structure consisting of thin leaves which are arranged to form laminated discs. In addition, the natural chlorophyll probably depends on the availability of other complex chemicals, including enzymes, to perform the miracle in

of photosynthesis. Dr.

Andrew A. Benson

of Pennsylvania State University reported

that despite previous doubts as to the ability of

most plants

to incor-

porate sulfur in their metabolism, both alfalfa and spinach can do

this.

Their leaves contain a "sulfosugar" which is believed to be one of the biological middlemen in photosynthesis, permitting reactions between substances which are soluble only in oil. Until the laboratory can duplicate such processes, man will remain dependent on the magic of the green leaf.

Animal sensitivity is not only in photosynthesis that nature remains far ahead of man. With the increasing complexity of technical devices and their need for greater sensitivity, researchers are turning to nature in the hope of learning how primitive creatures perform feats of detection and discrimination to which the most sophisticated products of man's technique cannot yet aspire. To this study they have applied the name "bi-

It

onics."

Many

of the phenomena under investigation involve sensory sensiFor example, rattlesnakes have a heat-detecting organ which responds to temperature differences of only .001° C. This enables them to find their warm-blooded prey at night. Similarly, certain tropical fish are believed to be capable of detecting an electric current of only .00000000002 amp. The "sonar" of porpoises has been discussed above. Also in the supersonic range are the higher harmonics of bat tivity.

329

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE squeaks: a moth which is often preyed upon by bats has been found to have an ear so developed that it responds to high-frequency bat trans-

missions in time for the moth to take evasive action. In the laboratory, electrodes have been attached to the auricular nerve of this moth,

making

its

ear the most sensitive microphone

known

for bat detection.

Life on other planets there life on Mars? What is the explanation of the seasonal changes observed on the red planet's surface? UntU recently, there has been a tendency to assume that "life" must resemble, in most if not all essential respects, life as we know it on earth, deriving from a small number of simple basic chemicals, and depending for its survival upon the availability of such substances as oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide. The likelihood that it may soon be possible to obtain samples from the surface of the moon and from some of the nearby planets, without waiting for manned space flight and direct explorations, demands a reevaluation of what is to be regarded as life, and how its manifestations are to be identified. The study of the possibilities of life, in a form that would be so recognized by Homo sapiens, has been named "exobiology." In a thoughtful exploration of the confines of this new science, Dr. Joshua Lederberg, the Nobel Laureate geneticist at Stanford University, pointed out that even to refer to the seasonal changes on Mars as depending upon "vegetation" is misleading. It implies an assumption that life on Mars, if it is ever found to exist, will be organized in an essentially terrestrial pattern. The likelihood must be considered that forms of life, depending on entirely different metabolic systems from any that man has so far been able to envisage, may exist in a habitat no more different from that of earth than that of Mars. If there is to be any recognition of "life" on such markedly more dissimilar planets as Venus and Saturn, a still broader concept of life, embracing still wider

Is

must be accepted. While warning against the dangers of impetuous sallies into space, which may result in contaminating the other planets with earthly life, Lederberg concludes: "Exobiology is no more fantastic than the realidifferences,

zation of space travel itself."

comes

330

into view."

Or

as

Bacon

said:

"A new

universe

BIBLIOGRAPHY following Theliography

not presented as a bib-

is

conventional sense,

in the

nor

designed to be an exhaustive read-

is it

ing list. It is essentially a list of books which have interested the author, with brief reviews of the more important ones and with occasional critical comments on others. They are classified in accordance with the

subdivisions of this essay, although there are inevitably

some

overlaps.

At the undergraduate

level,

and requires

a recollection of algebra that readers

may have

lost.

many

older

Otherwise, ad-

mirably straightforward.

Burnet, Sir (Frank) Macfarlane, The Clonal Selection Theory of Acquired Immunity. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1959

As

scientifically

work

is

clear.

obscure as the preceding for an

Heavy going even

immunologist, but important.

Introduction

Penrose, Lionel Sharples, Recent Ad-

EiSELEY, LoREN, The Firmament of Time. New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1960. The author, who is provost of the University of Pennsylvania, takes a poetic

and sometimes

"What

question, it

is

lyrical

view of the "nat-

sciences," but fails to answer the

ural

natural?"

is

However,

a stimulating and provocative work,

taking

much

of

its

tone from Sir

Browne's statement that "God out a

new

creation

.

.

.

may

.

Thomas .

.

with-

effect his ob-

scurest designs." This view affords an interesting

comparison with Bacon's that

man may create a new universe. The Royal Society:

Its Origins and FounHarold Hartley. London: The Society, Burlington House, 1960.

ders. Ed.

by

Sir

Basic Biological Research

Human

vances

in

Brown

& Co.,

Genetics. Boston: Little,

1961.

Williams, Greer, Virus Hunters.

New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1959. By a layman for laymen, this work is as intelligible as it is intelligent. It deserves greater

success

than

Hunters, on which the nately,

The title

Microbe

— but

fortu-

not the content or style — was

patterned.

Anthropology and Psychology Bailey, Percival, "A Rigged Radio Interview" in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.

Despite an unfortunately flippant title, an acid (and occasionally corrosive) critique, by an eminent neurologist

this is

AsiMOV, Isaac, The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science. Vol. II. New York: Basic

trained in psychiatry, of the extreme fa-

Books,

analysis has sometimes developed.

Vol.

Inc., 1960. II

covers the biological sciences,

beginning with the molecular basis of proteins, the cell,

working up

and microorganisms, and body, the species, and

to the

the mind.

Begg, Charles M. M.,An Introduction to Genetics. New York: Macmillan Co., 1959.

naticism to which the cult of psycho-

Bettelheim,

Bruno,

Heart: Autonomy 111.:

A

in

a

The

Informed

Mass Age. Glencoe,

Free Press, 1961. psychiatrist's interpretation, based

personal experience

camp, of the

in

on

a concentration

totalitarian attack

on the

uniqueness of the individual. The danger 331

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE to the individual in the age of

says

remains,

Bettelheim,

"mass man" though

the

Nazi regime is gone. Intellectual integrity, no less than political liberty, exacts the eternal vigilance of those

and would preserve

who cherish

it.

BiBBY, Cyril, T. H. Huxley: Scientist, Humanist, and Educator. Cornwallville. N. Y.: Horizon Press, Inc., 1960.

nine authors approach

man from

the dif-

fering viewpoints of their several specialties. It

has been objected that they do not

Homo

agree even on the age of

sapiens.

Far from being a drawback, this diversity of opinion is an asset, serving to emphasize the gaps remaining in our knowledge of our ancestry, although the oldest acknowledged artifacts of Homo sapiens were dated by geological methods in 1960. The sections on the evolution of tools, speech, agriculture, and industry are workmanlike. More provoc-

Far more than a biography, and an eloquent evocation of the "great debate" of a century ago, in which Huxley was a more effective advocate of Darwin than

ative for the projection of

was Darwin

into the future are those sections dealing

himself.

man's

human

history

which

Evolution After Darwin. Ed. by Sol Tax, 3 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago

with

The Evolution of Life: II. The Evolution of Man: Mind, Culture and So-

and the population explosion (by Edward S. Deevey, Jr.). The wealth of illustrations, especially the diagrammatic schemes, makes the compilation espe-

Press, 1960. Vol.

Its Origin,

I.

History and Future; Vol.

ciety.

Everything that the comprehensive implies, with luster

title

Sir JuHan Huxley, Harlow Shapley, George Gaylord Simpson, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Niko Tinbergen, and G. F.

Gause. Outline of Man's Knowledge of the Modern World. Ed. by Lyman Bryson.

York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.,

Inc.,

1960. I,

subtitled

"The Mind and Body of

Man," comprises chapters by four physicians and a psychologist, with emphasis on the mind-body relationship (H. G. Wolff) and the brain as a mechanism

(Ralph W. Gerard). Part II, "The World of Living Things," covers "The Elements

(Hudson

Hoagland), "The Smallest Living Things" (Rene J. Dubos), and "Man and Nature's Balance" (Paul of

Life"

B. Sears).

Other parts deal with physical

sciences, sociology, the law, and the arts.

cially attractive.

Tinbergen, Gull's

World.

American. September, 1960. special issue devoted entirely to "the

Scientific

A

of the

human

era from the

axes

Nikolaas,

New

The Herring York: Basic Books,

Inc., 1961.

A

revised and enlarged edition of a

species," spanning the

Acheulean makers of hand

150,000 B.C.) to the use of transistors in space communications. The {ca.

332

work De-

book

is

essentially a

study in psychology and

is

the outstand-

spite its title, this

ing contribution to date in an area

may

which

eventually prove to be as import-

ant—to the understanding of both animals and man — as Pavlov's work on conditional reflexes. A sensitive observer and an engaging writer, Tinbergen does not anthropomorphize, afraid (as so

many

but

neither

is

he

recent observers have

been) to note the resemblances between the bird and

man and

to interpret the be-

havior of one in the light of what

is

known

about the other. Both species are gregarious, and the nature of their communal organizations produces

some remarkable

gulls' "towns" have areas which are set aside as "clubs" for the passage of leisure time. Most aggression is initiated by the males, but

congruences.

rise

evolution,

hitherto available only in England.

An

Part

present

himself controls (by Dobzhansky),

added by such out-

standing (and readable) contributors as

New

man

if

Herring

the females participate,

it

is

usually at

each others' expense in an equivalent of hair-pulling. The female is the more

Gilbert

active

Although herring

courtship.

in

gulls look alike to the untrained

human

eye, they recognize each other at consid-

and features. Although they are remark-

facial

by

often

distances,

erable

voice

Mind

Searching

Museum By is

Medicine.

in

Cant

London:

Press, Ltd., 1961.

The

the editor of

Practitioner, this

a searching and well-written survey of

current medical research, the tasks con-

show

fronting

flexi-

solutions to the problems in the foresee-

They recognize neighbors and indulge in personal hatreds for no apparent

able future — all interpreted with a schol-

ably adaptable as a species, they

marked

limitations

in

individual

bility.

reason. Like

some human

societies, her-

ring gulls react strongly to the color red.

it,

and the prospects for finding

arly appreciation based

on a keen aware-

ness of the recent past. Dr.

Thomson dis-

cusses both the dangers of radiation and the beneficial uses of radioisotopes; the

Progress

in

biochemistry and chemotherapy of can-

Medicine

For the specialist: A massive monograph on a mosquito which had an influence upon history out of all proportion to its size, and the conquest of which makes one of

and the hope that an similar to an antibiotic, may soon be developed. He does a service by marshaling the evidence on the differences in susceptibility between individuals with different blood groups (A,B, and O) to certain diseases, notably duodenal ulcer — although the interpre-

the great success stories in the annals of

tation of this evidence

medicine. Aedes aegypti

dispute.

cer; virus diseases

Richard, Aedes Sir Christophers, Aegypti (L). New York: Cambridge University Press, 1960.

is

the carrier of

Proosdij, C. van. Smoking:

Its Influence

yellow fever.

ter

on the Individual and Its Role in Social Medicine. Princeton, N. J.: D. Van NostrandCo.,Inc., 1961.

A review of the data on the effects of the tobacco habit upon the human organism, comprising the chemical changes induced by smoking and the ical

social

and psycholog-

aspects of the habit.

Van

Proosdij

disapproves of smoking almost as strongly as

did

James

but he

I,

understanding

in his

respondingly

more

is

far

more

approach and cortemperate in his

judgment.

chemical,

antiviral

He

is still

subject to

also has an interesting chap-

on the influence of climate on working

efficiency; the relationship

is

not as sim-

ple as might be expected.

Special Investigations Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds. 2 Vols. Ed. by A. J. Marshall. New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1960-61.

The

first

major work

in this field in half a

century.

The Doubleday

Pictorial Library of

ture: Earth, Plants,

Animals.

New

Na-

York:

Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1960. An American edition of a work produced England with an editorial board conmen such as James Fisher, Sir Julian Huxley, Sir Gerald Barry, and J. Bronowski. The nine contributors are all eminent in their specialties. The scope in

Simon, Harold

J.,

Philadelphia, Penn.:

Attenuated Infection. J.

B. Lippincott Co.,

1960.

An

explanation of the fact, which anti-

biotic it is

man

has learned to his sorrow, that

not advisable to try to eliminate

all in-

from the environment — including the internal environment of the human gut and female genitalia. A sci-

fectious microbes

entifically

sisting of

of the work invite tion.

is

Thomson, William A.

R.

(M.D.),

so forbiddingly vast as to

and oversimplificapitfalls have been

However, these

avoided skillfully, so far as is possible where such a high degree of compression

supported plea for "peaceful

coexistence" of man and microbe.

is

childishness

required.

The

lavish illustrations are

not only informative but are, with rare

The

and minor exceptions, as accurate as 333

to-

.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE

A

day's knowledge of their subject matter.

poids.

one of the most successful attempts to date to describe all life, from the simplest forms and its earliest beginnings to the complexities of man and

onomic

This work

is

of

all

valuable

table

forms of

overcome

feature

which life

the

is

tax-

offers a classification

-with

illustrations to

most readers have with the highly condensed material in tables and keys.

his relationships with the higher anthro-

the difficulty that

NOTE TO THE READER of the most important subjects Many the biological sciences and medicine

in

are discussed in the preceding review of

Readers interested

developments.

recent

in further investigating

For discussion of the

Evolution la. The

these subjects will

man, see

doctrine

man's

of

special

creation: in body, in soul

much

useful and interesting material Syntopicon and in the selections included in Great Books of the Western World. For a general introduction, the find

origin of

the passsages cited under

lb.

The theory of the evolutionary man from lower forms

in the

origin of

reader should consult the essays

of animal life: descent from an ancestor common to man and the anthropoids

in

the

Syntopicon chapters on Animal, Evolution, and Medicine. For material on specific

subjects, the essays

below

will

and topics

For discussion of the beginnings of passages cited under

listed

Man

be most helpful.

9c.

For discussion of the nature of life, the distinction between the living and the lifeless, and the various grades of life, see the essay on Life and Death, and the passages in Great Books of the Western World cited in the Syntopicon under the following topics:

Continuity and discontinuity scale of animal

and

Life and

life:

in the

Animal 5^.

gradation from

life: the soul organic bodies Continuity or discontinuity between living and non-living things: comparison of

Mind

life in

1^.

(1)

For discussion of genes and the mechanisms of heredity, see the essay on Evolution, and the passages cited under

Animal Heredity and environment: the genetic determination of individual differences

334

Mind as the totality of mental processes and as the principle of meanbehavior stream of thought, consciousness, or experience: the variety of mental operations The topography of mind

ingful or purposive

powers and activities with the potentialities and motions of inert bodies

similarities

brain and nervous system: the

ous impulses

The nature and cause of

and

The

excitation and conduction of nerv-

vital

10.

man; primitive and

man

For discussion of the nature of mind and mental processes, see the essay on Mind, and the passages cited under the following

Death

as the principle of 2.

historic

civilized

lower to higher forms

1

Secular conceptions of the stages of human life: man in a state of nature and in society; prehistoric

topics:

Animal 2c.

civ-

ilization, see the

(2)

The nature of

the

For discussion of dreams, see the passages cited under the following topics:

Memory and Imagination 8.

The nature and causes of dreaming

Gilbert

The

Sb.

and memory

role of sensation

in the

and medicine conGreat Books of the Western World. The most important of these are:

For discussion of genius, see the passages cited under

psychology)

cluding tained

dreams of sleep

Cant

8

in

Aristotle,

and

On

the

Sensible,

the

Soul, On Sense On Memory and

On Sleep and SleepOn Dreams, On Prophesying by Dreams, On Longevity and Shortness of Life, On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, On Breathing Aristotle, History of Animals, On the Parts of Animals, On the Motion of Animals, On the Gait of Animals, On Reminiscence,

Mind

lessness,

differences

Individual

4a.

degrees

gence:

of

in

intelli-

capacity

for

understanding

For discussion of population see the passages cited under

control,

9

Family 6b. Eugenics:

control

of

the Generation ofAnimals

breeding: 10

birth control

Hippocrates, The Oath, Medicine,

gery,

5d

tions,

psychogenesis

of

bodily

disorders

For discussion of the influence of climate upon health and character, see the passages under

cited

lb.

influence of environmental factors on human characteristics: climate and geography as

For background

to the use of drugs

and

medicines, see the passages cited under

Medicine Medication: drugs, specifics

For discussion of the classifying

in

difficulties

involved

animals, see the essay on

Evolution, and the passages

cited

under

Animal 2a. General

schemes of classification: and major divisions

their principles

For discussion of animal

sensitivity, see

the passages cited under

Animal \a {\)

It

the

On

The

On

On

Fistulae,

the Articula-

Reduction,

of

Law, On Ulcers, Hemorrhoids, On the

Sacred Disease 10

Galen,

On

the

Natural

On

Heart and Blood

the

in

Faculties

Motion of

Animals,

On

On

the

the Circulation of the Blood,

Generation of Animals

Darwin, The Origin of The Descent of Man 53 William James, The Principles of

49 Charles Species,

differences

(2)

Fractures,

Instruments

Aphorisms,

the

The

determinants of racial or national

3d

On

28 William Harvey,

Man

Ancient

in

Medicine The

On

Waters, and Places,

The Book of Prognostics, On Regimen Acute Diseases, Of the Epidemics, On Injuries of the Head, On the Sur-

For discussion of the relation between emotion and illness, see the passages cited under

(2)

On Airs,

Animal sensitivity: and differentiations

its

degrees

may help the reader to be reminded of many works of biological science (in-

Psychology 54 SiGMUND Freud, The Origin and Development of Psycho-Analysis, Selected Papers on Hysteria, Ch. 1-10, The Sexual Enlightenment of Children, The Future Prospects of Psycho -Analytic

Therapy, Observations on "Wild"

The Interpretation Instincts Narcissism, On Dreams, of and Their Vicissitudes, Repression, The Unconscious, A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, The Ego and the Id, Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety, Thoughts for the Times on War and Death, Civilization and Its DisconPsycho-Analysis,

tents,

New

Introductory Lectures on

Psycho-Analysis

335

GEORGE

P.

GRANTwas born in Toronto, Canada, in

Canadian schools

World War

II

until

1918. Heattended

he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship

he served

in

During war he re-

in 1939.

the British merchant navy. After the

turned to Oxford, where he received the Doctor of Philosophy degree 1947.

From 1947

to

1960 he was Chairman of the Philosophy department

in

at

Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. Recently he joined the faculty of

McMaster phy

in the

University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Mass Age and

has

made

He

is

author of the book Philoso-

frequent radio and television appearances.

336

J

Philosophy and religion GEORGE P. GRANT

PHILOSOPHY In

recent years, philosophical studies have sounded a hesitant note. this uncertainty is that so many of the leading philos-

The cause of

ophers spend their time pondering the subject matter and the proper method of their study. This is in marked contrast to the biologists and physicists who are not so much concerned with arguing what their science is, as in doing it. Because there is both great disagreement and uncertainty about the nature of the philosophic enterprise, hesitancy is inevitable. Indeed, nowhere is the intellectual incoherence of the Western world more manifest than in the diverse currents of contemporary philosophy.

There has always been argument about the subject matter and method of philosophy. One of the great questions asked by philosophers has been "What is philosophy?" In the first flowering of philosophy among the Greeks, Plato and Aristotle disagreed on the definition of knowledge and its relation to philosophy.^ In a later flowering among the Germans at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, the two leading geniuses, Kant and Hegel, were in disagreement about the limits of knowledge and how wisdom is to be attained. 2 Nevertheless, behind these disagreements, which appeared again and again in the history of thought, there lay a profound sense of agreement as to the essential nature of philosophy. There was no

doubt that the philosopher was par excellence the man of knowledge, as distinguished from opinion, and that his ultimate goal was wisdom. Skepticism about these matters was always a minority report. The disagreement about philosophy in the modern scientific era is much more fundamental. There are many who deny that there is any such thing as philosophy as it has been practiced from the dawn of civilization. In its place these modern thinkers substitute a conception of philosophy as criticism and analysis which impHes a radical break with the intellectual tradition of the past. To understand recent philosophy, therefore, it is necessary to describe the traditional conception 1

contrast Plato and Aristotle in their views of philosophy, see The Republic, Vol. 7, pp. 356b40 Id, and Metaphysics, Vol. 8, pp. 499a-5 3d. To contrast Kant and Hegel, see, for example. The Critique of Pure Reason, Vol. 42, pp. 14a22a, c, and The Philosophy of Right, Vol. 46, pp. 9a-20d.

To

1

2

337

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION of philosophy and to compare substituted for

From

it

with the conceptions which are

now

it.

and through most of the histo be the contemplation of reality as a whole. By means of thought, men gained knowledge of the fundamental principles by which the universe and their own existence in particular could be understood. ^ Philosophy was thus the perfecting of man's capacity to know, because it provided knowledge of the most universal kind. Because it led to the understanding of the whole, it could direct human conduct to good as against evil ends. Philosophy was the heart of all education. (The literal meaning of the word is "the love of wisdom," and because all men should love to be wise, all should pursue philosophy as much as their talents and circumstances permit.'*) Philosophy must be carefully distinguished from science and religion. (The distinction between philosophy and science was made particularly sharp in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of our era by the work of such men as Descartes, Hume, and Kant.) The function of the scientist is to inquire into and describe accurately particular aspects of reality — the physical, the living, or the human. Science provides us with knowledge of how events happen in the world. It thus answers different questions from those answered by philosophy, which its

origins in the ancient world

tory of Europe, philosophy

was believed

seeks to comprehend the whole. Religious knowledge, on the other hand, is concerned with answers reached through the help of faith. In the Western world, the religion is that of the Bible — in its majority form. Christian; in its minority form, Jewish. Faith is the trust of the believer that God has answered certain questions

through their

Not

all

by revelation — questions which men cannot answer

own unaided

reason.

the great philosophers, of course, have believed that such

answers are given in religion.^ There are those, such as Spinoza, who believe that philosophy can answer all questions and that there is no need for revelation.^ Hegel affirmed that philosophy could take up into itself all the truth given in more primitive form in religion.'' On the other hand, many philosophers are either Christians or Jews, and believe that revelation completes the pursuit of philosophy. The traditional account of what it is to philosophize is now a minority report in the most influential intellectual circles of the EnglishSee Plato, The Republic, Vol. 7, pp. 370d-373c, 397a-398b; Aristotle, Metaphysics, Vol. 8, pp. 522a-525a; Epictetus, Discourses, Vol. 12, pp. 150a-151b; Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Vol. 19, pp. 3b-4a; Hobbes, Leviathan, Vol. 23, pp. 60a-b, 72a-d; Bd^con, Advancement of Learning, Vol. 30, pp. 40a-c, 42a-46a; Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 451a-455b; Kant, Critique of Judgement, Vol. 42, pp. 463a-465c; and Hegel, Philosophy of History, Vol. 46, pp. 184d-185c. 4 The part of love in the practice of philosophy has never been better described than by Plato in his two dialogues Phaedrus and Symposium. See Vol. 7, pp. 115a-141 a,c, and pp. 149a3

173c.

For a

brilliant attack on supernatural religion as quite outside the bounds of reason, see Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 488d-509d. 6 See Ethics, Vol. 31, pp. 355a-372d. 7 See Philosophy of History, Vol. 46, pp. 360c-369a, c.

5

338

George

P.

Grant

speaking world. Our scientific and pragmatic civilization has been both new view of philosophy. In this view,

the result and the cause of a

philosophy should not try to understand the true

way

of

life

for

man

but should try to criticize the intellectual activities of civilization. Philosophy is not concerned with great speculative systems which give us knowledge of reality as a whole, but with analyzing the logic

which men employ in their various activities. To seek the cause of this new view would involve understanding the modern civilization of progress. For what men consider philosophy to be is a mirror of themselves and of their aspirations. This account of philosophy as criticism sees the relation of the subject to science and religion in a new way. The older philosophy is considered to have arisen in essentially religious societies and therefore to have confused its function with religion. Philosophy is now believed to

be freed from

its

religious origins

and therefore freed from giving meaning of life." Its

authoritative answers to questions about "the essential purpose

is

criticism.^

recognized that, historically, philosophy was the mother of the sciences. As a good mother, however, it has given its children independence and surrendered many of its old functions. Thus the scope of philosophy has gradually contracted. Accurate descriptions of It is

reality are

now

provided by the sciences with their appeal to experi-

ment. The claims of philosophy to provide ontological knowledge beyond that provided by the sciences is a sham. Philosophy is no superscience, but a critical method concerned primarily with logic. The re-

markable developments in mathematics and the sciences in the last hundred years have given the philosophers an enormous task. Symbolic logic has provided new means of analysis. Modern analytical philosophy has indeed been chiefly concerned with the science of logic and the logic of science. One result of the analytical account of philosophy has been to make the subject increasingly professional, which adds to its difficulty and limits its importance. As philosophers are no longer concerned with authoritative answers to the great questions, their importance in society is naturally decreased. This has meant that philosophy plays an increasingly narrow role in the educational system. Unless to be wise is simply to be critical, the new philosophy does not claim to make us wise. Another result of this professionalizing (a result evident in the writing of 1960)

is

that

much

philosophical literature

is

highly technical

and requires great technical competence on the reader's part. In the contemporary Anglo-American world, two forms of this new philosophy are particularly influential — the first more especially in the United States, the second in England. These two schools share certain common origins and interests, but must be distinguished as to what they consider to be the practice of philosophy. 8

Kant was the first philosopher to maintain that the essential task of philosophy Critique of Pure Reason, Vol. 42, pp. 5a- 1 3d.

339

is

criticism.

See

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION The first is particularly concerned with the logic of mathematics and the sciences. Philosophy is thus not essentially different from the sciences, but broader in framework because interested in a logical language which is comprehensive. Some logicians are interested in this pursuit for pragmatic reasons: it helps the scientist to better understand what he is doing and to communicate with his colleagues. The interest of other logicians is a pure interest in simplicity for its own sake. But whether the interest is pragmatic or intellectual, the

The made this account influential in the United Rudolf Carnap, who was a famous Austrian logician be-

philosopher's function chief philosopher States fore

is

coming

who

essentially the logic of the sciences.

is

has

to this country. Its

most distinguished current exponent

is

W. V. Quine of Harvard, who in 1960 published Word and Object. Other notable exponents are Hans Reichenbach, whose posthumous essays, Modern Philosophy of Science, were published in 1959, and Professor Ernest Nagel of Columbia, who brought out Professor

Rudolf Carnap

The Structure of Science; Problems

in

the Logic of Scientific Ex-

planation.

To be

distinguished from this form of analytical philosophy

school of "linguistic analysis" which

England. According to

its

is

the

is

particularly influential

practitioners, to philosophize

is

in

to study the

use we actually make of our linguistic instruments in the course of our business one with another and with the world. This frees us from the conceptual confusions and illusions which become imbedded in unanalyzed language. The "puzzles" of traditional metaphysics {e.g.,

and determinism) will melt away when they are seen to have been caused by linguistic confusions. At its most extreme this scliool has believed that philosophy is simply prolegomena to a future science of language. Unlike the logicians of science, the analytic school does not believe there is any ideal language but only common-sense language. The meaning of language is to be found in its use — whether for scientific, free will

Ludwig Wittgenstein

moral,

artistic,

guage has

its

or religious purposes.

own

unique

Each statement of ordinary

logic, so that

no

ideal or

comprehensive

lan-

logic

is possible. The chief influence in forming this school was the work of another Austrian, Ludwig Wittgenstein. The center of its influence has been in the University of Oxford. Its most notable exponent. Professor J. L. Austin, died in 1959. It is now possible to see very clearly what the linguistic analysts mean by philosophy. The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers, edited by J. O.

Urmson, covers

the whole range of philosophy from Abelard to

Zeno

within the analytic assumptions.

War

II the dominance of these two forms of been almost complete in the English-speaking universities. The older tradition of metaphysics has been carried on, but more and more as a minority report. For instance, in 1959 Professor Paul Weiss of Yale brought out his monumental study in

Since the end of World

analytical philosophy has

340

George

P.

Grant

modern metaphysics, Modes of Being. But such a work can only come from one who does not accept the general climate of the day. In Catholic circles (where authority and tradition are strong) there is still institutional support for traditional philosophy. The support of an

more and more

older tradition has

fallen

on Catholic shoulders, and

has often led to the identification of metaphysics with the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. In the past year a remarkable example of Catholic metaphysics has appeared in Professor Etienne Gilson's The Elements of Christian Philosophy. this

Analytical philosophy

is

now

the tradition. Criticism, which started

several centuries ago as a revolt against metaphysics,

now

is

itself

the establishment. Its practitioners have been in control of the teach-

two decades at the major intellectual centers, so coming generation is taught to conceive the subject in this way and sometimes to be hardly aware of any other conception. In the 1940's and 1950's much positive work in logical and linguistic analysis was carried on within this established and confident framework. ing of philosophy for

that the

What

is

philosophy?

What characterizes philosophical a return to the question

literature during the past year

"What

is

philosophy?"

A

is

number of

books have been published which turn away from the monolithic cerand question what the philosophic enterprise is all about. Men only stop what they are doing, and ponder what

tainty of the analytic tradition

it is

they are doing,

this

questioning

is

if

they are not entirely

satisfied.

One

past. Indeed, the least endearing aspect of analytical

been

its

indication of

a greater sympathy for the philosophic

readiness to speak of past philosophy as

if it

work of the

philosophy has

had been mostly a

catalogue of errors. This arrogance has faded, and analytical philoso-

phers even write of the past as Professor

if

they had something to learn from

W. V. Quine's Word and Object

heart of analytical philosophy as envisaged by W.

V.

Quine

it.

takes us right into the its

subtlest

American

concerned with inquiring into the mechanism of language, but for the purposes of that inquiry he clearly describes what he considers the nature of philosophy to be. More than in any of his earlier books (such as From a Logical Point of View) the method and scope of analytical philosophy are made plain. Therefore, it is a splendid introduction for anyone who wishes to understand what modern exponent. Quine

is

philosophers are doing.

Quine understands philosophy to be the effort to become clear and all communication, all language, technical and

self-conscious about

otherwise.

Thus

natural

He

describes science as "self-conscious

new vocabulary and formulae found evolution of ordinary language. The

the

common

sense."

therein are seen as a scientist's

attempt to

communicate about the world with the maximum of clarity and economy is the same for Quine as the purpose and method of philosophy. 341

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION The same kind of things essential difference

concern.

ever

It

is

are being done, and in the

same way. The one framework of

that philosophy has a broader

deals not only with particular subjects, but also with what-

we consider

useful to admit into our discourse

Quine then sees philosophy as "an "things" being mainly our

own

effort

on

all

subjects.

to get things clear,"

evolving concept of the world in gen-

own knowledge. But in saying this, must be made clear that he is thoroughly positivist in his assumptions about knowledge and thoroughly behaviorist in his assumptions about human conduct. Scientific method is the way to truth. This is why the study of language is seen as basic. We can watch how people use language in the market place. Therefore, our conclusions from it are ascertainable by all. Only in terms of language can we contemplate our own acts of eral, including

ourselves and our

it

knowing. Any attempt to stand outside our own cognitions (as if firmer ground existed somehow outside the empirically testable, the behaviorally scrutable) is to reduce philosophy to a mere "whistling in the dark." There is no firmer ground outside our world of experience, so no such "cosmic exile" is possible. The failure to understand this was what vitiated traditional metaphysics. The concentration on understanding this world, the belief that this world is completely explainable in its own terms, is an essential aspect of modern philosophy. Quine is indubitably one of such "worldly" philosophers. Philosophy for Quine is thus essentially a semantical undertaking. What he thinks is achieved through such analysis may be elucidated by comparing him with the school of linguistic analysis. In their negative aims they are similar. Both Quine and linguistic analysts belifeve that most metaphysical problems will be dissolved by showing them to be unreal and to have arisen because of faulty use of language.^ But the positive results they hope to achieve through their semantical work

A basic slogan of the linguistic analysts is that every statement has its own logic. Therefore their analysis reveals hidden meanings and subtleties in all statements, rather than one common logic. Quine's aim is quite different. Above all it is to simplify — to clear the ontological slums — to eliminate subtleties rather than to discover them. He rejects the slogan that every statement has its own logic and believes that the purpose of his technique is to reduce all language to certain basic logical constructions. This will enable people to reach a common ground from which they will be able to commuare quite different.

nicate successfully in a

way

previously impossible.

Above

all it will

enable them to clarify and simplify their total world picture.

Quine recognizes

that these basic logical constructions will never

constitute a complete, but only a partial system. But unified logic

which

will

apply to discourse on

all

it

will

subjects

provide a

— not

sep-

9 Distress at the failings of language was voiced by Hobbes in Leviathan, Vol. 23, pp. 54c-6 a. See also Locke, Essay Concernirifi Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 285a-301c; and Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 470d-471c. 1

342

George

P.

Grant

arate logics for each special subject, let alone each separate statement.

In this aim for "a partial notation for discourse on

Quine

is

clearly differentiated

all

subjects,"

from the analytical philosophers of the

Wittgensteinian school.

Quine's unwavering allegiance to the ideal of simplicity and econis hard to reconcile with the pragmatic reference of his thought at other points. Although there has always been in science the motive to explain things as simply as possible and for the sake of simplicity

omy

has been more and more subordinated to the power motive which wants to manipulated^ Quine, for all his positivist assumptions, is so far from any interest in the power motive in science that he seems hardly aware of its existence. There is an almost Platonic ring in his itself, this

constant appeals to the idea of simplicity as the very standard of truth, as the

intellect is drawn. He tries to describe value of his thought in pragmatic enough terms, but these

good towards which the

this central

elucidations deepen our conception rather than clarify

unknown

it.

He

speaks of

mechanism of our drive for simplicity and the overwhelming survival value it must have: simplicity engenders good working conditions for the creative imagination; it tends to the

neurological

enhance the scope of a

scientific theory;

above

all,

"simplicity

is

the

we can ask." This mixture of Platonic and does not make what he means by it any clearer.

best evidence of truth

Darwinian language Its status

within his system remains ambiguous.

In another way, Quine also departs from the positivist tradition.

His conception of philosophy makes a strange kind of room for ontolthe study of reality. According to Quine, we construct logic and produce theories, and in typical modern fashion he says that usefulness is the standard by which we judge the value of these constructions and theories. But at this point he makes a key concession to the metaphysical account of philosophy because he asserts that usefulness is not a chance attribute but grounded in the nature of things. "Such is the nature of reality," he writes, "that one physical theory will get us around better than another." Philosophy is therefore concerned with the nature of things in the same way that science is. Considering how deep the tendency has been to say that science is concerned only with what is and philosophy only with criticism, his is a surprising concession and once more makes ontology

ogy—for philosophy as

central to the philosophic enterprise.

Despite such a concession, however, Quine remains basically in the is entirely unconcerned with another aim

analytical school because he

of traditional philosophy, that of directing

work

human

conduct. Quine's

no more concerned with moral philosophy than is that of any scientist. When he writes that one physical theory will get us around better than another, he means that one theory will perform its task more efficiently than another. Perhaps he just assumes that all civiis

le See Bacon,

Novum Organum.Wol.

30, pp. 107a-b, 120b-c.

343

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION and sensible men know what they ought

to be doing and need no beyond the technical question of means. Indeed most Anglo-American analytical philosophers accept the assumption that questions of right and wrong are not to be answered philosophically. For Quine, philosophy remains a specialized instrument for clarifying and communicating our knowledge of our world and of ourselves. The most important book of 960 which ponders the question "What is philosophy?" would seem to me to be Professor Gustav Bergmann's Meaning and Existence. Bergmann, a professor at the State University of Iowa, came to this country from Austria in 1938. He had studied mathematics there and had been a member of the Vienna Circle — an internationally famous group of analytical philosophers of whom Rudolf Carnap is the most notable. The tenets of logical positivism were formulated by this group. In 1954, Bergmann published The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism. This was a paradoxical title: lized

instruction,

1

Gustav Bergmann

the very basis of logical positivism

is the assertion that metaphysical statements are meaningless because they claim to be about reality and yet cannot be verified in experience. Bergmann argued that behind logical positivism there lies a set of presuppositions which in fact

constitutes a metaphysics.

In

Meaning and Existence, Bergmann discusses contemporary The book is important because it does

analytic philosophy in detail.

not try to reconcile the present crisis as to the nature of philosophy by partisan slogans. At a time when there is such wide

means of easy or

who practice it have the tendency to retreat into their respective ghettos and content themselves with never looking at anything but their own method and system. Thus traditional Thomistic metaphysicians expound what they believe without seeming to recognize the modern analytical attack. Analytical philosophers, on the other hand, seem so content with their new methods that they are hardly aware of those who disagree with them. If they speak at all about non-scientific philosophers it is to misrepresent the past by catchwords. Bergmann's superiority to this ghetto mentahty is that he neither thinks that we can pretend that analytical philosophy does not exist, nor that the great metaphysicians of the past were dealing with meaningless problems. For this reason I consider his book the most interesting and significant philosophic work of 1960. It is indeed difficult reading; but for those who want to know where philosophy stands in the modern world, it will be rewarding. What does Bergmann think philosophy is? First, he recognizes that it is dialectical. That is, a critical examination of the positions a philosopher rejects is a necessary beginning to his arguments for the one he adopts. 1^ His book is therefore much taken up with his reasons for division as to the nature of philosophy, those

1 1

The

idea of philosophy as dialectical in this sense is central to the writings of many of the great philosophers. Plato starts many of his dialogues by stating the inadequate positions of others, and proceeding from them to his own. Several of Aristotle's treatises begin with an examination and criticism of previous thought. Aquinas always examines opinions opposed to his own in the objections that are found in each article of the Summa Theologica.

344

George

P.

Grant

by the linguistic analysts and by the logicians of science such as Quine. One of the essays in Meaning and Existence, "The Revolt against Logical Atomism," analyzes the assumptions and the historical causes of linguistic analysis, and lays bare why Bergmann considers it an inadequate account of the philosophical enterprise. Linguistic analysts are communication theorists, not philosophers. They are interested in explaining how we manage to learn ordinary language and, having learned it, to communicate with each other by means of it. Such an account turns philosophy into the psychology of language practiced by amateurs. rejecting the account of philosophy given

Bergmann

also argues against the logicians of science.

mentally believe or hope that

all

They funda-

philosophical questions belong to the

philosophy of science. According to Bergmann, none of the major philThe philosophy of science has the limited

osophical questions do.

new problems which the work of science presents to should the theory of relativity be interpreted. But this

task of analyzing it

— e.g., how

leaves untouched the analysis of such fundamental notions as change

and identity, meaning, and existence, which have remained with philosophy since its origin.

Through Bergmann's rejection of other accounts, he moves to his own. The chief task of philosophy is ontology — the study of what exists. It is

but platitudinous to say that philosophy is concerned with it does not try to understand language, but rather the

language. Yet

world by means of language. In its task, it employs ideal languages. Bergmann clearly distinguishes between ordinary and ideal languages: "When is a word used philosophically? Some philosophers maintained that bodies do not exist. Either they were raving mad or they used the peculiar way I call philosophical." Ordinary language is not unimportant. Scientific, moral, and other forms of discourse are 'exist' in

on by means of it. But the analysis of such ordinary language always prephilosophical. The function of the philosopher is to improve ordinary language so that it becomes an ideal language. In these essays, Bergmann does not discuss the relation of philosophy to human conduct. In this he follows the analytical tradition which has always showed a lack of interest in moral and social questions. Nevertheless, as Bergmann is so explicit about the relation of common sense to science and of both to philosophy, it would be interesting if he were also explicit about the relation of philosophy to morals, religion, art, and politics. This question is related to the subtle one of progress in philosophy. Can philosophical problems be better explained in 1961 than by Aristotle? Certainly philosophy used to be much concerned with its application to the practical realm. Is the abdication of this concern a sign of progress? A less profound book than Bergmann's but one that points in the same direction is P. F. Strawson's Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics. Here is a leading British analytical philosopher who does not only philosophize about language but also uses it to explain

carried is

345

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION the world. Like Bergmann, Strawson believes that the study of ontology is the heart of the philosophical enterprise, rather than communication theory. Unlike Bergmann, he believes that he can reach ontological conclusions by the analysis of ordinary language rather than by the method of ideal languages. In terms of Strawson's method it is difficult to know when his statements are based on the authority of common sense and when their verification lies elsewhere. Nevertheless, what is significant about this book is that it should be written at all. Ontology has been so long excluded from philosophy that this book is another sign of the reassessment of the nature of philosophy at the

present time.

An

outright and raucous attack

Gellner's

P. F.

Strawson

on

Words and Things. This

linguistic analysis

is

Mr. Ernest

published with an introduction gives his high logical authority unqualifiedly is

by Bertrand Russell, who to the indictment. So complete an attack is this that the English linguistic analysts even refused to review it in their leading journal. Mind. Linguistic analysis had claimed to be one of the great revolutions in the history of thought.

By

its

analysis of ordinary language, the total

and the final extinction of metaphysics claimed to be the apotheosis of the modern humanist vision which would finally be realized by the use of that common sense which the upper-class English think they so uniquely posdissolution of ancient problems

would

at last take place. It

sess.

Gellner's argument is

patent nonsense.

a revolution,

is

is

that this claim to be a revolution in philosophy

On the

contrary, linguistic analysis, far from being

the very death of thought.

It

turns philosophy from

its

basic task of discussing fundamental and genuine conceptual alternatives into the impressionistic study of words as they are used in

English society. Philosophy is misdirected into an unimportant lexicography. In a long analysis of the work of Wittgenstein, Gellner maintains that the whole movement is based on assumptions about the relation of language to truth which are either mistaken or half-truths.

The two most important of these are: (1) the belief that one can argue from the actual use of common-sense language to the answer to philosophical problems; (2) from the variety of uses to which we can it concepts, it is concluded that general assertions about the use of words are impossible. In terms of these basic mistakes, Gellner examines the doctrines that linguistic analysts hold about knowledge, the world, and the practice of philosophy. He ends his book with an anthropological and sociological account of why this trivializing of thought should have become the dominant philosophic tradition of his country. He maintains that it is the last ditch of a tired and secularized ruling elite which wants to be skeptical and antimetaphysical and yet at the same time to avoid any of the dangerous social results which are generally consequent on skepticism. j

Linguistic philosophy has exerted a powerful influence in the universities of

346

America.

If

it is

true that the state of philosophy

is

a very

George

P.

Grant

important mark of the health of any civilization, and if linguistic analis as empty and futile as Gellner makes out, then its influence in

ysis

our culture

is

a sad sign, and

we

should be aware of

justifies Gellner's violence of attack.

Apart from

it.

This perhaps book has

this, the

one advantage rare in philosophical writing. It is very witty. One cannot but be glad that there are still people in the mass society who can be funny about the follies of men — particularly pretentious academics. Yet another book about the proper scope and method of philosophy is Philosophical Systems by Professor E. W. Hall of North Carolina. Hall believes that the traditional questions of philosophy were real questions to be answered neither empirically nor logically. They involved real theoretical dispute. Hall is worried by the difficulty that philosophers have in coming to grips with each other's differing solutions.

He

faces this with the idea of "categorial

commitment by a philosopher

commitment" -the

which are basic to his system. In terms of this he raises the question whether a philosophical system would be possible without categorial commitment and whether to categories

there are neutral categories available to

moves

to his

own

all

systems.

From

this

ordinary language. This

is

a clever book about the dilemma of eternal

philosophic dispute in the midst of a world where science solves

problems.

he

position which rests basically on the analysis of

Its virtue is

its

lessened, however, by the fact that the discus-

sion of philosophical systems

thought, and by the fact that

is

it is

confined almost entirely to modern

addressed to the professional rather

than to the layman.

Of

the books which approach philosophy in the metaphysical man-

ner and do not accept the analytical account of the subject, the one

coming from the most famous pen in 1960 is Professor E. Gilson's The Elements of Christian Philosophy. Here is an account of metaphysics within the

Roman

Catholic tradition.

The

historical writing of

Professor Gilson about the middle ages, and particularly his explication of the thought of St.

dominant influence are disagreements

in

Thomas Aquinas,

Catholic intellectual

among

has recently been the

life

in

America. There

Catholic scholars as to what constitutes

Etienne Gilson

347

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION and many disagree with certain aspects of who disagree with him recognize that he is the greatest of modern Thomistic interpreters and that therefore all accounts of the matter must at least start from his work. Therefore, in this comprehensive recapitulation of his thought we are as close as we can be to the pure milk of Catholic metaphysics. We can see clearly what the practice of philosophy means within the true Thomistic doctrine,

Gilson's interpretation. But even those

Catholic tradition.

Gilson takes the term "Christian Philosophy" not from Aquinas but from the Encyclical Letter "Aeterni Patris" of Pope Leo XIII

1878-79

in

in

which the Pope recommended the study of Aquinas

Catholic institutions. Christian philosophy izing in

a

in

which the Christian

common

faith

is

that

and the human

way

to all

of philosoph-

intellect join forces

investigation of philosophical truth. In the Encyclical,

is singled out as the supreme practitioner of that art, and Gilson accepts him as such. Therefore, the study of the riches of Aquinas is essential for the philosopher who would practice his art

Aquinas

within the

faith.

To Aquinas

there can be no conflict between the purposes of theand philosophical inquiry, because their ultimate object is the same — the knowledge of God.^^ ^^ Gilson writes: "At any rate the

ological

Greek

philosophers — to

consider

Thomas Aquinas knew — were of

the

only

philosophers

the opinion that to

whom

know God was

supreme aim of all true lovers of wisdom." Why is there then a between philosophy based on human reason and sacred doctrine based on faith? Man cannot direct his thoughts and actions to an end unless he first has knowledge of that end. Yet the fact is that man has been directed by God to an end that surpasses the grasp of his reason. Therefore, it was necessary for the salvation of man that those truths which are beyond the reach of his reason should be known by divine revelation. And revelation teaches us not only those truths which exceed our unaided reason, but also teaches all persons those truths which only some could reach by reason alone. If God left men to themselves, how many would come to knowledge? Aquinas

the

difference

points out that without revelation, "... the truth about God such as reason could discover would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors. "^^ The particular merit of Gilson's book is that it takes into account

the misinterpretations that have been placed on the division between

the roles of philosophy and sacred doctrine by Catholics and non-

Catholics alike.

It

shows why these

alternatives are misinterpretations

of the true Thomistic teaching. In terms of this definition of Christian

Gilson proceeds to expound the central notions of Thomistic metaphysics. Looked at historically, the achievement of Aquinas was to interpret philosophy,

12 See 13

Summa

I bid., p.

348

3d

Theologica, Vol. 19, pp. 3b-4a.

George Aristotle in a all

way compatible

P.

Grant

with Christianity and then to interpret

Christian thought before his

own

in the light

of that compatibility.

must be remembered that, since Aquinas, the presuppositions of Aristotle about human and non-human nature have been criticized root and branch. Indeed modern civilization is based on assumptions which were chiefly defined in reaction to the Aristotelian assumptions in the field of science and politics. Therefore, since Aquinas takes Aristotle to be "the" philosopher, the Christian who accepts Aquinas is judging the central principles of modern civilization to be false or But

it

at least radically inadequate.

course for Christianity. Perhaps it is only within broadly Aristotelian principles and perhaps such metaphysical statements are necessary for Christianity. Yet if this be so, Christianity is committed either to a radical reconstruction of modern civilization or to remaining a critical minority in its midst. What is remarkable in Gilson's book is that he does not discuss these questions, but rests in the assumption that Christian philosophy is fundamentally committed to the philosophy of the Greeks and of Aristotle in particular. This philosophical commitment has direct bearing on a practical matter — the reunion of the churches. One of the facts of the last two years is a remarkable move-

Perhaps

possible to

this is the right

make metaphysical statements

in the Catholic church to overcome the divisions between itself and its separated brethren in the Protestant and Orthodox worlds. Yet the life of Protestantism since its origins has been closely identified with the criticism of the Aristotelian view of the world. It is extra-

ment

ordinarily

difficult

for

a

Protestant

to

identify

Christianity

with

ways of thought. Professor Gilson's book therefore raises important nonphilosophic issues for Roman Catholics and other Christians. But above all, its interest is philosophical. Here is metaphysics in the grand traditional manner which draws on the ancient wisdom that mankind inherits from the Greeks and the Jews. What is particularly fine about it is that the metaphysical answers are expounded with lucidity and yet never over-simplified. This is rare in the modern world where there is a wide division between popular and scholarly writing. Popular writing tends to be clear but inaccurate; scholarly writing is accurate but pompously Aristotelian

parades its learning. Gilson parade his great learning.

Moral and

is

in

eff"ects that analytical

man

to think that

It is

philosophy has had

science are matched by the

morals and

criticism.

too wise a

politics.

To

in

in the fields

inhibiting effects

it

has

the analysts, the function of philosophy

therefore not the task of philosophy to think out the

way we use lanAnalysts have ap-

principles of right action, but rather to analyze the

guage

he has to

political philosophy

Theofliberating logic and had

is

our day to day moral and

political actions.

349

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION plied

much

ridicule to the "moralizing"

and "sermonizing" tendencies

of traditional philosophy and its claim to be able to speak about a "good way of life." Indeed most analysts were by conviction humanists and relativists, and therefore believed that there were no objective standards of right and wrong. Such notions were rather matters of perIt is difficult to say which was primary in the analytic traacceptance of a relativist morality or its methodological assumption that philosophy could say nothing substantive about moral

sonal taste.

dition: its

The

questions. ^^

Both

fit

belief

and the methodology

fitted

together as one.

which it is considone standard of conduct is better than

the climate of our pluralist democracies in

ered intolerant to assert that another.

Whether or not these assumptions about morality and philosophy dominance among philosophers inevitably means that

are true, their

is little writing about morals and politics. Insofar as Englishspeaking philosophers have been concerned with these matters, they have been concerned with criticizing ancient standards which claimed universality and with showing that this claim has no rational founda-

there

tion.

The study of human

scientists

who

action has been turned over to the social

generally study

human conduct

within positivist as-

sumptions, which cut it off from questions of value. Both scientists and philosophers have then been largely concerned with conduct as objective observers, criticizing

One

it

from the outside.

increasingly important result of philosophy's losing interest in

moral and political theory is that the discussion of these matters is carried on without the participation of trained philosophers. This is particularly noticeable in the academic world. It is the teachers of law, of history, and of literature who bring out books about the broad principles of right action. The learned lawyers in the United States more and more devote their efforts to defining a doctrine of natural law in terms of which they can judge the justice or injustice of particular legislation. It may indeed be considered a matter of rejoicing that the problems of law or literature lead people back to thought about morality; but it is surely a matter of regret that this movement has had so little support from trained philosophers.

Political philosophy is not surprising that one of the interesting books in political philosophy should be written in the form of history: Political Messianism: The Romantic Phase, by Professor J. L. Talmon. This book is one of several volumes in which Talmon traces what he calls "totalitarian democracy" and the Utopian venture of modern political theory which attempts to bring in the millennium on earth. Talmon studies the de-

It

1

many other matters, analytic philosophers have been greatly influenced by Hume, For Hume's moral relativism, see An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals and also Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, p. 509c-d.

4 in morals, as in

350

George

P.

Grant

velopment of this belief from its background in Rousseau^^ and the French Revolution to its contemporary exemplification in MarxistLeninism. In this volume he covers the period of the early nineteenth century up to the revolutions of 1848. He shows how the heritage of liberal utopianism was gradually taken over by Communism. Talmon's study is explicitly motivated by his belief that political messianism as it gains power turns "from a vision of release into a snare and a yoke." He has lived in the twentieth century and his conservatism leads him to distrust the spirit of absolute political reform which will do anything to human beings in its attempt to change the world. The fear of world Communism is in every word that he writes. What is disappointing in this book, however, is that Talmon has not the philosophical equipment to deal with the spirit of worldly messianism. He is content to say that it should be turned over to the psychologists who could understand it as a manifestation of mental illness. But is this good enough? Messianism is, after all, central to the political philosophy of the West, coming into the tradition through the Judeo-Christian religion. It may indeed have been corrupted into a worldly-tyranny by the Marxists. But surely such a central political idea needs to be discussed philosophically. As great a philosopher as Kant could say that one of the central questions of philosophy is "What may I hope?"^^ This is of course a pressing question of theory now that the political messianism which originated in Europe is sweeping through Asia and Africa under the banner of Communism. Talmon writes as an historian; most of the philosophers of the English-speaking world do not touch such large problems as political messianism. Indeed the title of a book by Mr. Daniel Bell in 1960 characterizes the state of English-speaking political theory: The End of Ideology — On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. Bell is

more interested in the exhaustion of political ideas in the practical world than in basic political theory. There is, however, perhaps some connection between the two. The analysts have taken the view that the purpose of philosophy is to criticize and therefore to free the educated from illusions. This is certainly a useful negative purpose, but does it mean that such criticism must free our most educated minds from considering anything as a standard to live by? If philosophy is simply critical, must the educated live by a skeptical stoicism and believe that the foundations of a free society rest on such a skeptical stoicism?

The success and limitation of analytical method in political and legal matters can be seen in a large volume from England, Causation in the Law, by H. L. A. Hart and A. M. Honore. Hart is Professor of JurisOxford, and one of the leading linguistic philosophers. Though the last part of the work is concerned with a detailed study of the law, the first chapters are of general philosophic interest. The au-

prudence

1

1

at

See The Social Contract, Vol. 38, pp. 395a-406d. Critique of Pure Reason, Vol. 42, p. 236b

351

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION thors are concerned with the concept of causation as

it

is

applied in

understanding the particular happenings of ordinary life. The book is particularly fascinating because it is such a good example of what political

or legal philosophy becomeswithin the analytical tradition.

In this tradition philosophy

is

a technique to sharpen the instruments

which lawyers or politicians use. Law is firmly defined as positive law — what is on the statute books or in the judicial decisions of any particular society. The philosopher by his theoretical analyses of language tries to help the lawyer make the law run smoothly. He is not concerned with stating what the law is for or what are the standards by which we judge that a law is just. Such ultimate problems about the morality of law or politics are beyond the philosopher's competence. He is

the technician of theory.

Under

of philosophy,

its practitioners might well lend engaged in the business of prostitution. Prostitutes and pimps could presumably carry out their activities more effectively if their linguistic usage was clarified for them by an able theoretician. Political philosophy as technique can serve equally well the smooth operation of a tyrannical or a free society. Because political

this definition

their talents to helping those

philosophy has become a technique, flourishing art in our civilization. Political thinking

which deals

it is

not surprising that

it is

not a

directly with the proper ends of soci-

Our Public Life. Weiss discusses such things as society, state, culture, and civilization. He looks at them in the most general and abstract way — as aspects of the world he has understood as a metaphysician and in which he lives as a man. The skeptic may ask how such an Olympian view of our public life can Help us to get on with running our affairs. Weiss's answer would be that the task of political philosophy is not to be the Emily Post of the practicing politician (how shall we deal with Southeast Asia or medical insurance?). It is rather to help us to understand the meaning of our public life within the perspective of all time and all existence. Only in terms of such meaning can we escape the politics of "ad hoc" decision and quick ideological slogan. This intelligent book is not "an answer to Communism" in the sense that catchwords can be taken from it to indoctrinate our children in high school. But it gives a subtle definition of the ends of public life for a civilized and free society. Weiss's understanding of these ends constitutes for him an answer to the more limited ends of alternative theories such as Marxism. ety

is

found

in

Professor Paul Weiss's

Philosophers in the Catholic tradition also deal with political theory

manner. A representative example of Catholic politiFather J. Courtney Murray's We Hold These Truths. Murray argues that the American system of democratic and republican government finds its basic moral roots in the doctrine of natural law. There are immutable standards of personal and public morality which are to be derived from the proper understanding of man's essential nature. He argues that the basic theoretical justification of natural law is in a substantive

cal theory

352

is

George

P.

Grant

be found in the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. ^"^ He asserts that such a doctrine of natural law provides the necessary moral cohesion for a politically and religiously pluralist democracy. One may wonder, of course, what such a product of the Enlightenment as Jefferson would think of connecting his work with that of Thomas Aquinas. "Nature" had come to mean something very different in the eighteenth century, when the American Constitution was written, from what it had meant in the essentially Aristotelian formulation of St. Thomas.^® Nevertheless, this is a book which comes to grips with a central moral issue in our contemporary democracy. What are the grounds of moral cohesion in a society dedicated to the right of free men to disagree religiously and politically? Murray sees that traditional Catholic political theory must be reshaped for the conditions of American liberal democracy. to

Moral philosophy

Moral philosophy has traditionally been made up of two parts:

first,

understand particular subjects of pressing moral concern in terms of first principles, and second, the more theoretical discussion of the presuppositions of morality. There is a contemporary paucity of moral philosophy dealing with special questions. The analytic philosophers make a distinction between ethics and morals. Morals deals with the whole sphere of actions which men call right and wrong. Ethics is the analysis of the logic and language of morals. Philosophy, say the analytic philosophers, is concerned with ethics, not with morals. The result of this has been to inhibit writing about .the attempt to

practical

problems of decision. These problems have largely been

turned over from the moral philosopher to the moral theologian. The thinkers within the various religious denominations cannot avoid the discussion of moral issues, and there is a continual stream of such discussion in the churches. However, such moral theology must be distinguished from moral philosophy. In the field of philosophy proper, the discussion of particular moral problems has been almost non-existent this year.

There have also been few books about the presuppositions of ethics. years ago when the analytic tradition was at its height, there was a steady stream of books applying the new linguistic techniques to the moral language of mankind, usually for the purpose of showing that the old formulations of moral philosophy were unsound. This stream has dried up — perhaps because the analytic philosophers feel that the destructive work has been so thoroughly done. Discussions of the logic of ethics continue in the learned journals but more and more they cen-

Ten

Summa Theologica, Vol. 20, pp. 220d-226b. See, for instance, the un- Aristotelian fashion in which Locke, one of the main influences on the writers of the United States Constitution, interpreted the nature or essence of a thing in Essay-

17 See 18

Concerning

Human

Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 268b-283a.

353

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION ter on small points of contention, and there has been no full-dress book on ethics this year from an analytic philosopher. There have been, however, several books which discuss moral philosophy in a broader framework than the analytic. Two of the best of these have come from England. The English have always been more successful in the practical than in the speculative arts, and they have therefore produced more moral philosophers than metaphysicians. Their dissatisfaction with analytic philosophy arises at the level of the practical, around the question whether analysis can come to terms with man's role as a moral

agent.

and Action is a discussion by one who has been a central figure in English critical philosophy. Hampshire's plea is that philosophy should be concerned with careful thought about art and history, morals and politics, as well as with the science of logic and the logic of science. His book cannot be neatly classified as moral philosophy because it could Professor Stuart Hampshire's Thought

of

man

as a moral agent

as easily be called a study in the philosophy of mind. Hampshire's

main

thesis

is

ing creatures

must come ation

is

that human beings are essentially agents, forward-movwho must decide and act, and that any true philosophy

The moral situour existence than our observations and

to terms with the implications of this fact.

more

at the heart of

speculations about the world.

Hampshire makes his attack on "the myth of comview which presupposes that we can know our situation in the world completely and proceed from that knowledge to action which flows logically from it. The human condition is not like this. Knowledge in any situation is never perfect, and we must act without "complete descriptions." From his analysis of action, Hampshire proceeds to an analysis of intention, and from intention he proceeds to consciousness. Here it is clear that he has read carefully the phenomenological analyses of consciousness and self-consciousness by such French existentialists as Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. It is rare these Because of

this,

plete description"

— the

days for a philosopher bred counts of the

human

in the analytic tradition to

take these ac-

condition seriously.

Nevertheless, one thing about this book that

is strange for North unaware of how many of his positions are recapitulations of those held by such American pragmatists as James, Dewey, and Peirce. The idiom is diff'erent, but the substance seems the same. The Europeans (the British included) have never paid sufficient attention to American thought. There has been a contemptuous assumption that Americans might be good at engineering or money-making, but too unsophisticated or too crude to speculate about ultimate questions. In Hampshire's book the price of this superior indiff'erence is evidently paid. Hampshire takes his criticisms

Americans

is

that

Hampshire seems

entirely

of classical philosophy as novel, although they are almost identical with those which have been the current coin of American thought since the turn of the century. Despite this criticism, however, it is a refresh-

354

George

P.

Grant

ing experience to read Hampshire's book. In a world intellectually dominated by the models of science and logic, where an implicit or explicit behaviorism is almost universally present, the book analyzes that which is essentially human in man -his existence as an intentional and therefore as a moral being. Dr. Austin Farrer's The Freedom of the Will probes one of the essential questions of philosophy, though his purpose in discussing the freedom of the will is theological. Farrer does not think that the belief in free will can be proved by some quick syllogism. After all, its existence has been doubted by some of the ablest minds of our civilization.19

The

function of the theistic philosopher, says Farrer,

from a belief

in the

existence of free

with the negative task of clearing

will.

away

He

is

to start

then should proceed

the obstacles which impede

the serious contemplation of that existence and then go on to the positive task

The

of describing coherently what

therefore, carries along through the critics

He

it is

for a person to act freely.

negative and positive tasks are necessary to each other. Farrer,

of free will and his

whole book

own account

his

of creative

answers

human

to the

activity.

deals with the objections arising from the mind-body problem,

the science of physiology, empirical psychology, legal terminology,

and many others. Dimensions of Mind— di series of papers given at New York University, and edited by Professor Sidney Hook -cannot be labelled simply as moral philosophy because it also deals with the philosophy of mind. Hook is a prominent exponent of the scientific philosophy of a generation ago, before it had been refined and clarified by linguistic and logical techniques. He is a skeptical humanist of the old school. The papers he has here assembled around the body-mind problem are concerned with imposing limits on the extreme behaviorism which characterized the scientific philosophy of the 1930's.

Historical

Onegreat

and scholarly works

effect of the uncertainty

about the nature of philosophy

concentration on historical scholarship.

When men

is

a

are

unsure what their subject past and explicate

considered true

in

is, it is both easier and safer to turn to the what great minds have thought than to state what is the here and now. Also, in a period of political and

an intense desire to search out it is a paradox of North American civilization that at one and the same time there is a willingness to experiment in practical affairs, outside the lessons of past wisdom, and a concentration within the universities on antiintellectual flux

how

such as ours, there

is

the past has brought us to the present. Indeed

19 See, for instance, Hobbes, Leviathan, Vol. 23, p. 1 13a-c; Spinoza, Ethics, Vol. 31, pp. 367a-b. 391a-c; Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 183a- 184b; Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 478a-484c.

355

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION is, of course, a perennial need in all societies to touch with the great ideas of the past. Nobody can live effectively in the present without contemplating what the wise men of the past have thought about the same matters. ^^ Nevertheless, if there is too great a concentration on historical scholarship, it may come to be thought of as an end in itself, rather than as a means to help men to the truth in the here and now. Philosophy is not the history of phi-

quarianism. There

keep

in

losophy. tists

We

would

all

know

that science

was

in

a bad

way

if

scien-

spent most of their time studying the history of science.

In 1960, the academic mill turned out an

enormous number of

his-

and scholarly works. It is possible to mention only a few here, singling out those works which are helpful to the layman. A well known American philosopher. Professor J. H. Randall of Columbia, has written a valuable study entitled Aristotle. ^"^ So often these days a concentrated study of Aristotle is confined to those who see him through the eyes of St. Thomas Aquinas. It is therefore helpful to have torical

someone look

at

Aristotle directly.

Randall interprets Aristotle as

being interested in understanding things as they are, not in controlling

them. Such an aim is so alien to our contemporary culture that we are wise to contemplate what is meant by it. The thought of the greatest Christian philosopher and theologian of the ancient world (and perhaps of all times) is described in Father E. Portalie'sy4 Guide to the Thought of St. Augustine.^^ThisworkhsiS long been considered by scholars as the definitive introduction to the understanding of Augustine.

It

has at last been translated and pub-

lished in the United States.

Two

other commentaries deserve mention because they concern

authors included in Great Books of the Western World. Professor C. W. Hendel's Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume is a useful introduction to the most systematic skeptic of the Enlightenment. ^^

Professor L. W. Beck has produced a commentary to Kant's Critique of Practical Reason.^"^ The study of Kant's moral philosophy is indispensable to anyone who would like to understand the moral ideas of modern Europe. This book is a splendid introduction to that very difficult study. It does just what a commentary should: it helps us to find our way through territory very difficult without a map. In modern European philosophy, Father F. Copleston has reached the sixth volume of his History of Philosophy, which covers the end of the eighteenth century. Copleston's early volumes are the most useful of all histories of philosophy in English, and this volume maintains the high standard of its predecessors. It is accurate and scrupulously fair about philosophers with whom, as a Catholic priest, Copleston 20 To help men do this is, of course, the purpose of Great Books of the Western World, the Syntopicon, and The Great Ideas Today. 21 For Aristotle's works, see Vols. 8 and 9. 22 See Vol. 18 for Augustine's Confessions, The City of God, and On Christian Doctrine. 23 See Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 35, pp. 451-509. 24 See Vol. 42, pp. 291-361.

356

George

P.

Grant

cannot agree. His fairness is particularly evident in this volume, a great part of which is devoted to Kant — a philosopher who summed up the traditions of the Enlightenment and Protestantism, both of which are alien to Copleston's own. The Western Intellectual Tradition by J. Bronowski and B. Mazlish covers a broader sweep in the history of thought -from Leonardo to Hegel.

nology.

It

stresses particularly the interaction of ideas and tech-

Compared

to Copleston's book,

however,

it

shows the mark of

the enthusiastic amateur.

1959 was the centenary of John philosophers honored his memory.

Dewey and in that year American One result of the centenary did not

appear until 1960: John Dewey: His Thought and Influence — 3. series of papers on Dewey given at Fordham University. These papers are particularly interesting because Catholics have generally not been favorable to Dewey's pragmatism.

which they cannot

It is

part of the

American

tradition

always instructive to follow the discussion of a philosopher by those whose tradition is very different.

Both

easily accept. It

is

parties to the dialogue are illumined thereby.

Several books on Ludwig Wittgenstein have been published. This

name

is

modern philosophy. The best of these books is Professor E. Stenius' commentary on Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Stenius' work is not a word by word commentary on this book, but rather is an exploration not surprising, as Wittgenstein's

is

the holiest

in

of the various themes of Wittgenstein's thought. Stenius envisages C. D.

Broad

Wittgenstein as a critical philosopher of the same school as Kant, terested in the limits of

what can be

said clearly about the world

in-

and

our existence in it. Professor P. A. Schilpp of Northwestern has brought out another of the enormous volumes in his series, The Library of Living Philosophers. This time it is The Philosophy ofC. D. Broad, one of the most influential of English analytical philosophers from Cambridge. The earlier volumes have already covered such leading figures of the twentieth century as Whitehead, Russell, Dewey, and Jaspers. The volumes include articles by the leading exponents and opponents of the philosopher in question. They also include an intellectual autobiography by the philosopher himself, and answers by him to the questions raised by his critics.

Foreign philosophy of opinion about the nature of philosophy within Thethediff'erences English-speaking world are mirrored by an equal fragmentation of the subject within various geographic areas.

There

is

no

inter-

community in philosophy as there is in science. In 1960 this point was made in detail by Professor Jose Ferrater Mora in his Philosophy Today — Conflicting Tendencies in Contemporary Thought. According to Ferrater Mora, the dominant definitions of philosophy national

357

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Western Europe, in Russia, and in the AngloAmerican world. The marked lack of interest within the various areas in what the others are doing means that there is little cross-fertilization. are quite different in

In Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe, philosophy is understood as the exposition and furtherance of Marxist-Leninism. This official philosophy claims to be able to direct human conduct to its

proper end of building a truly human industrial society. In Western European philosophy there has been a greater diversity of philosophical practice than in either Soviet Marxism or Anglo-American anal-

This diversity, however, finds its center in the concern with the condition which is so marked in both existentialism and phenomenology. Indeed, because of this concern, philosophy in Western Europe is in touch with the older tradition in a way that has not been ysis.

human

the case in either Russia or the United States or England. The lack of communication between the various areas is in sharp contrast to the situation in the sciences, where despite the limitations of the Cold War the discoveries of one continent soon become the property of the international community. To gain knowledge of what is happening philosophically in Eastern Europe and Asia is particularly difficult. Luckily in 1960 a joint international work by the United Nations, Philosophy in the Mid-Century, was completed. The fourth and last volume is concerned with an account of developments in Eastern Europe and

Asia.

The communication in philosophy between America and Western Europe is better than the communication between Western Europe and England. The American interest of a few years ago in French existentialism seems now to be replaced by a considerable interest in phenomenology. Phenomenology is the "logos" or science of all that appears. Its purpose and method as a school of philosophy is to allow our experience to reveal its essence and structure. The philosopher must go to the facts in all their innocent power and learn from them. This school of philosophy has been very influential in Germany and France since World War I, and from it existentialism sprang as a subsidiary movement. Mr. R. M. Chisholm has edited an able introduction to the whole movement in Realism and the Background of Phenomenology, a volume in the very useful series "The Library of Philosophical Movements." He includes the early classics of the movement by Meinong and Husserl as well as a careful discussion of its aims and methods. The growing interest in phenomenology among professional philosophers in America may be taken as another mark in limitation of the dominance of analytical philosophy. The purpose and canon of phenomenology place it close to the older tradition. French existentialism continues to be plagued by divisions over social policy. The movement has been rent since 1947 by great strife on the subject of Marxism in general and the Communist party in particular. Jean-Paul Sartre, the father of the movement, produced in 1960 his first large scale theoretical work in twenty years: Critique 358

J

George

P.

Grant

de la Raison Dialectique. In this volume he appears to be making a complete capitulation to Marxism. He argues that Marxism has correctly analyzed the objective situation in the world, and that all philosophy must accept that analysis. Total secularism is the truth, and Marxism is the fullest understanding of that secularism. Such a line of thought is foreign to English-speaking people. Nevertheless, it is of interest to see how a philosopher of remarkable intellectual equipment reaches his Marxist conclusions. In reading it, one can better understand the power of Marxism over the European liberal intelligentsia. Within existentialism, the leader of the opposition to Sartre's surrender to Marxism was from the beginning Albert Camus, the novelist and Nobel prize winner. Last year Camus was killed, in his early forties. His posthumous essays, Resistance, Rebellion and Death, are a paean of praise to human freedom and the impossibility of controlling

man completely, however perfect human technology. These

essays

are not profound or subtle philosophical analyses, but they go to the

heart of political existence in a

way

that

is

often missed by

more com-

prehensive thinkers.

German

existentialism has

much greater theoretical

subtlety than the

French variety, though it lacks the latter' s social passion. This year two works by the leading German existentialist, Martin Heidegger, have been brought out in English translation: Essays in Metaphysics andy4« Introduction to Metaphysics. It is difficult to assess Heidegger's appeal for a return to the point of view of Greek philosophy prior to Plato and Aristotle. But, as always, his writings are filled with penetrating observations on philosophy and the human condition.

RELIGION There

is a wide variety of intellectual pursuits, all of which fall under the category "religion." The chief cause of this diversity is that the study of religion may be approached from two different poles — the scientific and the theological. In the scientific study of religion, men describe systematically all those activities, whether past or present, which we call religious. It is possible to examine the outward forms of worship in ancient Greece or China, in the contemporary Congo or Los Angeles, without asking what is true about God and his relation to the universe. One can study Buddhism or Christianity, either as a believer in one or an unbeliever in both, simply for the purpose of knowing how these religions have expanded, changed, and developed throughout the centuries. On the other hand, the theological or philosophical approaches to religion seek to understand what is true about God. This intellectual approach cannot, however, be freed from faith or commitment of the will.^^ This element

25

The

place of the will

in faith is

discussed

in Pascal,

Pensees, Vol. 33,

p.

217b-225a.

359

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION of commitment exists

however, God's existence, the knowledge of him is what should most concern us, and, therefore, it is something about which we cannot be neutral. To those who deny his existence, belief in him is a superstition and therefore neutrality is equally impossible. The scientific and theological approaches must, however, be seen simply as poles. At one pole there is the student who measures the Temple of Apollo: at the other, the saint who writes of the journey of the mind to God. Between these two there are all kinds of studies and methods: the history of religion, its psychology and sociology, systematic theology, and the writing necessarily at

its

in

all

intellectual

height in religion.

To

activities.

those

who

It

is,

affirm

of prayers.

The

differing

approaches to religion must be kept separate because

seek answers to such different questions. Nevertheless, the answers reached in one area of study affect the course of study in they

For example, in the last five hundred years Western peohave reached out to make new contacts with the rest of the world. In the course of that reaching out, they have accumulated new information about other peoples' religions. At first this was only in the form of explorers' tales. But in the nineteenth century a great effort was made to systematize this information and to understand the religions of other civilizations. In our universities there grew up such studies as comparative religion and the history of religion. This new scientific knowledge inevitably raised new questions and intensified others. the others. ples

What mous

is

the relation of Christianity to other religions?

Does

the enor-

and doctrines mean that there is no uniquely true religion? Such questions cannot be answefed by science but only by theology and philosophy. The historian of religion can tell us what Hinduism or Christianity have said about divergent paths to salvation. But only the theologian (be he Hindu, Christian, or other) can take this information from the scientist and discuss what is true and what is false in it. diversity

among

religious practices

Ancient religion

With the increase

in his knowledge of the religions of the world, one of the problems that faces modern man is to define religion. What is the common essence of all those activities which range from the cult of stones to the goodness of St. Francis, from ecstatic sexual orgies to the pure contemplation of the Hindu mystic? One approach to this problem is to attempt to discover the beginnings of religion in the primitive world and, from knowledge of those beginnings, to under-

stand religion as a whole.

Thus there has

ancient religions. This interest in

modern depth psychology

is

arisen a great interest in the

further fortified by the recognition

that primitive

myths survive

in the

uncon-

scious.

Professor E. O. James of

360

London brought out

in

1960 The Ancient

George

Gods, which incorporates the

scientific findings of a

P.

Grant

generation about

He covers the period from the Neolithic era to the beginnings of Greek philosophy, when rational speculation about the deities superseded the ancient myths. His book covers the period when men still apprehended the the religion of the

Near

East, the cradle of the faiths.

divine immediately in myths, without the analysis of the

myth by

thought.

In the last ten years Professor Mircea Eliade of Chicago has pro-

duced a

series of

books which have not only described and compared

the religions of the world, but have also attempted to define their

meaning in the history of the race and their significance for the peoWestern civilization. In his most recent book, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, he analyzes the practices of many religions, and shows that myths are the means by which men apprehend the reality of the sacred. He defines religion as "an experience of existence in its totality, which recalls to a man his own mode of being in the world." ples of

In terms of that definition, he looks at that experience in the cults

and Mircea Eliade

beliefs of religions,

both simple and sophisticated, so that he can

show the meaning of existence in both traditional and modern societies. The purpose of Eliade's book is to explore the confrontation of two types of mentality — the traditional and the modern. The first is characteristic of

man

man

and Oriental

in archaic

societies: the second,

modern societies of the Western type. The West is now no longer the only maker of history. Western peoples are therefore forced to encounter traditional societies which are becoming impregnated of

in

with the history-making tural

the

Eliade believes that certain great culthe

West

for this encounter —

various revivals of religion, depth-psychology,

abstract art,

He

spirit.

movements of this century prepare

surrealist

and

sciences of comparative religion and ethnology.

the

believes that myths and mysteries are always homologous to the

activities of the

unconscious

in

dreams and

that the understanding

among the most important disModern societies are living uncon-

of the myth will one day be counted coveries of the twentieth century.

sciously by the decadent remains of primitive mythologies. Because

of their gradual loss of the perennial myths, they

fall

prey to such

myths as historicism, fascism, and communism, which leave them open to the deepest anxieties about nothingness and death. Eliade believes that Western man needs to comprehend the religious values of other cultures in order to understand his own anxiety. Western man's anguish about nothingness and death will be better understood as he discovers how older societies coped with the same problem in their rituals of initiation, rebirth, and resurrection. He will revivify his own decadence only by looking at the spiritual resources of religions which are not decadent. There is, however, one question which Eliade's book raises but partial

and

tragic

does not answer.

He

believes that the spiritual content of the cults 361

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION of initiation and the myths of regeneration must be brought back into the West if its culture is to be reanimated. He also thinks this can

occur only as Christianity drinks at the fountains of the East. Yet Eliade does not explain how Christianity will learn from the East without ceasing to be Christianity.

Eastern religions

W

'orks about Eastern religions

must be

clearly divided

between

scholarly works which attempt to give us an accurate picture of

works intended to convince Western people of the truth of these religions. ^^ This division must be made chiefly because of the wide popular influence that Buddhism is now exerting in the West, and particularly in the United States. Buddhism, of course, has been influential among the educated elite of Europe for many years. But now in the United States it has ceased to be a small movement among scholars and has become a wide-spread and prestigious cult. Courses on Zen Buddhism are taught in the universities; its phrases are constantly heard in "beat" communities. Zen artists paint Zen pictures and Zen poets compose Zen poems. The voice of Zen is heard in the novels of J. D. Salinger and Jack Kerouac. It is always an immensely difficult exercise to enter into the religion of another civilization or to know when one is learning the truth about that religion. This situation has become acute in the case of Buddhism because of the spate of popular books on the subject. How does one know where one can discover real Buddhism and when one is getting a dish made stimulating for the jaded palates of those who seek a new the religions of the Eastern world, and missionary

D.

T.

Suzuki

cult for the

The

West?

Buddhism in the United States is, of course, Twenty years ago Dr. Suzuki produced Studies in

chief missionary of

Dr. D. T. Suzuki.

Zen Buddhism,

the credentials of which are found in the fact that it has been acclaimed by learned men in the East and in the West. But since that time it has been questioned whether in spreading Zen in the West, Dr. Suzuki is still concerned with the authentic article. He more and

more

identifies

Zen with

philosophical negation, the belief that the en-

lightened person must have freed himself from

all

ideas. This position

makes Zen very popular with the contemporary

irrationalism of the

West.

It is

very attractive to the "beat generation" because

it

frees

them from the need of intellectual discipline. Dr. Chang Chen-Chi, in his The Practice of Zen, makes a forceful plea against Dr. Suzuki's identification of Zen with intellectual negation, and maintains that Zen rests on a more intelligible foundation than its cult in the West would allow. 26 One of the

first

Western philosophers

Vol. 46, pp. 233b-235c.

362

to discuss

Buddhism was Hegel. See Philosophy of History,

George

P.

Grant

Those who are interested in the influence of Buddhism in the West should have enough respect both for Buddhism and Western civilization to care that we should be influenced by the real thing and not by

some come

bastard article. If this

is

not done, Western Buddhism will be-

a superficial cult for sensationalists rather than a source of dis-

ciplined spiritual riches.

It is,

therefore, essential to distinguish be-

tween the accurate and the inaccurate even in popular works. To do this, one must take books recommended by serious scholars. Dr. E. Conze's Buddhist Scriptures has been widely praised as a fair, popular translation of the essential documents. Dr. Chang's book. The Practice of Zen, is also well recommended. It is a question of signal importance whether Christianity and Buddhism should be separated, as has been suggested by Arnold Toynbee. Dr. Hendrick Kraemer of the Princeton Theological Seminary discusses this question in his World Cultures and World Religions: The Coming Dialogue. This is an analysis of the eff'ects that Western secular civilization and the Eastern religious cultures have had, are having, and will have on each other. Kraemer is forthright in condemning certain aspects of Western colonialism, but he does not condemn Western technological culture. He sees the tryanny that the West sometimes imposed on its weaker neighbors and yet considers that the Christian missionaries accomplished much that was good. Kraemer is a believing Christian, and does not make the liberal assumption that all religions are really the same — alternative expressions of a pleasant humanism. He is concerned about the cultural invasion of the West by the East, now in its early stage. He singles out the psychologist C. G. Jung and the historian Arnold Toynbee as the chief hidden persuaders of the invasion. Toynbee and Jung are "Asian sages," because, though they are friendly to Christianity, their basic position is "naturalistic monism," the common denominator of Indian and Chinese religion.

Judaism

The

From its Beginnings to the Babylonian^ by Yehezkel Kaufman, is a famous Hebrew classic on the character of Israelite religion up to the exile. The first seven volumes of the original Hebrew work have been condensed into one and translated by Moshe Greenberg. This is, of course, a book for scholars -those interested in Old Testament theology or the history of Israel. For those who want a simpler introduction to the history of Judaism Religion of Israel:

Exile,

as a whole. Professor

Leon Roth's Judaism— A

ommended. The main

object of Roth's book

ing about Judaism.

He

is

attempts to present

Portrait

is

highly rec-

to stimulate fresh thinkits

irreducible religious

which has made the Jews the "community of holiness" which at their best they have always been. The Jews are the Chosen People because it is their vocation to bear witness to all men of the revelation God has given them. Roth sums up their affirmation, the transmitting of

363

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION history as "the balance, often an uneasy one, between the universality of the doctrine and the particularity of the transmittors." If he is right about the essence of Judaism, then modern Judaism is in large measure

throwing away

its

treasure.

Roth discusses the gradual disintegration of the Jewish religious community in terms of two writers, themselves both formative of the process and observers of it. The first is Moses Mendelssohn. In Mendelssohn's system there was room for everything but holiness. Roth sees the process that was started by Mendelssohn in the eighteenth century as completed in our own time by sociological and psy-

He God

Ahad Haam

chological doctrine.

singles out

fluence in making

a mere subjective manifestation of national

as the greatest in-

consciousness. Roth paraphrases the words of Micah into the new language: "What doth the National Spirit require of thee but to do justly

and

to love kindness

and

to

walk humbly with thy National Will

to Survive?"

The

In

origins

the West,

there

is

of Christianity where Christianity has been the predominant

an intense interest

in the scientific investigation

religion,

of the

ori-

been two major discoveries which have completely revolutionized our knowledge of that gins of Christianity. Since the last war, there have

A fragment from

the

Dead Sea

7;v,W(»fU( tf^^a

Scrolls

v^v, \^'!yA

iWHWiUii

M»wM*H>t v.?w

itrU^hM

i

iVi^

v^ 0^ wjtac «?u^ M*,cv A^w>vfil

ivu iwy tf -^hv

^

./»«v

vrisr/;^

iK^^m

oh ^ a,isiu

ott

,

u^/jm ,4^,,^ vWv

v,>, aw

wnvna •;vU

r/tk 9 1 wr/?^

a^^^v*.

lU^

v^

ucW aUI

^

Ruins of the Essene Monastery of Qumran, with the Dead Sea in the background. A short distance away are the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

subject.

The discovery of

the

Dead Sea

evidence for understanding the religious Jesus lived. The

Dead Sea documents

Scrolls provided

life

much new

of the Palestine in which

not only gave us the earliest

Old Testament books, but also an account of the religious life of the Essene monks of Qumran, covering the crucial period from 150 B.C. to 68 A.D. They also provided a remarkable account of the great Essene leader, the Teacher of Righteousness. Since these discoveries, scholars have not only been deciphering the documents but have been trying to piece together what they tell us of Jewish history and religion. What is their meaning for the truths of religion? What was the relation between the religion of the Essene monks and that of apostolic Christianity? How is the Teacher of Righteousness to be conceived in relation to Jesus Christ? Hypothesis and counter-hypothesis about both the historical and theological interpretations have been offered to a bewildered public. Laymen such as the literary critic Edmund Wilson put forward the wild hypothesis that these documents had disproved the uniqueness of Christianity. Recently, Pravda has maintained that the Scrolls proved that Jesus Christ texts of certain

365

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION was a mythical figure. The public could not know what to believe, or which book to read as objective and reliable. By 1960 this period of confusion came to an end. It is now possible to state with clarity what the documents tell us historically and what questions they raise for theological speculation. E. F. Sutcliffe, an English Jesuit, produced an account of the whole matter which has received high praise from scholars of different persuasions. His book. The Monks of Qumran: As Depicted in the

Dead Sea

Scrolls, with translations in English, states the

consensus

of scientists as to the nature of this religious community and of the Teacher of Righteousness.

monastery in the second and the death of the Teacher of Righteousness somewhere between the years 140-120 B.C. On the identity of the Wicked Priest, who was the adversary of the Teacher of Righteousness, he is at odds with the majority of scholars, however. What was the influence of the Essene sect in general and of this community in particular upon the origins of the Christian Church? Sutcliffe approaches this question cautiously by confining himself to the documents - the Scrolls and the New Testament. The result of this method is to avoid the pitfalls of reading the New Testament into the monastery, or vice versa. His conclusion is that there must have been many real links between the two, but also that there is a wide theological difference between the two communities. For instance, the Sutcliffe places the establishment of the

half of the second century B.C.,

strong Sabbatarianism of the

of Jesus on the matter.

The

monks

is

at variance

with the teachings

strong asceticism of the

monks

is

also not

present in the Gospels.

Equally important for the study of Christian origins are the Gnostic Nag-Hammadi in 1945-

writings discovered in the Egyptian desert at

These have not aroused the same public

Dead Sea our understanding of the history of early Christianity. Gnosticism had previously been considered a rival religion to Christianity with which Christianity had had to do battle in its early years. The word gnosis means knowledge, and the Gnostics believed in a secret knowledge, divinely 46.

Scrolls, yet they are of equal

importance

interest as the

in enlarging

imparted, and not available to ordinary men.

God

They believed

that the

unknowable without such knowledge. The true God is not the creator of this world of imperfection which was in fact created by an imperfect God. Man can only free himself from the evil tyranny of this imperfect world by a secret gnosis which returns him to the perfect God. The first words of the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas are: "These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke." In the light of these documents, it is now clear that the relation between Gnosticism and Christianity was much closer than a simple rivalry. Christianity developed in reaction against Gnosticism and was much more influenced by it than had previously been believed. In untrue

is

derstanding Gnosticism 366

we

are therefore able to

come much

closer to

George

P.

Grant

understanding the development of Christianity and the causes of that development.^'^ In 1960 there were

some of them

concerned with the the

best

many books about

these Gnostic documents —

giving English translations of the documents, others light

introduction

to

they throw on religious history. Probably the

facts

by W. C. van Unnik. This

is

Newly Discovered Gnostic

what has been found, and reaches certain tentative conclusions about the meaning of these discoveries. The newly discovered Gnostic book on the sayings of Jesus, The Gospel according to Thomas, was translated in 1959. It is a valWritings,

states

uable document. Unlike the four canonical gospels of the Bible, its fundamental interest is in the words rather than the deeds of Christ. The knowledge imparted by the Savior to free men from this evil world

was the

work in the world. It is imporwhat the Gnostics considered the teaching of Jesus to be, and from that to try to determine how deeply imbedded in original Christianity were the Gnostic elements. Years of interpretation will, of course, be necessary for us to evaluate the evidence. A broad look at the whole question, however, has been taken by Dr. R. M. Grant in six lectures given at Columbia University and now published as Gnosticism and Early Christianity. Dr. Grant discusses the Gnostic influence in the official documents of the New Testament and the conflict of the early Church with Gnosticism as a rival religion. His theory is that Gnosticism gained power over essential thing, rather than his

tant to see

men because

of the shattering of apocalyptic enthusiasm about the

coming of God to the world after the fall or falls of Jerusalem. As the worldly hope failed, people of the Jewish faith moved towards the other-worldly salvation of Gnosticism. Grant takes the official position of Christianity that the early Church was right to spurn Gnosticism as heretical because

its

other-worldliness did not allow

it

to give

an ade-

quate answer to the problems of human existence: true Christianity must take worldly history much more seriously than Gnosticism did,

and this requires the apocalyptic vision. Grant emphasizes the difference between Gnosticism and Christianity, and is inclined to dismiss any thought that Christianity might have originally had deeply Gnostic elements. This, of course, raises questions which are theological rather than scientific. How much is Christianity a worldly religion and how much an other-worldly religion? Did the official Church, by spurning Gnosticism and its recrudescences through the ages, maintain the true faith, or was something essential to the original Gospel lost? The discussion in the

What

first

century illuminates our discussion

in the twentieth:

value should the religious believer put upon the events of time

and history? Whether one is a believer or not, Semitic religion has exerted such an enormous influence that one must understand it if one is

27 For Gibbon's account of the relation between Gnosticism and Christianity, see The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 40, pp. 183a- 184b.

367

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION to understand the

Western world. For those who are beUevers, the im-

portance of these discoveries is even greater. They must rethink terms of indubitable evidence what it is in which they believe.

By

far the leading contribution to the study of the Bible in

in

our time

work of Professor Rudolf Bultmann in Germany. His book This World and the Beyond, which appeared in 1960, is not one of his major systematic works, but it is a good introduction to his religious thought. Bultmann's method of exegesis is demythologizing. He cuts away the

is

the

elements in the New Testament which reflect the ancient conception of the world and thinks that by doing so he is making the authentic Gospel available to modern men. His demythologizing of the New Testament stems mainly from his dissatisfaction with liberal Christianity.

Such liberalism maintains

sists in

a collection of religious truths immanent in the

that the essence of the

Gospel con-

human mind.

This leads to a sentimental approach to the Gospel and to the worship of man rather than to the worship of the transcendent God. According to Bultmann, God in his transcendence has no need to justify himself to

man.

The modern person able to

is

man

to

whom

Bultmann

is

making the Gospel

avail-

defined in existentialist terms. Bultmann ties Christianity

Heidegger's existentialism as closely as

St.

Thomas

tied

it

to

and anguish of historical existence comes the word of God from the beyond. A stream of books and articles continues to appear every year as commentaries on Bultmann's work. This year, two particularly good books have been produced about him, one by a Protestant, the other by a Catholic. Professor David Cairns's A Gospel without Myth Concentrates on Bultmann's challenge to the practical preacher. Can a modem preacher really present the Gospel in a relevant way to his hearers without making it seem mythical? Father L. Malevez's The Christian Message and Myth is an extremely able account of Bultmann by a trained Catholic theologian. Malevez separates those aspects of Bultmann's thought which can be reconciled with Catholic doctrine from those which cannot. Aristotle. Into the loneliness

Religious theory our century religion and philosophy are more widely separated than at any time in civilized history. Yet there are still many to whom thought is a holy art and religion at least partly an intellectual

In

activity;

takes

they therefore theorize about their religion. Such theory forms; from the philosophy of religion in which men spec-

many

own, to systematic theology, expounded coherently. In all such activities the lives of intellect and faith mingle, and it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between philosophy proper and reulate about

all

religions, including their

where the creeds of particular

ligious speculation; for

368

religions are

example,

in

an earlier section of

this essay,

George

Grant

P.

Professor Gilson's Elements of Christian Philosophy was discussed example of traditional metaphysics. Gilson philosophizes as

as an

a believing Christian, but what he produces he claims to be pure philosophy, not theory about his religion.

An

interesting

book

in

which philosophical methods are used

to dis-

cuss religious questions is Freedom and Immortality by I. T. Ramsey, Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oxford. Ramsey, using the method of linguistic analysis, analyzes the two ideas in his

title,

which he considers central

to the Christian under-

He

is aware thsit freedom and immortality are two concepts which have been criticized by modern analysts as meaningless. His purpose is to show why men use these concepts, and why they have to use them to talk realistically about the

standing of man. His purpose

human

He

condition.

apologetic.

is

finds that traditional religious language,

some skeptics have maintained. Ramsey maintains that both freedom and immortality make

analyzed,

is

that certain

not as

silly

human

when

as

situations cannot be fully explained

served in sense experience.

the claim

by what

is

ob-

these situations which justify a belief

It is

freedom and immortality. A situation in which a person transcends behavior and makes a decision in response to an objective challenge called "duty" or "obligation" is one which justifies a belief in freedom. Such a situation also offers discernments of immortality because when we are "free," when we exhibit what we call "personal decision," we are "alive" in a sense which mortality cannot exhaust. In terms of these situations, Ramsey analyzes the way in which religious people use these two concepts. In a certain sense, Ramsey is only paraphrasing Kant's great dictum that the three postulates of morality are God, freedom, and immortality. ^^ Indeed he pays his debt to Kant when he writes: "I think Kant was abundantly right insofar as he suggested that even Christian doctrines only receive an adequate logical placing when they are given in in

his public

relation to a situation which, in

some very important

respects,

is

simi-

which we discern duty." Yet Ramsey uses this great insight of Kant in a way which carries the discussion of immortality (though not freedom) much farther than Kant did. There is one point where this book, and indeed the whole method of linguistic analysis, is not convincing. The book appeals to ordinary language, and from that ordinary language moves to the meaningfulness of popular religious affirmations. But is ordinary language really lar to that in

as static a thing as

Ramsey

suggests?

If,

for example, the peoples of

the United States and Great Britain continue to break with the Judeo-

Christian tradition, will their ordinary language remain the

same

as

it

is now, with their centuries of religious belief behind them? Would the concept of duty become gradually less recognizable in ordinary speech? Would it then be proper for Ramsey to appeal to that change?

28 See Critique of Practical Reason, Vol. 42,

p.

348b-c.

369

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Knowledge and Faith

Relativism,

is

by a young theologian at It is a book quite

Vanderbilt University, Professor G. D. Kaufman.

modern Protestant thinking. It deals with the relKaufman sees as essential to the human condition. To

characteristic of

ativism which

be human

be

to

is

a situation of insecurity because there

in

men can be

of which

rationally certain.

is

nothing

Kaufman has been profoundly

influenced by existentialism and it,

if

fore

you

we

its insistence that our freedom (call our existence) can never be explained, and that thereare thrown into a world where there is no settled comfort.

will,

Kaufman's existentialism shows the influence of Paul Tillich, the leading Protestant theologian of North America. Protestantism and existentialism are inevitably close in origin and conviction because of their mutual appeal to the authentic freedom of the individual, which no rational scheme can encompass. Indeed, existentialism has become the philosophic framework in which most Protestants expound their theology.

Kaufman

is

also indebted to the

losopher, Wilhelm Dilthey,

who

German

insisted

nineteenth-century phi-

upon the

relativity of all

phenomena, including the philosophical. Since philosophy cannot reach truths which transcend the historical situation, man can historical

find the absolute only in faith.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The second of Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin' s books was brought out in English in 1960: The Divine Milieu. The degree of interest in Teilhard' s thought is manifest in the fact that since the publication of his first book. The Phenomenon of Man, in 1959, four books about him have appeared in English. Also hundreds of articles have appeared about him in learned journals and newspapers by philosophers, scientists, and theologians. In France a foundation has been established to see to the editing and publication of all his papers. The focus of this interest was an extraordinary person — a Jesuit who was also a geologist, paleontologist, and anthropologist of international reputation. His best known scientific work was his part in the discovery and reconstruction of Peking man — a foundation stone in modern evolutionary theory. As Teilhard grew older, he gave less of his time to scientific investigation and turned to reflection on the meaning of modern science and the interpretation of

He seems

its

discoveries in the light of his

have had an intense desire to influence the scientific community, most of whose members interpreted the data of their work in a strictly positivistic and even mechanistic way. He Christian faith.

desired to

show them

to

that a true understanding of the findings of

mod-

ern science must lead to a "mystical vision" and an acceptance of the truth of Christianity.

new

At

the

same

time, he wished to confront theo-

show them added incalculably to man's knowledge. Teilhard died in 1955. His writings have been published posthumously and without the usual imprimatur of his Church. The Divine Milieu is of much smaller compass than the earlier work, logians with the

that the

370

new

facts

discoveries of the world of science, to

George

P.

Grant

The Phenomenon of Man. The latter had the enormous canvas of the whole history of evolution. Teilhard tried to show this history in detail as a dynamic work of creation. Evolution converges on what he called the "Omega Point" where God will be all in all. Teilhard's intention was to take all of modern scientific knowledge and derive from it the meaning of the whole. He claimed that, in doing so, he was writing as a scientist, and not as a theologian or a philosopher. The Divine Milieu is quite different, both in scope and method. It is subtitled "an essay on the interior of life," and treats of the ascent of

man

to

God

in Christ. It is difficult to

describe Teilhard's position pre-

There is no single synonym in English for the French word milieu, which can mean both the surroundings and the midst. Both of these conceptions are included in what Teilhard means by the divine. God is revealed everywhere as "a universal milieu" in which we all live, but at the same time he is also the center towards which all beings move. In terms of this essentially traditional view of God, Teilhard discusses the divinization of our activities and of our passivities. Teilhard's distinction between activities and passivities follows Aristotle, and his use of the word "divinization" shows the essentially Christian framework of his humanism: "God became man in order that man might become God." In this sense the Incarnation is the cisely.

focal point for

all

divinization as

is

possibilities

and

human

activity.

The

ascetic

participation in the world.

life is

The

as necessary to

affirmation of

life's

their renunciation are not to be seen as excluding

each

harmony of harmony of con-

other, for both are necessary to the attainment of the final

man and God.

Indeed,

God

is

seen always as the

traries. It is is

of the essence of Teilhard's thought that the pattern of history The world is still moving to its final goal. The

not yet complete.

theologians -both Protestant and Catholic

-who

find this

Redemptive

Evolution unacceptable, do so because they feel it denies the basic claim of Christianity that the final goal of history has already been revealed once and for

deny

that there

is

all

in

Jesus Christ. Those

any contradiction between

who

this fact

accept Teilhard

and

his doctrine

of an emerging pattern.

Whether these criticisms be cogent or not, Teilhard is worth reading because he has undertaken a synthesis of science, philosophy, and theology on the grand scale, and his synthesis is essentially optimistic. Most modern religious thinking of any distinction has been profoundly pessimistic. Men are asked to turn to God because of the horror of the human condition, or because progress has been exposed as a myth, or because the world of nature is essentially tragic. To be optimistic about nature and the future is to belong to the nineteenth century. It is therefore fascinating to read a work such as Teilhard's which is cosmically optimistic. It is a continuation of the Alexandrian tradition of Christian theology which emphasized the Incarnation of God rather than the fall of man. 371

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bell, Daniel, The End of Ideology; On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. Glencoe, 111.: Free Press, 1959.

Bergmann, Gustav, Meaning and

Exist-

Ferrater Mora, Jose, Philosophy Today: Conflicting Tendencies in

Thought.

New

Contemporary

York: Columbia Univer-

sity Press, 1960.

ence.

Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1960. The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.,

Gellner, Ernest, Words and Things; A Critical Account of Linguistic Philosophy and a Study in Ideology. Boston: Beacon

Inc., 1954.

GiLSON, Etienne, Elements of Christian Philosophy. New York: Doubleday &

Bronowskl Jacob and Mazlish, Bruce, The Western Intellectual Tradition, from Leonardo to Hegel. New York: Harper &Bros., 1960. Buddhist Scriptures. Trans, by Edward Conze. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1959.

BuLTMANN, Rudolf,

This World and the

Beyond. Trans, by Harold Knight.

New

York:

1960.

Charles

Scribner's

Sons,

Cairns, David, A Gospel without Myth? Bultmann's Challenge to the Preacher. London: S. C. M. Press, 1960.

Camus, Albert, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death. Trans, by Justin O'Brien.

New

York: Alfred A. Knopf,

Chang, Chen-chi, The

New York:

Harper

Inc., 1961.

Practice of Zen.

& Bros.,

Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers. Ed. by James O. Urmson. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1960.

CoPLESTON, Frederick Charles, A History of Philosophy, Vol. VI. WestminMd.:

Newman

University Press, 1960.

Mircea, Myths, Dreams, and

Mysteries. Trans, by Philip Mairet.

York: Harper

& Bros.,

Farrer, Austin, Will.

New

Sons, 1960.

372

New

Charles

University of Chicago

Chicago:

tems.

Press, 1960.

Hampshire, Stuart, Thought and Action.

New York: Hart, H.

Viking Press, 1960.

A. and Honore, A. M., Causation in the Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959. L.

Heidegger, Martin, An Introduction to Metaphysics. Trans, by Ralph Manheim. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Essays

Metaphysics;

in

New James,

Identity

and

Trans, by Kurt Leidecker.

Difference.

York: Philosophical Library, 1960.

Edwin

O.,

The Ancient Gods; The

History and Diffusion of Religion in the Ancient Near East and the Eastern

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1960. John Dewey: His Thought and Influence. Ed. by John Blewett. New York: Fordham University Press, Kaufman, Gorden Knowledge and

1961.

The Freedom of

York:

Columbia University Press, 1959. Hall, Everett W., Philosophical Sys-

Mediterranean.

Press, 1960.

Dimensions of Mind: A Symposium. Ed. by Sidney Hook. New York: New York Eliade,

Co., Inc., 1960.

Grant, Robert McQueen, Gnosticism and Early Christianity. New York:

Press, 1959.

1959.

The

ster,

Press, Inc., 1960.

the

Scribner's

sity

1960. D.,

Relativism,

Faith. Chicago: Univer-

of Chicago Press, 1960.

Kaufman, Yehezkel, The Religion of Israel: From its Beginnings to the

George Babylonian Exile. Trans, and abridged by Moshe Greenberg. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Kraemer, Hendrik, World Cultures and World Religions; The Coming Dialogue. London: Lutterworth Press, 1960.

Malevez, Leopold, The Christian Message and Myth; The Theology of Rudolf Bultmann. Trans, by Olive Wyon. Westminster, Md.:

Newman

Press, 1960.

Murray, John C, We Hold These Proposition.

New

Truths;

American York: Sheed & Ward,

Catholic Reflections on

the

Nagel, Ernest, The Structure of Science; Problems

the Logic of Scientific Ex-

in

New

planation.

& Co., Inc.,

York: Harcourt, Brace

1961.

The Philosophy ofC. D. Broad. Ed. by Paul A. Schilpp. New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1960.

Philosophy Ed.

in

the Mid-century;

A

Survey.

by Raymond Klibansky. 4 Vols.

Firenze:

"La Nuova

Italia"

editrice,

1958.

QuiNE, WillaRd Point

Van Orman, From of

View.

a

Cambridge,

Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953.

Word and Object. New York: John Wiley

&

Sons, Inc., 1960.

Ramsey, Ian Thomas, Freedom and Immortality. London: S. C. M. Press, 1960. Randall, John H., Aristotle. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. Realism and the Background of Phenomenology. Ed. by Roderick M. Chisholm. Glencoe,

of Science. Trans, and ed. by Maria Reichenbach. New York: Humanities Press, Inc., 1959.

Roth, Leon, Judaism: A Portrait. London: Faberand Faber, 1960. Sartre, Jean-Paul, Critique de la Raison Dialectique. Paris: Gallimard,

111.:

1

960.

Stenius, Erik, Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus': A Critical Exposition of its Main Lines of Thought. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1960.

Strawson, Peter

F., Individuals;

An

York: Humanities Press, in

Es-

New

Descriptive Metaphysics.

in

Studies

Inc., 1960.

the Philosophy of David

Hume.

by Charles W. Hendel, Jr. York: Liberal Arts Press, Ed.

New Inc.,

1960.

SuTCLiFFE, Edmund, The Monks ofQumran; As Depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1960.

Suzuki, Daisetz ish

PoRTALiE, Eugene, A Guide to the Thought of St. Augustine. Trans, by Ralph J. Bastian. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1960. Logical

Reichenbach, Hans, Modern Philosophy

say

Inc., 1960.

Grant

P.

T., Studies in

Book Centre,

Talmon,

L.,

J.

Zen. Brit-

Inc., 1955.

Political

Messianism:

The Romantic Phase. London: Martin Seeker

& Warburg, Ltd.,

1960.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, The vine Milieu,

New York:

Harper

&

Di-

Bros.,

1960.

The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper & Bros., 1959. Unnik, Willem C. van. Newly Discovered Gnostic

Hoskins.

by H. Alec R.

Trans,

Writings.

Naperville,

111.:

Allenson, Inc., 1960.

Weiss, Paul, Modes of Being. Carbondale, 111.: Southern Illinois Press, 1958. Our Public Life. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press, 1959.

Free Press, 1960.

NOTE TO THE READER of the central issues of philosophy Many are touched upon and religion

in

issues will find

much

valuable material in

the Syntopicon and in the selections in-

Readers

cluded

further discussion of these

World.

review of recent developments. interested

in this

Great Books of the Western For a general introduction, the

in

373

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION reader should consult the essays in the Syntopicon chapters on Philosophy and Religion. For discussions of specific issues, the essays and topics listed below will

Being

on

4fl.

1.

For discussion of issue concerning science

and

ages cited under

between experimental and philosophical science, or between empirical and rational science The relation between science and

Dialectic

religion:

the conception of sacred

dialectic in philosophy,

see the essay on Dialectic, and the pass-

philosophy: the distinction and relation

2a.

The

dismissal or satirization of metaphysics as dogmatism or sophistry Ab. Reconstruction of metaphysics: critical philosophy as a propaedeutic to metaphysics

ology or religion

The

Being as the pervasive object of mind, and the formal object of the first philosophy, metaphysics, or

Conceptions of the highest human science: dialectic, first philosophy, metaphysics, natural theology, transcendental philosophy Aa.

,

\c.

the

dialectic

Philosophy The definition and scope of philosophy \a. The relation of philosophy to theScience

and

Metaphysics

Syntopicon under the following topics:

1

Metaphysics,

Being

be most helpful.

For discussion of the nature of philosophy and the relationships between philosophy, religion, and science, see the Syntopicon essays on Philosophy, Religion, and Science, and the passages in Great Books of the Western World cited in the

and

passages cited under the following topics:

4.

Dialectic in relation to philosophy and science

For discussion of the relation between and reason, see the passages cited

faith

theology as a science

under

For discussion of the importance and value of linguistic analysis and a background to modern analytic philosophy, see the essays on Language and Sign and Symbol, and the passages cited under the

Knowledge 6c. (5)

following topics:

The

distinction between natural and supernatural knowledge: knowledge based on sense or reason distinguished from knowledge by faith or through grace and inspiration

Language 5.

\a. The role of language in thought The imperfections of language 5a. The abuse of words: ambiguity,

imprecision, obscurity 5^.

Insignificant speech:

on State, and the passages cited under the following topics:

meaningless-

ness, absurdity 6.

For discussion of political philosophy and the ends of political society, see the essay

The improvement of speech:

the ideal

Philosophy 2c. The nature and branches of practical or moral philosophy: econom-

of a perfect language

ics, ethics,

Sign and Symbol 4c.

The nature and

utility

of semantic

analysis: the rectification of ambiguity;

the clarification and preci-

sion of meanings

For discussion of ontology and metaphysics, and a background to the

modern

anti-metaphysical attitude, see the essays

374

politics,

jurisprudence;

poetics or the theory of art

State la.

Definitions of the state or political

community:

its

form and purpose

For discussion of moral philosophy and on Duty and Good and Evil, and the pass-

the foundations of ethics, see the essays

George cited

ages

under

following

the

judgments

The concept of duty or

1

obligation:

its

and the determingood for man: the real

and the apparent good; particular goods and the good in general 6d. The possibility of moral knowledge: the subjectivity or conventionality of judgments of good and evil

For discussion of freedom of the will, see Will and the passages cited

the essay on

under the subtopics of will

Charmides, Lysis, Laches, Euthydemus, Cratylus, Phaedrus, Ion, Symposium, Meno, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Gorgias, The Republic, Timaeus, Critias, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, Laws, The Seventh Letter 8 Aristotle, Logic, Metaphysics, On the Soul 9 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 12 Lucretius, On the Nature of Things Epictetus, The Discourses Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations 1 Plotinus, The Six Enneads

For discussion of the

18 role of

myth

19

The use of metaphors and myths

Confessions,

Theologica,

I

Thomas Aquinas, Summa VOL

23

For discussion of the grounds for belief in immortality, see the essay on Immortality and the passages cited under

Thomas HoBBES, L6'v/«r/2fl/7 Learning.

31

Bacon,

Advancement

Rene Descartes, Rules Method,

for the Di-

on

Meditations

First

Phi-

Benedict de Spinoza, Ethics Pascal, The Provincial

Let-

losophy

immortality: argu-

33 Blaise to recent histories of re-

passages cited under

ters,

35

ligious beliefs, institutions,

For discussion of the relativism of the condition, see passages cited under

human

Truth truth:

impossibility of

the

knowing the

restriction

of

human

Understanding Principles of

Human Knowledge David Hume, An Enquiry Human Understanding

and contro-

versies

The

John Locke, An Essay Concerning

George Berkeley, The

Historical observations concerning re-

la.

Pensees

Human

Religion 7.

of

Novum Organum

rection of the Mind, Discourse on the

ments for and against personal survival

ligion, see the

Theologica,

II

30 Francis

For background

The

Christian Doctrine

in

science and philosophy

Immortality 2. The knowledge of

The

On

Thomas Aquinas, 5wmma VOL

20

Sign and Symbol

Augustine, City of God,

in

man's conception of the world, see the passages cited under 4J.

Plato,

Protagoras,

Good and Evil 3a. Human nature

Will 5. The freedom of the

may help the reader to be reminded of many works of philosophy and religion

included in Great Books of the Western World. The most important of these are: 7

moral significance

ation of the

It

the

Duty

to

ability; the denial

jurisprudence;

poetics or the theory of art

Grant

degrees of probof axioms and of the possibility of demonstration

topics:

Philosophy 2c. The nature and branches of practical or moral philosophy: economics, ethics, politics,

P.

42

Concerning

Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, The Critique of Practical Reason, Preface and Introduction to the Metaphysical 375

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Elements of Ethics, General Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals, The Critique ofJudgement 43 John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism 46 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

376

The Philosophy of History 54

Sigmund Freud. Beyond

the Pleasure Principle, Thoughts for the Times

on War and Death, Civilization and Discontents

Its

PART

IV

ADDITIONS TO THE

GREAT BOOKS LIBRARY

Experience and Education by John Relativity: the Special

Dewey

and General Theory by Albert Einstein The School for Wives by Moliere Three Essays by Arnold Toynbee

John

Dewey

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

JOHN DEWE^ Painting hy Child

theme of discussion in any civiis concerned that its young people receive the proper education for citizenship; on the other hand, parents want to be certain their children are being given sound intellectual and moral training. This was as true in the Athens of Plato's time as it is today. Plato's Republic deals with the problems of education from the public point of view, while in the Laches, Plato shows us Athenian parents anxious to have their boys educated in the right manner. Since then — 400 B.C. — books on education have ap-

Education

constitutes a constant

lized society.

peared

in

On

the one hand, the state

ever increasing numbers.

In recent years, educational problems have acquired greater ur-

gency than ever before as a result of two major causes. The first cause is the much discussed "population explosion" which in the United States has meant increasing pressure on all educational institutions — elementary, secondary, and higher — to provide more classrooms and more teachers. The United States must find a way of meeting its educational obligations to all its future citizens, not simply because they are entitled to free public schooling, but also because a democratic form of government requires an informed and educated citizenry. The second cause is a growing doubt that schools today are adequately training our young people, especially in the natural sciences. In the context of the Cold War, this doubt causes considerable anxiety. Will we produce enough able scientists and technicians to compete successfully with the Soviet Union and other Communist countries? Some competent educators answer this question affirmatively, while others just as competent answer it negatively. Still a third group of authorities maintains that it is a mistake to measure the value of our educational system in terms of its ability to produce scientists and technicians who can out-perform the Russians. Many critics of our schools and colleges blame John Dewey and his theory of progressive education for the weakness of our educational system. Critics such as Admiral Rickover (in his recent book, Education

and Freedom) maintain

that progressive education has diluted

the curriculum of our schools by substituting "life-adjustment" courses for the study of the liberal arts

380

and neglecting basic subjects

like

math-

Introduction

ematics, science, and foreign languages. Furthermore, there has been insufficient

emphasis,

in the

opinion of these

critics,

on

discipline in the

schools — either the internal discipline that the child needs in order to study and learn effectively, or the external discipline needed to make the learning process possible at

In the light of such criticism,

all. it is

interesting to note that John

Dewey

himself realized that the zeal of his followers had introduced a number of excesses and defects into progressive education. tells

us in Experience

and Education,

to

schools can to a very large extent ignore the past"

chides those of his followers

education

who

difficult

one.

.

a mistake, he

(p.

412).

Dewey

think that the road of progressive

On

an easy one to follow.

is

more strenuous and

It is

think that "progressive

.

.

the contrary, this road

The

is

"a

greatest danger that attends

is, I believe, the idea that it is an easy way to follow, so easy course may be improvised, if not in an impromptu fashion, at least almost from day to day or from week to week" (p. 418). Progressive education calls for careful planning and organization of sub-

its

future

that

its

development of methods of teaching suitable to if these things were neglected, progressive education would be subjected to the very criticisms which have arisen twenty years later. (See, for instance, p. 416.) Dewey's own faith in progressive education never wavered. Its excesses and defects might well deserve criticism, but basically it was sound. He dismissed efforts to return to former methods of schooling as perhaps "... temporarily successful in a period when general inse-

ject matters and the

the student.

Dewey

curity, emotional

Yet we must

predicted that

and

intellectual as well as

realize that

Dewey

economic,

is

did not foresee a time

rife" (p. 416).

when our

en-

would seem insecure because of the failures of our educational system. In his day, Dewey was concerned primarily with education for citizenship in a democracy. Perhaps today, when we are fighting not only for democracy but also for our national survival, tire

future as a nation

he might see some merit

in

recent proposals for modifying progressive

education.

born in 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. He was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1879; in 1884, he received the Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He taught philosophy at the University of Minnesota in 188889 and at the University of Michigan from 1889 to 1894. Then he left Ann Arbor and went to The University of Chicago to become head of

John Dewey was

combined departments of philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy. At Chicago, Dewey established the Laboratory School which he directed until 1904. In that year he went to Columbia University as prothe

fessor of philosophy, a position he retained until his retirement in

1

930.

Education was a subject that occupied Dewey's thought all his life. In 1899 he wrote The School and Society, though this is by no means 38!

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION, INTRODUCTION book or his first writing on education. Some other important books dealing with the subject are Interest and Effort in Education (1913), Democracy and Education (1916), and The Sources of a Science of Education (1929), which was the first lecture in the series of which Experience and Education is the tenth. This last work constitutes Dewey's most mature thought on the philosophy of education. In 938, when Experience and Education first appeared, Dewey was 79 years old. Nevertheless, the bibliography of his writings in The Philosophy of John Dewey (edited by Paul Schilpp; New York, 1951) 2 publications for that year and even more for the following year. lists So great was his vigor as a writer and thinker that the total bibliography of his writings in the work mentioned takes 72 pages. Dewey left a permanent mark on American thought, especially in the fields of logic, aesthetics, and the philosophy of education. He his first

1

1

died in 1952.

Dewey surrounded by some of the children

upon whose

lives

he has exerted such an influence

382

CONTENTS JOHN DEWEY, EXPERIENCE AND

EDUCATION

I

II

Progressive Education

384

TheNeedof a Theory of Experience

387

Criteria of Experience

3 90

Traditional

vs.

1 1 1

Social Control

399

The Nature of Freedom

405

The Meaning of Purpose

408

IV

V VI

V1 VIII

1

Progressive Organization of Subject Matter

Experience — The Means and Goal of Education

41

418

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION It is in

this

context that

at the close of this little

who

are looking ahead to a

in education,

new

for a

movements involve

have suggested that those

new movement

adapted to the existing need

social order, should think in terms

of Education

PREFACE

I

volume

itself

rather than in terms of

some

'ism about education, even such an

'ism

as

"progressivism." For in spite any movement that thinks and acts

conflicts

of

itself

which are reflected intellectually in It would not be a sign of health if such an important social interest as education were not also an arena of struggles, practical and theoretical. But for theory, at least for the theory that forms a

in

terms of an 'ism becomes so involved

All

social

.

controversies.

philosophy of education, the practical con-

and the controversies that are conducted upon the level of these conflicts, only set a problem. It is the business of an intelligent theory of education to ascertain flicts

reaction against other 'isms that

it is

in

unwit-

by them. For it then forms by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities. Whatever value is possessed by the essay presented in this little volume retingly controlled

principles

its

sides in

its

attempt to

call attention to the

and deeper issues of Education so as suggest their proper frame of reference.

larger to

the causes for the conflicts that exist and

John Dewey

then, instead of taking one side or the other, to indicate a plan of operations proceeding

from a

level

deeper and more inclusive than

represented by the practices and ideas of the contending parties. is

TRADITIONAL VS. PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION

This formulation of the business of the philosophy of education does not mean that the latter should attempt to bring about a

compromise between opposed schools of thought, to find a via media, nor yet

make

Mankind

out hither and yon from

means a

new order

modes of it is

schools.

of conceptions leading to

practice. It

It

is

new

for this reason that

so difficult to develop a philosophy of

education, the

tom

all

the necessity of the introduction of

moment

are departed from.

that the

and cus-

for this reason

conduct of schools, based upon a

new order difficult

tradition It is

of conceptions,

than

which walk

movement

is

in

is

so

much more

the management of schools beaten paths. Hence, every

in the direction

of a

new

order

of ideas and of activities directed by them

sooner or later, a return to what appear to be simpler and more fundamental calls out,

ideas and practices of the past — as

is

ex-

emplified at present in education in the at-

tempt

to revive

the principles of ancient

Greece and of the middle

384

ages.

likes to think in

treme opposites.

an eclectic combination of points picked

lating its beliefs in

tween which possibilities.

it

It is

terms of ex-

given to formu-

terms of Either-Ors, be-

recognizes no intermediate

When

forced to recognize that

the extremes cannot be acted upon, still

inclined to hold that they are

theory but that

in

cal

^

when

it

comes

all

it

is

right

to practi-

matters circumstances compel us to

compromise. Educational philosophy

is

no

The history of educational themarked by opposition between the

exception.

ory

is

development from

idea that education

is

within and that

formation from with-

it

is

it is based upon natural endowments and that education is a process of overcoming natural inclination and substituting in its place habits acquired under ex-

out; that

ternal pressure.

At present, the opposition, tical

aff"airs

so far as prac-

of the school are concerned,

John Dewey tends to take the form of contrast between traditional and progressive education. If

have not made

I

the underlying ideas of the former are formulated broadly, without the qualifications

philosophy.

required for accurate statement, they are found to be about as follows: The subject

itself

matter of education consists of bodies of information and of skills that have been

of the

worked out

lows:

in the past; therefore, the chief

business of the school

new

to the

is

to transmit

them

generation. In the past, there

have also been developed standards and of conduct; moral training consists in forming habits of action in conformity

rules

with these rules and standards. Finally, the general pattern of school organization (by

which

I

mean

the relations of pupils to one

another and to the teachers) constitutes the school a kind of institution sharply marked off

from other

social institutions. Call

up

imagination the ordinary schoolroom,

in its

brief

this

summary

for the purpose of criticizing the underlying

The

rise

of what

education and progressive

new

called

of

is

a product of discontent with tradi-

tional education. In effect

is

is

schools

When

latter.

is

it

a criticism

the implied criticism

made explicit it reads somewhat as folThe traditional scheme is, in essence,

one of imposition from above and from outside. It imposes adult standards, subject matter, and methods upon those who are only growing slowly toward maturity. The gap is so great that the required subject matter, the methods of learning and of behaving are foreign to the existing capacities of the young. They are beyond the reach of the experience the young learners already possess. Consequently, they must be imposed; even though good teachers will use devices of art to cover up

time-schedules, schemes of classification, of

the imposition so as to relieve

examination and promotion, of rules of order, and I think you will grasp what is meant

viously brutal features. But the gulf between the mature or adult

by "pattern of organization." If then you contrast this scene with what goes on in the family, for example, you will appreciate what is meant by the school being a kind of institution sharply marked off from any other form of social organization. The three characteristics just mentioned fix the aims and methods of instruction and discipline. The main purpose or objective is to prepare the young for future responsibilities and for success in life, by means

products and the experience and of the young uation

instruc-

sit-

participation

active

is

to

Learning here means acquisition of is incorporated in books and in the heads of the elders. Moreover, that which is taught is thought of as essentially

die.

what already

static.

it

Since the subject matter as well as

much

what is do — and learn, as it was the part of the six hundred to do and

information and prepared forms of tion.

abilities

so wide that the very

the development of

in

Theirs

taught.

with

which comprehend the material of

forbids

by pupils

of acquisition of the organized bodies of skill

is

of ob-

it

It

little

was

is

taught as a finished product,

regard either to the ways

originally

that will

up or

built

to

in

which

changes

surely occur in the future.

to a large extent

It

is

the cultural product of

pupils are brought into effective connection

assumed the future would and yet it is used as educational food in a society where change is the rule, not the exception. If one attempts to formulate the philosophy of education implicit in the practices of the newer education, we may, I think, discover certain common principles amid

with the material. Teachers are the agents

the

through which knowledge and

are

existing.

To

of conduct en-

opposed

expression

standards of proper conduct are handed

down from

the past, the attitude of pupils

must, upon the whole, be one of docility, receptivity,

and obedience. Books, espe-

cially textbooks, are the chief representa-

tives of the lore

and wisdom of the

past,

while teachers are the organs through which

communicated and forced.

rules

skills

societies

be

much

that

like the past,

variety

from

imposition

and

now

schools

of progressive

above

cultivation

individuality; to external discipline

385

is

is

of op-

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION posed texts

learning from free activity; to and teachers, learning through ex-

perience: to acquisition of isolated skills

progressive organization of

What

results follow

of

which make direct

neglect

appeal; to prep-

its

contents?

the materials of

experience are not progressively organized? A philosophy which proceeds on the basis

and techniques by drill, is opposed acquisition of them as means of attaining ends vital

when

rejection,

these

more or less remote future opposed making the most of the opportunities of present life; to static aims and materials is opposed acquaintance with

of organization

a changing world.

to discover

of

sheer

opposition,

questions.

will

It

will

tend to

aration for a

suppose that because the old education

is

was based on ready-made organization,

Now,

principles

all

by themselves are

They become concrete only

abstract.

in

which result from their application. Just because the principles set forth are so fundamental and farreaching, everything depends upon the interpretation given them as they are put into practice in the school and the home. the consequences

It is at this

point that the reference

made

therefore

to

suffices to reject the principle

it

in toto,

instead of striving

what it means and how it is be attained on the basis of experience.

We

might go through

all

the

points of

between the new and the old education and reach similar conclusions. difference

When

external

control

is

the

rejected,

problem becomes that of finding the factors of control

that

When

perience.

are

inherent

within

external authority

ex-

is

re-

philos-

does not follow that all authority should be rejected, but rather that there is need to search for a more effective source

ophy of the new education may be sound,

of authority. Because the older education

and yet the difference

imposed the knowledge, methods, and the mature person upon the young, it does not follow, except upon the basis of the extreme Either-Or philosophy, that the knowledge and skill of the mature person has no directive value for

earlier to

Either-Or philosophies becomes

peculiarly

will not

The

pertinent.

decide the

general

in abstract principles

way

in

which the moral

and intellectual preference involved shall be worked out in practice. There is always the danger in a new movement that in rejecting the aims and methods of that which it would supplant, it may develop its principles

negatively

rather

than

positively

and constructively. Then it takes its clew in practice from that which is rejected instead of from the constructive development of its own philosophy. I

the

take

it

that the fundamental unity of

newer philosophy

is found in the idea an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education. If this be true, then a positive and constructive develop-

that

there

ment of

its

is

own

basic idea depends

upon

having a correct idea of experience. Take, for example, the question of organized subject in

some

matter- which detail later.

gressive education

will

be discussed

The problem for proWhat is the place

is:

and meaning of subject matter and of organization within experience? How does subject matter function? Is there anything inherent in experience which tends towards

386

jected,

it

rules of conduct of the

the experience of the immature.

On

the

upon personal experience may mean more multiplied and more intimate contacts between the mature and the immature than ever existed contrary, basing education

and consequently more, rather than less, guidance by others. The problem, then, is: how these contacts can be established without violating the principle of learning through personal experience. The solution of this problem requires a well thought-out philosophy in the traditional school,

of the social factors that operate

in

the

constitution of individual experience.

What marks

is

is

indicated in the foregoing re-

that the general principles of the

new education do not of themselves solve any of the problems of the actual or practical conduct and management of progressive schools. Rather, they set new problems which have to be worked out on the basis of a

new philosophy

of experience.

The

John Dewey matic which is not based upon critical examination of its own underlying principles. Let us say that the new education emphasizes the freedom of the learner.

Very well. A problem is now set. What does freedom mean and what are the conditions under which it is capable of realization? Let us say that the kind of external imposition which was so common in the traditional school limited rather than pro-

moted the intellectual and moral development of the young. Again, very well. Recognition of this

serious defect sets a prob-

lem. Just what

"... the

new education emphasizes

the freedom

is

the role of the teacher

and of books in promoting the educational development of the immature? Admit that traditional education employed as the subject matter for study facts and ideas so bound up with the past as to give little

of the learner"

help in dealing with the issues of the pres-

problems are not even recognized, to say nothing of being solved,

sumed

that

it

when

ent and future.

Very

well.

Now we

have

as-

the problem of discovering the connection

suffices to reject the ideas

which actually exists within experience between the achievements of the past and the issues of the present. We have the

it

is

and practices of the old education and then go to the opposite extreme. Yet I am sure that you will appreciate what is meant when I say that many of the newer schools tend to

make

little

or nothing of

problem of ascertaining how acquaintance with the past tent

may be

translated into a po-

dealing

effec-

We may reject

knowl-

instrumentality

for

organized subject matter of study; to pro-

tively with the future.

ceed as if any form of direction and guidance by adults were an invasion of individual freedom, and as if the idea that edu-

edge of the past as the end of education and thereby only emphasize its importance as a means. When we do that we have a problem that is new in the story of edu-

cation should be concerned with the present

and future meant that acquaintance little or no role to play education. Without pressing these de-

with the past has in

fects to the point of exaggeration, they at

cation:

How

the acquaintance

is

cational

not too

much

philosophy

to say that

which

professes

to

For any theory and

set of practices

is

dog-

ac-

such a way that a potent agent in appre-

II

THENEED OF ATHEORY OF EXPERIENCE

an edu-

be based on the idea of freedom may become as dogmatic as ever was the traditional education which is reacted against.

is

young become in

ciation of the living present?

least illustrate what is meant by a theory and practice of education which proceeds negatively or by reaction against what has been current in education rather than by a positive and constructive development of purposes, methods, and subject matter on the foundation of a theory of experience and its educational potentialities. It

shall the

quainted with the past

short, the point

Inrejection tice

of

am making

of traditional education sets a

difficult

who

I

is

that

of the philosophy and prac-

new

type

educational problem for those

believe in the

new type of 387

education.

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

We

shall

we

until

operate blindly and in confusion recognize this fact; until we thor-

oughly appreciate that departure from the old solves no problems.

following pages to indicate

is,

What

is

said in the

accordingly, intended

some of the main problems with newer education is confronted

esting,"

and yet

their disconnectedness

generate

artificially

dispersive,

The consequence

grated, centrifugal habits.

of formation of such habits control future experiences. taken, either by

way

may

disinte-

is

inability to

They

are then

of enjoyment or of

which the and to suggest the main lines along which their solution is to be sought. I assume that amid all uncertainties there is one perma-

discontent and revolt, just as they come.

nent frame of reference: namely, the organic connection between education and per-

examples of experiences of the kinds just

sonal experience; or, that the

new

philos-

ophy of education is committed to some kind of empirical and experimental philosophy. But experience and experiment are ideas.

self-explanatory

not

Rather, their

problem to be explored. To know the meaning of empiricism we need to understand what experience is.

meaning

is

part of the

Under such circumstances,

mentioned.

even

It is

a great mistake to suppose,

tacitly, that the traditional

schoolroom

was not a place in which pupils had experiences. Yet this is tacitly assumed when progressive education as a plan of learning

by experience

is

sition to the old. is

in

sharp oppo-

The proper

line of attack

placed

that the experiences

which were had, by were largely of a

pupils and teachers alike,

wrong

Experience and education cannot be directly equated to each other. For some experiences are mis-educative. Any experience is mis-educative

of the

educative.

idle to talk

Traditional education offers a plethora of

The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally

it is

of self-control.

How many

kind.

students, for ex-

ample, were rendered callous to ideas, and

how many lost the impetus to learn because way in which learning was experienced by them? How many acquired spe-

may be such as to engender callousness; it may produce lack of sensitivity

by means of automatic drill so power of judgment and capacity to act intelligently in new situations was limited? How many came to associate, the learning process with ennui and boredom? How many found what they did learn so

and of responsiveness. Then the possi-

foreign to the situations of

that has the effect of arresting or distorting

the growth of further experience.

An

ex-

perience

bilities

to

over the latter? How many came to associate books with dull drudgery, so that they were "conditioned" to all but flashy reading matter? If I ask these questions, it is not for the sake of wholesale condemnation of the old education. It is for quite another purpose.

increase a person's automatic

a particular direction and yet tend to

narrow the

experience

field

of further experience.

may be immediately

enjoy-

able and yet promote the formation of a slack

outside the

Again, a given ex-

may

land him in a groove or rut; the effect again

An

life

school as to give them no power of control

perience

is

that their

of having richer experience in the

future are restricted.

skill in

cial skills

and careless

attitude;

this

attitude

It is

to

emphasize the

young

fact, first, that

schools do have expe-

then operates to modify the quality of sub-

people

sequent experiences so as to prevent a person from getting out of them what they have

riences; and, secondly, that the trouble

may be so disconnected from one another that, while each is agreeable or even exciting in itself, they are not linked cumulatively to one another. Energy is then dissipated and a person becomes scatterbrained. Each experience may be lively, vivid, and "inter-

defective and

to give. Again, experiences

388

in traditional

is

not the absence of experiences, but their

wrong character — wrong and

defective from the standpoint of connection

with further experience.

of this point

is

The

positive side

even more important

in

nection with progressive education.

conIt

is

not enough to insist upon the necessity of experience, nor even of activity in expe-

John Dewey rience. Everything

depends upon the qual-

of the experience which is had. The quality of any experience has two aspects. ity

an immediate aspect of agreeableness or disagreeableness, and there is its

There

is

upon later experiences. The first is obvious and easy to judge. The effect of an experience is not borne on its face. It influence

plans and programs were handed down from the past, it does not follow that progressive education

a matter of planless

is

improvisation.

The traditional school could get along without any consistently developed philosophy of education. About all it required in that line was a set of abstract words like

sets a problem to the educator. It is his business to arrange for the kind of experiences

culture, discipline, our great cultural heri-

which, while they do not repel the student, but rather engage his activities are, never-

not from them but from custom and es-

more than immediately enjoyable

theless,

tage,

actual guidance

etc.,

being derived

tablished routines. Just because progressive

schools cannot rely upon established tradi-

promote having desirable future experiences. Just as no man lives or dies to himself, so no experience lives and dies to itself. Wholly independent of desire or intent, every experience lives on in further experiences. Hence the central problem of an education based upon experience is to

tions

select the kind of present experiences that

for a kind of organization based

since they

and creatively

live fruitfully

in

subsequent

more

shall discuss in

I

detail the

made

are

articulate

philosophy

the traditional school constitutes a

I

principle for the

this

osophy of education, to

be stated it

in

like

words,

in

any theory, has symbols. But so

more than verbal

is

A phil-

it is

a plan for

demand

upon

ideas.

think that only slight acquaintance with is

that educational reformers

alone have

importance of

Revolt against

the kind of organization characteristic of

of education. Those

far as

and coherent, form a

of education.

what may be called the experiential continuum. Here I wish simply to emphasize philosophy of educative experience.

they must

more or less haphazardly or be directed by ideas which, when they

principle of the continuity of experience or

the

habits,

institutional

the history of education

experiences. Later,

and

either proceed

felt

needed to prove and innovators

the need for a philosophy

who adhered

to the

established system needed merely a few

fine-sounding words to justify existing prac-

The real work was done by habits which were so fixed as to be institutional. tices.

The it

lesson for progressive education

is

that

requires in an urgent degree, a degree

conducting education. Like any plan, it must be framed with reference to what is to be done and how it is to be done. The

more pressing than was incumbent upon former innovators, a philosophy of education based upon a philosophy of expe-

more

rience.

definitely

education

is

and sincerely

it is

held that

a development within, by, and

for experience,

the

more important

it

is

that there shall be clear conceptions of what

experience

is.

Unless experience

ceived that the result

is

is

so con-

a plan for deciding

upon subject matter, upon methods of instruction and discipline, and upon material equipment and

social organization of the

in the air. It is reduced form of words which may be emotionally stirring but for which any other set of words might equally well be substituted un-

school,

it

is

wholly

to a

less

they indicate operations to be initiated

and executed. Just because cation

traditional edu-

was a matter of routine

in

which the

remarked incidentally that the philI osophy in question is, to paraphrase the saying of Lincoln about democracy, one of education of, by, and for experience. No one of these words, of, by, or for, names anything which is self-evident. Each of them is a challenge to discover and put into operation a principle of order and organization which follows from understanding what educative experience signifies. It is, accordingly, a much more difficult task to work out the kinds of materials, of methods, and of social relationships that are appropriate to the is

new education

the case with traditional

389

than

education.

I

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION think in

many

of the difficulties experienced

terms of the

AmJ of organization, whether

of content (or subject matter), or of meth-

of the criticisms leveled against them

ods and social relations, that mark traditional education. I think that a good deal

many

from

arise

The

this source.

difficulties are

aggravated and the criticisms are increased when it is supposed that the new education is

in

the conduct of progressive schools and

somehow

easier than the old. This belief

imagine,

is,

I

it

illustrates

more or

less current.

Perhaps

the Either-Or philos-

again

of the current opposition to the idea of organization

due

is

to the fact that

it

is

so

hard to get away from the picture of the studies of the old school.

ganization"

The moment

"or-

mentioned imagination goes

is

ophy, springing from the idea that about all which is required is not to do what is done

almost automatically to the kind of organi-

in traditional schools.

against that

I admit gladly that the new education is simpler in principle than the old. It is in harmony with principles of growth, while

very idea of any organization.

there

very

is

much which

is artificial

in the

zation

that

familiar,

is

we

and

revolting

in

are led to shrink from the

On

the other

hand, educational reactionaries,

now

who

are

gathering force, use the absence of

adequate

intellectual

moral

and

organi-

newer type of school as proof

old selection and arrangement of subjects

zation in the

and methods, and artificiality always leads to unnecessary complexity. But the easy and the simple are not identical. To discover what is really simple and to act upon the discovery is an exceedingly difficult task. After the artificial and complex is once institutionally established and ingrained in custom and routine, it is easier to walk in the paths that have been beaten

not only of the need of organization, but

than to

it

is,

after taking a

work out what

the

new

is

new

point of view,

practically involved in

point of view.

The

old Ptolemaic

system was more complicated with its cycles and epicycles than the Copernican system. But until organization of actual astronomical phenomena on the ground of the latter principle had been effected the easiest course was to follow the line of least resistance provided by the old intellectual habit. So we come back to the idea that a coherent theory of experiastronomical

ence, affording positive direction to selec-

and organization of appropriate educational methods and materials, is required by the attempt to give new direction to the work of the schools. The process is a slow and arduous one. It is a matter of growth, and there are many obstacles which tend to obstruct growth and to deflect it into

to identify

of experimental science. Failure to develop a conception of organization upon the empirical

I

shall

that the empirical sciences

organization. All that is

is

to say later

needed, perhaps,

to say that

from the tendency

390

about

we must escape

to think of organization

re-

now

offer the

best type of intellectual organization which

can be found in any field shows that there is no reason why we, who call ourselves empiricists, should be "pushovers" in ,the matter of order and organization.

Ill

CRITERIA

OF EXPERIENCE If

there

is

any truth in what has been need of forming a theory

said about the

of experience in order that education

may

be intelligently conducted upon the basis of experience, it is clear that the next thing in

order

discussion

in this

principles that are ing this theory.

I

most

is

to present the

significant in fram-

shall not, therefore, apol-

ogize for engaging in a certain

have something

at this point

and experimental basis gives

actionaries a too easy victory. But the fact

tion

wrong lines.

any and every kind of organi-

zation with that instituted before the rise

amount of

which otherwise might be out of place. I may, however, reassure you to some degree by saying that this analysis is not an end in itself but is enphilosophical

analysis,

John Dewey gaged in for the sake of obtaining criteria to be applied later in discussion of a number of concrete and, to most persons, more interesting issues.

have already mentioned what

I

called

I

the category of continuity, or the experiential

as

I

continuum. This principle is involved, pointed out, in every attempt to dis-

between experiences that are worthwhile educationally and those that are not. It may seem superfluous to argue that this discrimination is necessary not only in criticizing the traditional type of education but also in initiating and conducting a different type. Nevertheless, it is advisable to pursue for a little while the idea criminate

it is necessary. One may safely assume, suppose, that one thing which has recom-

that I

mended

movement

the progressive

that

is

seems more in accord with the democratic ideal to which our people is committed than do the procedures of the traditional school, since the latter have so much of the autocratic about them. Another thing which it

has contributed to that

is

its

its

favorable reception

methods are humane

in

com-

that democratic social arrangements promote a better quality of human experience, one which is more widely accessible and enjoyed, than do non-democratic and anti-democratic forms of social life? Does lief

not the principle of regard for individual

freedom and

human

decency and kindliness of come back in the end to

for

relations

the conviction that these things are trib-

utary to a higher quality of experience on

number than are methods of repression and coercion or force? Is it not the reason for our preference that we believe that mutual consultation and the part of a greater

convictions,

make

reached through persuasion,

possible a better quality of experience

than can otherwise be provided on any

wide scale? If the answer

to these questions

is

in the

do not see how we can justify our preference for democracy and humanity on any other ground), affirmative (and personally

I

the ultimate reason for hospitality to pro-

gressive education, because of

its

reliance

upon and use of humane methods and

its

kinship to democracy, goes back to the

parison with the harshness so often attend-

fact that discrimination

ing the policies of the traditional school.

inherent

The question 1 would raise concerns why we prefer democratic and humane arrange-

nuity of experience as a criterion of dis-

which are autocratic and

ments

to those

harsh.

And by "why,"

for

I

mean

the reason

preferring thern, not just the causes

which lead us to the preference. One cause may be that we have been taught not only in the schools but by the press, the pulpit, the platform, and our laws and law-making bodies that democracy is the best of all social institutions. We may have so assimilated this idea from our surroundings that it has become an habitual part of our mental and moral make-up. But similar causes have led other persons in different surroundings to widely varying conclusions — to prefer fascism, for example. The cause for our preference

the reason

is

not the same thing as

why we should prefer it.

my

purpose here to go in detail But I would ask a single question: Can we find any reason that does not ultimately come down to the beIt is

into

not

the reason.

So

I

is

made between

the

values of different experiences.

come back

to the principle of conti-

crimination.

At bottom,

this principle rests

upon the

when habit is interpreted bioThe basic characteristic of habit

fact of habit, logically.

is that every experience enacted and undergone modifies the one who acts and undergoes, while this modification aflfects, wheth-

er we wish it or not, the quality of subsequent experiences. For it is a somewhat different person who enters into them. The

principle of habit so understood obviously goes deeper than the ordinary conception of a habit as a more or less fixed way of

doing things, although as one of

its

it

includes the latter

special cases.

covers the

It

formation of attitudes, attitudes that are emotional and intellectual; it covers our basic sensitivities and

responding to

all

meet

From

in living.

ways of meeting and

the conditions this point

which we

of view, the

principle of continuity of experience

391

means

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION that every experience both takes

up some-

thing from those which have gone before

and modifies in some way the quality of those which come after. As the poet states it,

".

.

.

all

Gleams

experience

is

an arch wherethro'

untraveled world, whose

that

margin fades

For ever and

for ever

when

1

move."

however, we have no ground for among experiences. For the principle is of universal application. There is some kind of continuity in every case. It is when we note the different forms in

So

far,

we get the basis of among experiences. I may

discriminating

that

what meant by an objection which has been brought against an idea which I once put illustrate

is

forth

— namely,

that the educative process

can be identified with growth when that is understood in terms of the active participle,

specialized limited application. I

now

return

ity as

Growth, or growing as developing, not only physically but intellectually and morally, is one exemplification of the principle

The

objection

made

is

that

growth might take many different directions: a man, for example, who starts out on

between experiences which are educative and those which are mis-educative. As we have seen, there is some kind of continuity in any case since every experience affects for better or worse the attitudes which help decide the quality of further experiences,

by

up certain preference and averand making it easier or harder to act for this or that end. Moreover, every exsetting

sion,

perience influences in some degree the ob-

may grow in that direcand by practice may grow into a highly expert burglar. Hence it is argued that "growth" is not enough; we must also specify the direction in which growth takes place, the end towards which it tends. Before, however, we decide that the objection is conclusive we must analyze the case a

learns to speak has a

facility

But he has also widened the exterof subsequent learning. When he learns to read, he similarly opens up a new environment. If a person decides

become

a teacher, lawyer, physician, or

stockbroker,

when he executes

his inten-

tion he thereby necessarily determines to

some extent

the environment in which he

He has rendered himand responsive to certain conditions, and relatively immune to those things about him that would have been stimuli if he had made another choice. will act in the future.

self

more

sensitive

But, while the principle of continuity ap-

in efficiency as a

some way

every case, the quality

burglar, as a gangster, or as a corrupt pol-

plies in

cannot be doubted. But from the standpoint of growth as education and education as growth the question is whether growth in this direction promotes or retards growth in general. Does this form of growth create conditions for further growth, or

of the present experience influences the

does it set up conditions that shut off the person who has grown in this particular direction from the occasions, stimuli, and opportunities for continuing growth in new

and objects cater

itician,

392

who

and new

conditions

nal

to

further.

new

desire.

tion,

That a man may grow

which further ex-

periences are had. For example, a child

a career of burglary

little

to the question of continu-

a criterion by which to discriminate

jective conditions under

growing.

of coatinuity.

is

direction

special

discrimination

which continuity of experience operates

What

the effect of growth in a upon the attitudes and habits which alone open up avenues for development in other lines? I shall leave you to answer these questions, saying simply that when and only when development in a particular line conduces to continuing growth does it answer to the criterion of education as growing. For the conception is one that must find universal and not

directions?

in

way

which the principle applies. We speak of spoiling a child and of the spoilt child. The

in

effect of overindulging a child

uing one.

It

sets

up an

attitude

is

a contin-

which oper-

demand

that persons

to his desires

and caprices

ates as an automatic

makes him seek the kind of situation that will enable him to do what he feels like doing at the time. It renders him in the future. It

averse to and comparatively incompetent

which require effort and perovercoming obstacles. There no paradox in the fact that the principle

in situations

severance is

in

of the continuity of experience may operate so as to leave a person arrested on a low plane of development,

a

in

way which

limits

later capacity for growth.

On

the other hand,

if

an experience ainitiative, and

rouses curiosity, strengthens

up desires and purposes that are sufintense to carry a person over dead places in the future, continuity works in a very different way. Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into. The greater maturity of experience which should belong to the adult as educator puts him in a position to evaluate each experience of the young in a way in which the one having the less mature experience cannot do. It is then the business of the educator to see in what direction an experience is heading. There is no point in his being more mature if, instead of using his sets

ficiently

The teacher must have "that sympathetic understanding which gives him an idea of what is actually going on in the minds of those who are learning" .

.

.

posing a merely external control.

On one

tions of the experience of the immature, he

be on the alert to see what attitudes and habitual tendencies are being created. In this direction he must, if he is an educator, be able to judge what

throws away his

attitudes

greater insight to help organize the condi-

insight. Failure to take the

moving force of an experience into account so as to judge and direct it on the ground of what it is moving into means disloyalty to the principle of

experience

disloyalty operates in

educator

is

two

false to the

itself.

directions.

understanding that

he should have obtained from his experience. fact that

all

social: that

nication.

He

is

own

also unfaithful

human experience it

is

to

past the

ultimately

involves contact and

The mature

The The

commu-

person, to put

it

in

moral terms, has no right to withhold from the young on given occasions whatever capacity for sympathetic understanding his

own

experience has given him.

No

sooner, however, are such things said

is a tendency to react to the other extreme and take what has been said as a

than there plea for

some

sort of disguised imposition

from outside. It is worthwhile, accordingly, to say something about the way in which the adult can exercise the wisdom his own wider experience gives him without im-

side,

it

is

his business to

actually

are

conducive

to

con-

tinued growth and what are detrimental.

must,

in

He

addition, have that sympathetic

understanding of individuals as individuals which gives him an idea of what is actually going on learning.

in

the minds of those

It is,

among

who

are

other things, the need

on the part of the parent and teacher which makes a system of education based upon living experience a more difficult affair to conduct successfully than

for these abilities

it

is

to follow the

patterns of traditional

education.

But there is another aspect of the matter. Experience does not go on simply inside a person. It does go on there, for it influences the formation of attitudes of desire and purpose. But this is not the whole of the story. Every genuine experience has an active side which changes in some degree the objective conditions under which experiences are had. The difference between civilization and savagery, to take an example on a large scale, is found in the de-

393

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION gree in which previous experiences have changed the objective conditions under which subsequent experiences take place.

The existence of roads, of means of rapid movement and transportation, tools, imple-

in

sibility

of educators

A

imposition. is

primary respon-

that they not only

external

conditions, but that they also recognize in the cQncrete what surroundings are conducive to having experiences that lead to growth. Above all, they should know how

Destroy

illustrations.

the

re-

lapse into that of barbaric peoples. In a word, in

we

live

from

birth to death

a world of persons and things which in

measure is what it is because of what has been done and transmitted from prelarge

vious

human

activities.

ignored, experience

is

When

this fact is

treated as

if it

were

to

utilize

the surroundings, physical and

social, that exist so as to extract all

have

that they

up experiences

from them

to contribute to building

that are worthwhile.

education did not have to face this problem; it could systematically Traditional

something which goes on exclusively inside an individual's body and mind. It ought not to be necessary to say that experience does not occur in a vacuum. There are sources outside an individual which

dodge this responsibility. The school environment of desks, blackboards, a small school yard, was supposed to suffice. There was no demand that the teacher

give rise to experience.

the

fed

from these springs.

It

is

No

constantly

one would

question that a child in a slum tenement

has

a different experience from that of

a child in a cultured home; that the country lad has a different kind of

experience

should become intimately acquainted with conditions of the local community,

physical,

cational resources. A system of education based upon the necessary connection of education with experience must, on the

contrary,

such facts for granted as too commonplace

why

port

is

But when

their educational im-

recognized, they indicate the sec-

the educator

can direct the experience

of the young without engaging in imposition"

economic, occupaorder to utilize them as edu-

historical,

tional, etc., in

from the city boy, or a boy on the seashore one different from the lad who is brought up on inland prairies. Ordinarily we take to record.

.

gaging

conditions of present civilized experience,

light

and for a time our experience would

.

which the educator can direct young without en-

be aware of the general principle of the shaping of actual experience by environing

are

.

in

the experience of the

and power,

ments, furniture, electric

"

ond way

if

faithful

to

its

principle, take

these things constantly into account. This tax

upon the educator

is

to carry

system.

another reason

more difficult on than was ever the traditional

progressive education

is

John Dewey It is

cation

possible to frame schemes of edu-

systematically

pretty

that

subor-

this

respect,

she draws upon past expe-

riences of experts as well as her

own

for

whenever the place and

upon what experiences are in general most conducive to the normal development of infants. Instead

function of the teacher, of books, of appa-

of these conditions being subordinated to

ratus and equipment, of everything

which represents the products of the more mature

the

of elders, is systematically subordinated to the immediate inclinations and feelings of the young. Every theory

about.

dinate objective conditions to those which reside in the individuals being educated.

happens

This

experience

which assumes that importance can be attached to these objective factors only

expense of imposing external conand of limiting the freedom of indi-

at the trol

upon the notion

viduals rests finally

experience

is

truly experience only

subordinated to

conditions are

objective

that

when

what goes on within the individuals having the experience. I

do not mean

that

is

it

supposed that

objective conditions can be shut out.

It

recognized that they must enter

so

is

much concession able fact that we

is

made

in:

to the inescap-

live in a world of things and persons. But I think that observation of what goes on in some families and some schools would disclose that some parents and some teachers are acting upon the idea

of subordinating objective conditions to internal ones.

not only that the latter in

assumed are primary, which

In that case,

one sense they

it

is

are, but that just as they

temporarily exist they

fix

the whole edu-

Let

me

illustrate

from the case of an

The needs of a baby

for

food,

and activity are certainly primary and decisive in one respect. Nourishment must be provided; provision must be made for comfortable sleep, and so on. But these facts do not mean that a parent shall feed the baby at any time when the baby is cross or irritable, that there shall not be a program of regular hours of feeding and sleeping, etc. The wise mother takes rest,

account of the needs of the infant but not in a way which dispenses with her own responsibility for regulating the objective

conditions satisfied.

under

And

if

immediate internal condition of the baby, they are definitely ordered so that a particular kind of interaction with these immediate internal states may be brought

The

word "interaction," which has been used, expresses the second chief principle for interpreting an experience in educational function and force. It its

just

assigns equal rights to both factors in exinternal conand perience—objective Any normal experience is an interplay of these two sets of conditions. Taken together, or in their interaction, they form

ditions.

what we

call

The trouble with was not that it em-

a situation.

traditional education

phasized the external conditions that enter into the control of the experiences but that it

paid so

little

attention to the internal

which also decide what kind of

factors

experience

is

had.

violated the principle

It

of interaction from one side. But this violation is no reason why the new education

should violate the principle from the other side — except upon the basis of the extreme

philosophy

Either-Or educational has been mentioned.

The

drawn from

illustration

the

which need

for regulation of the objective conditions

cational process.

infant.

the light that these shed

which she

is

the

needs

are

a wise mother in

of a baby's development indicates, that

first,

the parent has responsibility for ar-

conditions

ranging

the

infant's

experience

under which an

of food,

sleep,

etc.,

occurs, and, secondly, that the responsibility

is

fulfilled

by

utilizing

the funded

experience of the past, as this is represented, say, by the advice of competent physicians and others special

who have made

a

study of normal physical growth.

Does it limit the freedom of the mother when she uses the body of knowledge thus provided to regulate the objective condiand sleep? Or does

tions of nourishment

the enlargement of her intelligence in fulfilling

her parental function widen her free-

395

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION dom? Doubtless

if

a fetish were

made of came

performing.

The environment, whatever conditions

in

other

the advice and directions so that they

words,

be inflexible dictates to be followed under every possible condition, then restriction of freedom of both parent and child would occur. But this restriction would also be a limitation of the intel-

and capacities to create the experience which is had. Even when a person builds a castle in the air he is interacting with the objects which he constructs in fancy.

to

ligence that

In what respect does regulation of ob-

baby?

its

in-

of experience. Different situations succeed

one another. But because of the principle of continuity something is carried over from the earlier to the later ones. As an individual passes from one situation to another, his world, his environment, expands or contracts. He does not find himself living in another world but in a different part or aspect of one and the same world. What he has learned in the way of knowledge and skill in one situation becomes an instrument of understanding and dealing effectively with the situations which follow. The process goes on as long as life and learning continue. Otherwise the course of experience

does not get food

is

put

in

its

crib,

to continue playat the

moment

it

tinuity of developing experience.

The statement

that

said that they live in these situations,

the meaning of the word "in" is different from its meaning when it is said that pennies are "in" a pocket or paint is "in" a can. It means, once more, that interaction is going on between an individual and objects and other persons. The conceptions of situation and of interaction are inseparable from each other. An experience is always what it is because of a transaction taking place between an individual and

what, at the time, constitutes his environment, whether the latter consists of topic

whom

he

is

talking about

or event, the subject talked

about being also a part of the situation; or the toys with which he is playing; the book he is reading (in which his environing conditions at the time

may be England

or

ancient Greece or an imaginary region); or the materials of an experiment he is

396

disorderly,

is

individuals live in

a world means, in the concrete, that they live in a series of situations. And when

persons with

They

certainly

limitation

when it is time when it wants

some

and

immediate movements and

Some

the

would like it, or when it isn't picked up and dandled when it cries for attention. Restriction also occurs when mother or nurse snatches a child away from an open fire into which it is about to fall. I shall have more to say later about freedom. Here it is enough to ask whether freedom is to be thought of and adjudged on the basis of relatively momentary incidents or whether its meaning is found in the con-

is

principles of continuity

intercept and unite. They are, so to speak, the longitudinal and lateral aspects

limit

inclinations

it

purposes,

desires,

freedom of

conditions

placed upon at a

needs,

interact

teraction are not separate from each other.

jective

ing, or

personal

The two

exercised in personal judg-

is

ment.

the

with

is

since the individual factor

that enters into

A

split.

making an experience

is

divided world, a world whose parts

and aspects do not hang together, is at once a sign and a cause of a divided personality. When the splitting up reaches a certain

we

point

call the

person insane.

A

fully in-

tegrated personality, on the other hand, exists

only

when

successive experiences are

integrated with one another.

It can be built up only as a world of related objects is

constructed.

Continuity and interaction in their active union with each other provide the measure of the educative significance and value of an experience. The immediate and direct concern of an educator is then with the situations in which interaction takes place.

The it,

is

individual,

what he

who

is

enters as a factor into

at a given time. It

is

the

other factor, that of objective conditions,

which sibility

lies to

some extent within

the pos-

of regulation by the educator.

As

has already been noted, the phrase "objective conditions" covers a wide range.

John Dewey It includes what is done by the educator and the way in which it is done, not only words spoken but the tone of voice in which

they are

spoken.

includes equipment,

It

books, apparatus, toys, games played. It includes the materials with which an individual interacts, and,

most important of all,

the total social set-up of the situations in

which a person

When

is

it

engaged.

is

said that the objective con-

ditions are those

which are within the power

subject that is in and of itself, or without regard to the stage of growth attained by the learner, such that inherent educational

value can be attributed to it. Failure to take into account adaptation to the needs

and capacities of individuals was the source of the idea that certain subjects and certain methods are intrinsically cultural or intrinsically good for mental discipline. There is no such thing as educational value in the

the experience of others and thereby the

The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in and of themselves is the reason

education they obtain places upon him the

why

of the educator to regulate,

is

it

meant, of

course, that his ability to influence directly

duty

of

determining

environment

that

which will interact with the existing capacities and needs of those taught to create a worthwhile experience. The trouble with traditional education was not that educators took upon themselves the responsibility for providing an environment. The trouble

was

that they did not consider the other

factor in creating an experience: namely,

the powers and purposes of those taught. It

was assumed that a certain set of condiwas intrinsically desirable, apart from

tions its

evoke a certain quality of reindividuals. This lack of mutual

ability to

sponse

in

made

adaptation

the process of teaching

and learning accidental. Those to whom the provided conditions were suitable managed to learn. Others got on as best they

abstract.

traditional

education

reduced

the

material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials. According to this notion, tity

was enough

it

and

difficulty

to regulate the

quan-

of the material provided,

scheme of quantitative grading, from month to month and from year to year. Otherwise a pupil was expected to take in a

doses that were prescribed from left it instead of taking it, if he engaged in physical truancy, or in the mental truancy of mind-wanderin the

it

without. If the pupil

ing

and

up an emotional rewas held question was raised as

finally

built

vulsion against the subject, he

be at fault. No whether the trouble might not lie in the subject matter or in the way in which to to

was makes it

offered. it

The

principle of interaction

clear that failure of adaptation of

could. Responsibility for selecting objective

material to needs and capacities of individ-

conditions carries with

uals

sibility for

it,

understanding the needs and ca-

pacities of the individuals at a

then, the respon-

given time.

It is

who

are learning

experience to be non-

much

The

principle

cational

of continuity

application

tive with other individuals at other times.

that the future has to

There must be a reason

at

they will function

in

for thinking that

generating an experi-

as failure of an

individual to adapt himself to the material.

not enough that certain

materials and methods have proved effec-

may cause an

educative quite as

in

its

edu-

means, nevertheless, be taken into account

every stage of the educational process.

This idea

is

easily misunderstood

and

is

ence that has educative quality with par-

badly

ticular individuals at a particular time.

assumption is, that by acquiring cerand by learning certain subjects which would be needed later (perhaps in college or perhaps in adult life) pupils are as a matter of course made ready for the needs and circumstances of the future.

It

is

infants.

It

is

the

first

or

that

fifth

is

not fed to

we do

conducive

not teach

grade of school.

not the subject per se that that

is

not an invidious reflection

upon trigonometry in

it

to

is

It

it

is

educative or

growth. There

in

traditional

education.

Its

no reflection upon the nutritive

quality of beefsteak that

distorted

is

no

tain skills

Now

"preparation"

is

a treacherous idea.

In a certain sense every experience should

397

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION One

them. matter

trouble

lation;

was

it

put, as

compartment.

tight

it

gone

iso-

the question

become of

it,

is

where

answer is that it compartment was originally stowed away. If to, the right

there in the special

is

still

in

which

exactly

subject in

were, in a water-

it

When

asked, then, what has

has

the

that

is

was learned

question

in

it

same conditions recurred

the

as

under which it was acquired, it would also recur and be available. But

those

it

was segregated when

and hence

was acquired

it

so disconnected from the

is

rest of experience that

is

it

not available

under the actual conditions of

life.

It

is

contrary to the laws of experience that

"The most important attitude that can be formed that of desire to go on learning"

is

do something

to prepare a person for later

experiences of a deeper and more expansive quality.

That

is

the very

meaning of

growth, continuity, reconstruction of experience. that

the

But

may be

is

a mistake to suppose

mere acquisition of a certain

amount of etc., which it

it

arithmetic, geography, history, is

taught and studied because

useful at

has this effect, and

some time it

is

in the future,

a mistake to sup-

pose that acquisition of skills in reading and figuring will automatically constitute preparation for their right and effective use under conditions very unlike those in which they were acquired. Almost everyone has had occasion to look back upon his school days and wonder what has become of the knowledge he was supposed to have amassed during his years of schooling, and

why

learning of this kind, no matter how thoroughly engrained at the time, should give genuine preparation. Nor does failure in preparation end at this point. Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only the particular thing he is

studying at the time. Collateral learn-

ing in the attitudes,

and often

way

of formation of enduring

of likes and dislikes, is

much more

the spelling lesson or lesson in geography

or history that

is

learned.

The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. If impetus in this direction is

future.

weakened

instead of being intensified, something much more than mere lack of

preparation takes place.

course of his

life.

who have had

little

is

lucky

who does

make

progress, in order to go ahead intel-

not find that in order to

The

pupil

is

ac-

robbed of native capacities which otherwise would enable him to cope with the circumstances that he meets in the tually

that the techni-

it

For these ^atti-

tudes are fundamentally what count in the

he acquired have to be learned over again in changed form in order to stand him in good stead. Indeed, he is cal skills

may be

important than

We

often see persons

schooling and in whose

case the absence of set schooling proves to

be a positive

asset.

retained their native

They have

common

power of judgment, and

its

at least

sense and exercise in

much

the actual conditions of living has given

of what he learned in school. These ques-

them the precious gift of ability to learn from the experiences they have. What avail is it ta win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process

lectually, he

does not have to unlearn

tions cannot be disposed of

by saying

that

the subjects were not actually learned, for they were learned at least sufficiently to enable a pupil to pass examinations in

398

John Dewey the

individual

his

appreciation

own

loses his

of

loses

soul:

of the values to which these things are

he loses desire to apply what

relative; if

he has learned and, above all, loses the meaning from his future experiences as they occur?

ability to extract

What, then, aration

the

is

the

in

place,

first

young or perience

it

in

is

it.

for

it

When

him

prepara-

When

hap-

this

pens, the actual preparation for the future

missed or distorted. The ideal of using present simply to get ready for the

the

contradicts itself. It omits, and even shuts out, the very conditions by which a person can be prepared for his future. We always live at the time we live and not at some other time, and only by extracting at each present time the full meaning of each present experience are we prepared for doing the same thing in

future

This

the future.

the

in

the only preparation

is

long run amounts to any-

thing.

means

All this

must

that attentive care

be devoted to the conditions which give each present experience a worthwhile meaning. Instead of inferring that it doesn't

make much

present experience

difference as long as

is

joyed, the conclusion

Here

site.

is

which

has a favorable effect upon the future. Education as growth or maturity should be an ever-present process.

IV

what the it

en-

is

the exact oppo-

is

another matter where

it

SOCIAL CONTROL

at

the controlling end, then the

to a supposititious future.

which

for the kind of present experience

meaning of prepscheme? In means that a person,

potentialities of the present are sacrificed

is

re-

the conditions

instituting

educational

that there

made

is

for

the true

the time in which he has tion

sponsibility

old, gets out of his present exall

upon them devolves the

cordingly,

worthwhile,

things

is

have said that educational plans and seeing education in terms of life-experience, are thereby committed to framing and adopting an intelligent theory or, if you please, philosophy of experience. Otherwise they are at the mercy of every intellectual breeze that happens to blow. I have tried to illustrate the need for such a theory by calling attention to two principles which are fundamental in the con-

I

projects,

stitution

of experience:

the

principles of

and of continuity. If, then, I am asked why I have spent so much time on expounding a rather abstract philosophy, it is because practical attempts to develop schools based upon the idea that education is found in life-experience are bound to exhibit inconsistencies and confusions unless they are guided by some conception of what experience is, and what marks off educative experience from non-educative and mis-educative experience. I now come to a group of acinteraction

tual

educational questions the discussion

of which

will,

hope, provide topics and

I

material that are

more concrete than

the

easy to react from one extreme to the other. Because traditional schools tended to sacrifice the present to a remote and

interaction as criteria of the value of ex-

more or it comes

it

has

less

to

little

present

unknown

future,

therefore

be believed that the educator

responsibility

experiences

But the relation is not an

the

for

kind

of

young undergo. of the present and the the

The present affects the future anyway. The persons who should have some idea of

future

the

those

connection

Either-Or

between

who have achieved

affair.

two

are

maturity.

Ac-

the

discussion up to this point.

The two

and

of continuity

principles

perience are so intimately connected that is

not easy

to

tell

just

what special

educational problem to take up

first.

Even

the convenient division into problems of

methods

subject matter or studies and of

of teaching and learning in

is

likely to fail us

selection and organization of topics to

discuss. Consequently, the beginning

sequence of topics 1

shall

is

somewhat

commence, however, with 399

and

arbitrary.

the old

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION question of individual freedom and social

on

control and pass

grow

to the questions that

naturally out of

ing out, of selection of sides, as well as for

human

considering

citizen

1

take

that

it

as a matter of fact subject to a

is

of social control and that a

deal

considerable

Even

freedom.

of this control

part

involve

to

edu-

no the ordinary good

situations.

one would deny that

felt

it,

In

by tempor-

other

great

unfair action.

ignoring the school and thinking of

it.

in

cational problems to get a start arily

a violation of

is

some one-sided and

the third place, the rules, and hence the conduct of the game, are fairly standardized. There are recognized ways of count-

well

often

is

It

but to what he claims to

of

restriction

the

is

not

personal

movements

positions to be taken,

be

to

These rules have the sanction of tradition and precedent. Those playing the game have seen, perhaps, professional matches and they want to emulate their made,

etc.

elders.

An

element that

is

conventional

is

theoretical anarchist,

pretty strong. Usually, a group of young-

whose philosophy commits him to the idea that state or government control is an un-

change the rules by which they play the adult group to which they look for models have themselves made a change in the rules, while the change made by the elders is at least supposed to conduce to making the game more skillful or

mitigated

believes

evil,

with aboli-

that

tion of the political state other social control

opposition

forms of

would operate: indeed, governmental

to

his

regulation

sters

when

only

springs from his belief that other and to him more normal modes of control would

more

operate with abolition of the

draw

state.

Without taking up this extreme position, us note some examples of social control that operate in everyday life, and then look for the principle underlying them. Let us let

interesting to spectators.

Now, is

the

conclusion

general

by the whole

effected

individuals

in

share and of which they are co-operative or interacting parts. For even in a competitive

Children at recess or after school play games, from tag .and one-old-cat to base-

participation, of sharing in a

ball and football. The games involve rules, and these rules order their conduct. The games do not go on haphazardly or by a succession of improvisations. Without rules there is no game. If disputes arise there is an umpire to appeal to, or discussion and a kind of arbitration are means

those

game is broken up and comes to an end. There are certain fairly obvious controlling features of such situations to which I want to call attention. The first is that the game. They are not no game; different rules, then a different game. As long as the game goes on with a reasonable smoothness, the players do not feel that they are rules are a part of the

outside of

it.

No

rules, then

submitting to external imposition but that they are playing the game. In the second place an individual

may

at

a decision isn't fair and he angry.

But he

is

400

times feel that

may even

get

not objecting to a rule

which which they

situation in

involved,

are

begin with the young people themselves.

to a decision; otherwise the

would

I

that control of individual actions

is

game

there

Stated

perience.

who

a certain kind of

is

the

other

common

ex-

way around,

take part do not feel that they

are bossed by an individual person or are

being subjected to the will of some outside superior person. When violent disputes do arise,

that

it

is

usually on the alleged ground

the umpire or

other side

is

some

that in such cases

ing to

one

some person on

the

being unfair; in other words,

impose

individual

his individual will

is

try-

on some-

else.

It

may seem

to

be putting too heavy a

load upon a single case to argue that this instance

of social

the

illustrates

control

general

principle

without

of individuals

the violation of freedom. But

if

the matter

were followed out through a number of cases,

I

think

the

conclusion

particular instance does eral

principle

would be

that

illustrate

this

a gen-

Games we took in-

justified.

are generally competitive.

If

stances of co-operative activities in which all

members of

a group take part, as for

John Dewey example

learn

there

one another. They are

in well-ordered family life in which mutual confidence, the point would be even clearer. In all such cases it is not the will or desire of any one person which establishes order but the moving spirit of the whole group. The control is social, but is

individuals are parts of a

outside of

do not mean by

I

community, not

it.

this that there are

occasions upon which the authority

no

of, say,

the parent does not have to intervene and

exercise fairly direct control. But that, in the first place, the

I

do say

number of these

comparison with the which the control is exercised by situations in which all take part. And what is even more important, the occasions

is

slight in

number of those

in

authority in question

when

household

well-regulated

exercised in a or

other com-

munity group is not a manifestation of merely personal will; the parent or teacher exercises it as the representative and agent of the interests of the group as a whole. With respect to the first point, in a wellordered school the main reliance for control of this and that individual is upon the activities carried on and upon the situations in which these activities are maintained. The teacher reduces to a minimum the occasions in which he or she has to exercise authority in a personal way. When it is necessary, in the second place, to speak and act firmly, it is done in behalf of the interest of the group, not as an exhibition of personal power. This makes the difference between action which is arbitrary and that which is just and fair.

Moreover,

it

is

not necessary that the

the

willing

anything,

if

and a reason why the order which was so much a matter of sheer obedience to the will of an adult was because the situation almost forced it upon the teacher. The school was not a group or community held together by participation in common activities. Consequently, existed

normal, proper conditions of control

the

were lacking. Their absence was made up for, and to a considerable extent had to be made up for, by the direct intervention of the teacher, who, as the saying went, '"kept order." He kept it because order was in the teacher's keeping, instead of residing

shared work being done. The conclusion is that in what are called the new schools, the primary source of in the

social

resides in the very nature

control

of the work done as a social enterprise in

which

all

individuals

tunity to contribute

rally

(even

if they cannot articulate it and reduce it to an intellectual principle) between action that is motivated by personal power and desire to dictate and action that is fair, because in the interest of all, is small. I should even be willing to say that upon the whole children are more sensitive to the signs and symptoms of

this

difference

than are adults. Children

and

"sociable."

Isolation

irksome to them than

not

life

organize

have an opporwhich all feel

to

Most children

a responsibility.

be

not feel the difference

often

role

to

who do

Then they

of a picture. But I think it is fair to say that one reason the personal commands of the teacher so often played an undue

tural sociability.

children

suggestions

in lieu

either teacher or the young, in order

of

with

often too

withdraw and when asked why, say that it is because so-and-so "is too bossy." I do not wish to refer to the traditional school in ways which set up a caricature

by

The number

take

to

the attempt at dictation.

community

in experience.

playing

willing,

from one child and let him be a leader if his conduct adds to the experienced value of what they are doing, while they resent

difference should be formulated in words,

felt

when

difference

has

is

to adults.

its

ground

are natu-

even more

A

genuine

in

this na-

But community

itself

in

purely spontaneously.

an It

life

does

enduring

way

requires thought

and planning ahead. The educator is responsible for a knowledge of individuals and for a knowledge of subject matter that will enable activities to be selected which lend themselves to social organization, an organization in which all individuals have an opportunity to contribute something, and in which the activities in which all participate are the chief carrier of control.

401

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION am

enough about the suppose that every pupil will respond or that any child of normally strong impulses will respond on every occasion. There are likely to be some I

young

not romantic

to

when they come

who,

of

victims

already

outside of the school and

come

school,

to

injurious

are

conditions

who have

be-

so passive and unduly docile that

to contribute. There will be who, because of previous experience, are bumptious and unruly and perhaps downright rebellious. But it is cer-

they

fail

others

that

tain

general

the

principle

of social

cannot be predicated upon such cases. It is also true that no general rule can be laid down for dealing with such cases. The teacher has to deal with them control

They

individually.

into general classes,

fall

but no two are exactly alike.

The educator

has to discover as best he or she can the

He

causes for the recalcitrant attitudes. she cannot,

the educational process

if

is

or to

go on, make it a question of pitting one will against another in order to see which is strongest, nor yet allow the unruly and non-participating

nently in the

to

stand perma-

of the educative activi-

Exclusion perhaps

of others.

ties

pupils

way

is

the

only available measure at a given juncbut

ture,

no

is

it

strengthen

solution.

very causes

the

For it may which have

brought about the undesirable anti-social attitude, such as desire for attention or to

show

therefore,

attach

too

much impor-

tance to these exceptional cases, although it is

true at present that progressive schools

are likely often to have fair

more than

share of these cases,

may send last

schools

since

their

parents

children to such schools as a

resort.

control

of sufficiently thoughtful planning advance. The causes for such lack are

lack in

The one which

varied.

I

when

do not think weakness in it is found in progressive in any event from these

peculiarly im-

is

portant to mention in this connection

is

such advance planning is unnecessary and even that it is inherently the

idea

that

hostile to the legitimate

freedom of those

being instructed.

Now,

of course,

is

it

quite possible to

have preparatory planning by the teacher done in such a rigid and intellectually inflexible fashion that it does result in adult imposition, which is none the less external because executed with tact and the semblance of respect for individual freedom. But this kind of planning does not follow inherently from the principle involved. I do not know what the greater maturity of the teacher and the teacher's greater knowledge of the world, of subject matters and of individuals, is for unless the teacher can arrange conditions that are conducive to community activity and to organization which exercises control over individual impulses by the mere fact that all are engaged in communal projects. Because the kind of advance planning heretofore engaged in has been so routine as to leave free

play

little

of individual

room

thinking

for the

or

for

contributions due to distinctive individual

experience,

off.

Exceptions rarely prove a rule or give a clew to what the rule should be. I would not,

exercise control over what this, that, and the other pupil does and how he does it. This failure most often goes back to to

it

does

not

follow

planning must be rejected. trary,

there

is

On

that

all

the con-

incumbent upon the edu-

cator the duty of instituting a

much more

and consequently more difficult, kind of planning. He must survey the capacities and needs of the particular set of individuals with whom he is dealing and must at the same time arrange the conditions which provide the subject matter or intelligent,

content for experiences that

satisfy these

advance

needs and develop these capacities. The planning must be flexible enough to permit free play for individuality of experi-

work (by which I mean all kinds of activities engaged in) which will create situations that of themselves tend

ence and yet firm enough to give direction of development towards continuous power.

arises

exceptional cases. to arise

from

It

is

much more

failure to arrange in

for the kind of

402

likely

Great ideas of western

man

Great Ideas

of

Western

Man


A

ALEXANDER HAMILTON on

If

human

nature and gox'ernment

men were

no government

angels,

would be necessary. to govern

If angels

were

men, neither external nor

internal controls

on government would

be necessary- In framing a government

which

is

to be administered

by men

over men, the great difficulty lies

you must

first

to control the

enable the government

governed; and

next place oblige

•

/m/.

'

_

^^

it eff'ects internal control of impulse through a union of observation and memory, this union being the heart of reflection.

What has been

said explains the

meaning of

well-worn phrase "self-control." The ideal aim of education is creation of power

the

of self-control. But the mere removal of

TiPI

407

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION external control

is

no guarantee for the pro-

duction of self-control.

easy to jump

It is

out of the frying pan into the

fire. It is

easy,

importance portant

how

is;

emphasized, the more imunderstand what a purpose arises and how it functions in

is

it it

is

to

in other words, to escape one form of external control only to find oneself in another

experience.

dangerous form of external control. Impulses and desires that are not ordered by intelligence are under the

impulse. Obstruction of the immediate ex-

more

and

of accidental circumstances. It be a loss rather than a gain to escape from the control of another person only to control

may

find one's

whim and

conduct dictated by immediate caprice; that

is,

at the

mercy

of im.pulses into whose formation intelligent

judgment has not entered. A person whose conduct is controlled in this way has at most only the illusion of freedom. Actually he is directed by forces over which he has no command.

A

genuine purpose always

starts

ecution of an impulse converts

it

with an

into a de-

Nevertheless neither impulse nor desire is itself a purpose. A purpose is an end-view. That is, it involves foresight of sire.

the consequences which will result from acting

upon impulse. Foresight of conse-

quences involves the operation of intelligence. It demands, in the first place, observation of objective conditions and circumstances. For impulse and desire produce consequences not by themselves alone but through their interaction or cooperation with surrounding conditions.

The

impulse for such a simple action as walking is executed only in active conjunction with the ground on which one stands. Un-

have

THEMEANING OF PURPOSE then, a sound instinct

which identifreedom with power to frame purposes and to execute or carry into eifect purposes so framed. Such freedom is in is,

It

fies

turn

with

identical

self-control;

for

the

formation of purposes and the organization of means to execute them are the work of intelligence. Plato

the person

who

once defined a slave as

executes the purposes of

another, and, as has just been said, a person is

also a slave

blind desires. the

who There

is

enslaved to his

is, I

think,

own

no point

in

philosophy of progressive education

which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than

its

failure to

secure the active co-operation of the pupil in

construction of the purposes involved

But the meaning of purposes and ends is not self-evident and self-

in his

studying.

explanatory.

The more 408

circumstances, we do not pay much attention to the ground. In a ticklish situation we have to observe very carefully just what the conditions are, as in climbing a steep and rough mountain where no trail has been laid out. Exercise of observation is, then, one condition ordinary

der

VI

their educational

to

of transformation of impulse into a pur-

As in the sign by a railway we have to stop, look, listen. pose.

crossing,

But observation alone is not enough. We have to understand the significance of what we see, hear, and touch. This significance consists of the consequences that will result when what is seen is acted upon. A baby may see the brightness of a flame and be attracted thereby to reach for it.

The

significance of the flame

brightness but

its

its

power

is

then not

to burn,

as

the consequence that will result from touching it. We can be aware of consequences only because of previous experiences. In cases that are familiar because of many

to

remember

were.

A

we do

not have to stop what those experiences flame comes to signify light and

prior experiences

just

heat without our having expressly to think

of previous experiences of heat and burning.

But

in

unfamiliar cases,

we cannot

John Dewey what the consequences of observed

pulse

conditions will be unless

gives

direction

experiences

we go over past our mind, unless we re-

blind,

while

tell

just

in

upon them and by seeing what is them to those now present, go on to form a judgment of what may be

flect

similar in

expected

in the present situation.

The formation of purposes complex

rather

involves

(1)

intellectual

is,

then, a

operation.

It

observation of surrounding

(2) knowledge of what has happened in similar situations in the past, a knowledge obtained partly by recollection and partly from the information, advice, and warning of those who have had a wider experience; and (3) judgment which puts together what is observed and what is recalled to see what they signify. A purpose differs from an original impulse and desire through its translation into a plan and method of action based upon foresight of the consequences of acting under given observed conditions in a certain way. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Desire for something may be

conditions;

may be

intense. It

so strong as to override

estimation of the consequences that will

follow acting upon

it.

Such occurrences do

not provide the model for education.

The

problem is that of procuring the postponement of immediate action upon desire until observation and judgment have intervened. Unless I am crucial educational

mistaken, this point

is

definitely relevant

conduct of progressive schools. Overemphasis upon activity as an end,

to

the

upon

instead of

intelligent activity, leads

to identification of

freedom with immediate

execution of impulses and desires. This identification is justified by a confusion of impulse with purpose; although, as has is no purpose unless postponed until there is foresight of the consequences of carrying the impulse into execution — a foresight

just

been

said, there

overt action

that

is

is

impossible

without

observation,

and judgment. Mere foreit takes the form of accurate not, of course, enough. The

to

acquire

moving what

force.

gives

ideas

desire

It

then

otherwise

to

is

impetus

and momentum. An idea then becomes a plan in and for an activity to be carried out. Suppose a man has a desire to secure a new home, say by building a house. No matter how strong his desire, it cannot be directly executed. The man must form an idea of what kind of house he wants, including- the number and arrangement of rooms, etc. He has to draw a plan, and have blue prints and specifications made. All this might be an idle amusement for spare time unless he also took stock of his resources. He must consider the relation of his funds and available credit to

the execution of the plan.

investigate

available

sites,

He

has to

their

price,

nearness to his place of business, to a congenial neighborhood, to school facilities, and so on and so on. All of the their

things reckoned with:

his ability

to

pay,

and needs of family, possible locations, etc., etc., are objective facts. They are no part of the original desire. But they have to be viewed and judged in order that a desire may be converted into a purpose size

and a purpose into a plan of action. All of us have desires, all at least who have not become so pathological that they are completely apathetic. These desires are the ultimate moving springs of action. A professional businessman wishes to succeed in his career; a general wishes to win the battle; a parent to have a comfortable home for his family, and to educate his children, and so on indefinitely. The intensity of the desire measures the strength of the efforts that will be put forth. But the wishes are empty castles in

the air unless they are translated into

means by which they may be realized. The question of how soon or of means the

takes the place of a projected imaginative

end, and, since

means are

objective, they

intellectual anticipation, the idea of conse-

be studied and understood if a genuine purpose is to be formed. Traditional education tended to ignore the importance of personal impulse and

quences, must blend with desire and im-

desire

information,

even

if

prediction,

is

sight,

have

to

as

moving

springs.

409

But

this

is

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION why

progressive education impulse and desire with purpose and thereby pass hghtly over the need for careful observation, for wide

no

reason

should

identify

range of information, and for judgment if students are to share in the formation of the purposes which activate them. In

an educational scheme, of a desire and impulse is It is an occasion and a formation of a plan and

the

occurrence

not the

final

demand

end.

for the

method of activity. Such a plan, to repeat, can be formed only by study of conditions and by securing

all

The

occasion

taken

is

freedom resides

in

is

to see that the

advantage

project

whole

The

of.

Since

made to develop by means of the and

contributed

tions

by

into a plan

organized

members of

the

plan, in other words,

suggestion result but

is

and

further sugges-

is

enterprise, not a dictation.

the

into

a

group.

a co-operative

The

teacher's

not a mold for a cast-iron a starting point to be devel-

is

oped into a plan through contributions from the experience of all engaged in the learning process. The development occurs the

through

teacher

also

relevant information.

teacher's business

gestion

to

give.

the purpose

reciprocal

give-and-take,

taking but not being afraid

The

essential

point

is

that

grow and take shape through

the process of social intelligence.

the operations of in-

observation and judgment by which a purpose is developed, guidance given by the teacher to the exercise of the pupils' intelligence is an aid to freedom, not a restriction upon it. Sometimes teachers seem to be afraid even to make suggestions to the members of a group as to what they should do. I have heard of cases in which children are surrounded with objects and materials and then left telligent

VII

PROGRESSIVE

ORGANIZATION OF SUBJECTMATTER Allusion has been made in passing a .number of times to objective conand to

entirely to themselves, the teacher being

ditions involved in experience

what might be done with the materials lest freedom be infringed upon. Why, then, even supply

function in promoting or failing to pro-

some suggestion or other? But what is more important is that the suggestion upon

conditions, whether those of observation,

loath to suggest even

materials, since they are a source of

which pupils act must in any case come from somewhere. It is impossible to understand why a suggestion from one who has a larger experience and a wider horizon should not be at least as valid as a suggestion

arising

from some more or

less

accidental source. It is

and

force

the activity

of the

young

which express the teacher's purpose rather than that of the pupils. But the way to avoid this danger is not for the adult to withdraw entirely. The into channels

way

is,

first,

for the teacher to be intel-

aware of the capacities, needs, and past experiences of those under inligently

struction, and, secondly, to allow the sug-

410

mote the enriched growth of further experience.

By

implication, these objective

procured of memory, of information from others, or of imagination, have been identified with the subject matter of study

and learning; with

or,

speaking more generally,

course of study. Nothing, however, has been said explicitly so far about subject matter as such. That the

topic will tion

possible of course to abuse the office,

to

their

stuff

of the

now be discussed. One consideraout clearly when education

stands

in terms of experience. Anywhich can be called a study, whether arithmetic, history, geography, or one of the natural sciences, must be derived from materials which at the outset fall within is

conceived

thing

scope of ordinary life-experience. In newer education contrasts sharply with procedures which start with facts and truths that are outside the range of the experience of those taught. the

this respect the

John Dewey and which, therefore, have the problem of discovering ways and means of bringing them within experience. Undoubtedly one chief cause for the great success of newer methods in early elementary education has been its observance of the

that of orderly development toward expansion and organization of subject matter through growth of experience,

contrary principle.

be given to solution of this aspect of the educational problem. Undoubtedly this phase of the problem is more difficult than

But finding the within experience

only the

is

learning

for

material

first

step.

condition,

much

receives as

Yet the

attention.

prin-

ciple of continuity of educative experience

requires that equal thought and attention

Those who deal with

the progressive develop-

the other.

already experienced into

school child, with the kindergarten child,

a fuller and richer and also more organized form, a form that gradually approx-

and with the boy and girl of the early primary years do not have much difficulty

imates that in which subject matter is presented to the skilled, mature person. That

in

The next

step

ment of what

is is

this change is possible without departing from the organic connection of education with experience is shown by the fact that this change takes place outside of the school and apart from formal education. The infant, for example, begins with an environment of objects that is very restricted in space and time. That environment steadily expands by the momentum

As

instruction.

the infant

learns to reach, creep, walk, and talk, the intrinsic

subject matter of

widens and deepens.

experience

its

comes

It

into con-

new objects and events which new powers, while the exercise

nection with

out

call

determining the range of past experience

or in finding activities that connect in vital

ways with of

factors

it.

the

With older children both problem oflfer increased

difficulties to the

how

experience

It

is

ciple

a mistake to suppose that the prin-

of the leading on of experience to

something diff'erent is adequately satisfied simply by giving pupils some new experiences any more than it is by seeing to it that they have greater skill and ease in dealing with things with which they are the

The

environ-

new

and

grows larger and, so

thicker.

made

receives the child at

ideas.

The educator who

speak,

the end of this period has to find

doing consciously and what "nature" accomplishes

for

ways

deliberately in the earlier

the

is

first

been the

also essential that

is

this in It

means

hardly

necessary to

insist

upon

of the two conditions which have

specified.

It

is

a cardinal precept of

newer school of education

that

the

of instruction shall be made with the experience learners already have;

beginning

and the capacities that developed during its course

some advance

that there be

conscious articulation of facts and

becomes

thus

the office of the

educator to select those things within the range of existing experience that have the

promise

and

potentiality

new problems which by

years. It

It

objects and events be related in-

tellectually to those of earlier experiences,

ment, the world of experience, constantly to

and better organized

fields.

already familiar.

life-durations are expanded.

be directed so as

shall

to lead out to larger

content of

experience. Life-space and

harder to

It is

the subject matters already contained

in that

of these powers refines and enlarges the its

educator.

background of the experience of individuals and harder to find out just find out the

inherent in experience itself without aid

from scholastic

of

presenting

stimulating

He must constantly won not as a

ready

regard

what

an agency and instrumentality for opening new fields which make new devation and of intelligent use of

I

am

all

further

not so sure that the other

al-

as

mands upon

provide the starting point for

is

fixed possession but

have

learning.

new

ways of observation and judgment will expand the area of further experience.

that this experience

been

the pre-

powers of obsermemory. growth must be his

existing

Connectedness

in

constant watchword.

411

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION The educator more than any other profession

is

the

member

concerned

The physician may

a long look ahead.

of

have

to

feel

job done when he has restored a patient to health. He had undoubtedly the oblihis

gation

of advising

him how

to

so

live

as to avoid similar troubles in the future.

But, after

own

all,

affair,

the conduct of his

his

life is

not the physician's; and what

more important

present point

for the

that as far as the physician

is is

does occupy

himself with instruction and advice as to the

future

of his patient he takes upon

himself the function of an educator.

The

occupied with winning a

suit

lawyer

is

for his client or getting the latter out of

some complication himself.

If

it

into

which he has got

goes beyond the case pre-

sented to him he too becomes an educator. The educator by the very nature of his work is obliged to see his present work

the material to be learned

was

settled

upon

outside the present life-experience of the learner. In

the past; to

men

site

it

consequence, it had to do with was such as had proved useful

in past ages.

By

reaction to an oppo-

extreme, as unfortunate as

it

was prob-

ably natural under the circumstances, the

sound idea that education should derive materials from present experience and should enable the learner to cope with the problems of the present and future has often been converted into the idea that progressive schools can to a very large extent ignore the past. If the present could be cut off from the past, this conclusion would be sound. But the achievements of the past its

provide the only means at

command

for

understanding the present. Just as the individual has to draw in memory upon his own

than for

past to understand the conditions in which he individually finds himself, so the issues and problems of present social life are in such intimate and direct connection with the past that students cannot be prepared to understand either these problems or the best way of dealing with them without

The

delving into their roots in the past. In other

had indeed to look ahead. But unless his personality and enthusiasm took him beyond the limits that hedged in the traditional school, he could content himself with thinking of the next examination period or the promotion to the next class. He could envisage the future in terms of factors that lay within the requirements of the school system as that conventionally existed. There is incumbent upon the teacher who links education and actual experience together a more serious and a harder business. He must be aware of the poten-

words, the sound principle that the objectives of learning are in the future and its immediate materials are in present experience can be carried into effect only in the degree that present experience is stretched, as it were, backward. It can expand into the future only as it is also enlarged to

in

terms of what

it

accomplishes, or

to accomplish, for a future

whose

fails

objects

are linked to those of the present.

Here, again, the problem for the progressive educator

is

more

difficult

the teacher in the traditional school. latter

tialities

for leading students into

new

fields

which belong to experiences already had, and must use this knowledge as his criterion for selection and arrangement of the conditions that influence their present

experience.

Because the studies of the traditional school consisted of subject matter that was selected and arranged on the basis of the judgment of adults as to what would be useful for the young sometime in the future.

412

take in the past. If

time

permitted,

discussion

of

the

and economic issues which the present generation will be compelled to face in the future would render this general statement definite and concrete. The nature of the issues cannot be understood political

save as

The

we know how

they

came

about.

and customs that exist in the present and that give rise to present social ills and dislocations did not arise overnight. They have a long history behind them. Attempt to deal with them simply on the basis of what is obvious in the present is bound to result in adoption of superficial measures which in the end will only render existing problems institutions

John Dewey

more acute and more

solve.

to

difficult

framed simply upon the ground of knowledge of the present cut off from Policies

past

the

carelessness

way

counterpart of heedless

the

is

the past an end in itself

with

quaintance

understanding

problem continue.

On

reactionaries

a

and

ideas

practices

will

claim

that

main,

the

is

On who

the other hand, there will be those

should ignore the past and

deal only with the present and future.

That up

to the present time the

point in progressive schools

matter

subject

lectual

is

weakest

is,

I

mat-

in the

and organization of

ter of selection

intellectual

utilized.

the chief material of learning.

Unless a given experience leads out into

transmission of the cultural heritage.

we

is

a field previously unfamiliar no problems

not the sole, business of education

hold that

freedom. But there is a decided difference between using them in the development of a continuing line of activity and trusting to them to provide there

out, the present clash

the one hand, there will be that

wherever

They should be

this

Until

present.

worked

is

to

is

past

the

the

of educational

if

The made make acmeans of

conduct.

individual

in

out of scholastic systems that

cursory manner. Occasions which are not and cannot be foreseen are bound to arise

think,

problems are the stimulus to That the conditions found in present experience should be used as sources of problems is a characteristic which differentiates education based upon experience from traditional education. For in the latter, problems were set from outside. Nonetheless, growth depends upon arise, while

thinking.

overcome Once more,

the presence of difficulty to be

by the exercise of

intel-

it

inevi-

to

is

intelligence.

part of the educator's responsibility

see equally to two things:

First, that

under the circumstances. It is as inevitable as it is right and proper that they should break loose from the cut and dried material which formed the staple

the problem grows out of the conditions

of the old education. In addition, the

such that

table

of experience in

very wide and

is

it

field

varies

contents from place to place and

its

A

from time

to

time.

studies for

all

progressive schools

of the question;

it

single

course of is

out

would mean abandoning

of the experience being had in the present,

and that

it is

application

hardly more than a generation in which

history.

with

to

develop.

tainty

A

and of

certain

and organiwhat no ground for

laxity in choice

zation of subject matter

was

amount of unceris,

therefore,

it

with

ent

arouses

the is

past

in the learner

is

a

principle

whose

not restricted to a study of

Take natural science, for example. Contemporary social life is what it is in very large measure because of the results of application

of physical

science.

The

be expected. It is fundamental criticism or complaint. It is a ground for legitimate criticism, however, when the ongoing movement

experience of every child and youth,

of progressive

processes.

nize

to

that

the

education

fails

to

recog-

problem of selection and

organization of subject matter for study

and learning is fundamental. Improvisation that takes advantage of special occasions prevents teaching and learning from being stereotyped and dead. But the basic material of study cannot be picked up in a

is

an active quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented. The process is a continuous spiral. The inescapable linkage of the presit

fundamental principle of connection life-experiences. Moreover, progressive schools are new. They have had the

within the range of the capac-

of students; and, secondly, that

ity

the country and the city, its

is

what

it

is

in in

present actuality because of appliances

which

and chemical does not eat a meal

utilize electricity, heat,

A

child

does not involve in its preparation assimilation chemical and physiological principles. He does not read by that

and

artificial

light

or take a ride in a motor

car or on a train without coming into contact with operations

and processes which

science has engendered.

413

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION is

It

sound educational principle that

should be introduced to sciensubject matter and be initiated into

students tific

and laws through acquaintance everyday social applications. Adherence to this method is not only the most facts

its

with

avenue

direct itself it

is

to understanding of science

but as the pupils grow

more mature

also the surest road to the understand-

ing of the economic and industrial problems of present society. For they are the products to a very large extent of the application of science in production and distribution of commodities and services, while

the

latter

processes are the most impor-

tant factor in determining the present re-

lations of to

human

one another.

beings and social groups

It is

absurd, then, to argue

that processes similar to those studied in

laboratories

and

institutes

of

research

are not a part of the daily life-experience

of the young and hence do not the scope of education based

come

within

upon expe-

That the immature cannot study facts and principles in the way in which mature experts study them goes without saying. But this fact, instead of exempting the educator from responsirience.

scientific

bility

for

using

that learners

may

present

experiences

so

gradually be led, through

extraction of facts and laws, to experience

of a scientific order, sets one of his main problems.

For

if it

is

true that existing experience

and also on a wide scale is what it is because of the application of science, first, to processes of production and distribution of goods and services, and then to the relations which human beings sustain socially to one another, it is impossible to obtain an understanding of present social forces (without which they cannot be mastered and directed) apart from an education which leads learners into knowledge of the very same facts and principles which in their final organization constitute the sciences. Nor does the importance of the principle that learners should be led in detail

acquaintance

with

science also point the way to the measures and policies by means of which a better social order can be brought into existence. The applications of science which have produced in large measure the social conditions which now exist do not exhaust the possible field of their application. For so far science has been applied more or less casually and under the influence of ends, such as private advantage and power, which are a heritage from the institutions of a prescientific age.

We

is

it

impossible for

beings to direct their gently.

many human

are told almost daily and from

sources that

We

common

intelli-

life

are told, on one hand, that the

complexity of human relations, domestic and international, and on the other hand, the fact that

human

beings are so largely

make

creatures of emotion and habit, possible

large-scale

social

im-

planning and

direction by intelligence. This view

would

be more credible if any systematic effort, beginning with early education and carried on through the continuous study and learning of the young, had ever been undertaken with a view to making the method of in

exemplified

intelligence,

supreme

in

education.

There

in is

science,

nothing

the inherent nature of habit that pre-

method from becoming and there is nothing in the nature of emotion to prevent the development of intense emotional allegiance to the method. The case of science is here employed as an illustration of progressive selection vents

intelligent

itself habitual;

of subject matter resident in present experience towards organization: an organization which

is free, not externally imposed, because it is in accord with the growth of experience itself. The utilization of subject matter found in the present life-experience of the learner towards science is perhaps the best illustration that can be found of

the

basic principle of using existing ex-

perience as the

on

to

a wider,

means of carrying learners more refined, and better

subject

organized environing world, physical and

matter cease with the insight thereby given

human, than is found in the experiences from which educative growth sets out.

to

scientific

into present social issues.

414

The methods of

John Dewey Hogben's recent work, Mathematics for the Million, shows how mathematics, if it is treated as a mirror of civilization and as a main agency in its progress, can contribute to the desired goal as surely as can physical

the

The

sciences.

underlying

any case is that of progressive organization of knowledge. It is with reference to organization of knowledge that ideal

we

are likely to find Either-Or philosophies In

active.

many words,

so

it

is

practice,

if

not

often held that

upon a conception of organization of knowledge that was almost completely contemptuous since traditional education rested

of

however, that

intellectual

not an end in

itself

living

education

present

experience,

therefore

based upon living experience

but

organization

is

the

is

means by

which social relations, distinctively human and bonds, may be understood and

ties

more

intelligently ordered.

When

in

most acutely in

of organization, always bearing in mind,

education

out

is

saying

that

in

theory and

it

goes with-

based

upon experience,

practice

the

organized

subject

matter of the adult and the specialist cannot provide the starting point. Nevertheless,

it

represents the goal toward which

education is

should

continuously

move.

It

hardly necessary to say that one of the

most fundamental principles of the scientific organization of knowledge is the principle

of

cause-and-effect.

The way

violent shift of the center of gravity. But

which this principle is grasped and formulated by the scientific specialist is certainly very different from the way in which it can be approached in the experience of the young. But neither the relation nor grasp of its meaning is foreign to the experience of even the young child. When a child two or three years of age learns not to approach a flame too closely and yet to draw near enough a stove to get its warmth he is grasping and using the causal relation. There is no intelligent activity that does not conform to the requirements of the relation, and it is intelligent in the degree in which it is not only conformed to but consciously borne in mind. In the earlier forms of experience the causal relation does not offer itself in the abstract but in the form of the relation of means employed to ends attained; of the relation of means and consequences. Growth in judgment and understanding is essentially growth in ability to form purposes and to select and arrange means for their realization. The most elementary experiences of the young are filled with cases of the means-consequence relation. There is not a meal cooked nor a source of illumination employed that does not

one of the outstanding problems of edu-

exemplify

this

cation, as of music,

modulation. In the case of education, modulation means move-

education

is

ment from a social and human center toward a more objective intellectual scheme

in

should be contemptuous of the organization of facts and ideas.

When

moment ago

I called this organmeant, on the negative side, that the educator cannot start with knowledge already organized and proceed

a

ization an ideal,

to ladle

it

I

out in doses. But as an ideal the

active process of organizing facts and ideas

an ever-present educational process. experience is educative that does not tend both to knowledge of more facts and entertaining of more ideas and to a better, a more orderly, arrangement of them. It is

No

is

not true that organization

foreign

to

is

a principle

experience. Otherwise experi-

ence would be so dispersive as to be chaThe experience of young children centers about persons and the home. Disturbance of the normal order of relationotic.

is now known by psychibe a fertile source of later menand emotional troubles — a fact which

ships in the family atrists to tal

testifies

to the reality of this kind of or-

ganization.

One

of the great advances in

early school education, in the kindergarten

and early grades, is that it preserves the social and human center of the organization

of experience, instead of the older

is

in

in

relation.

The

trouble with

not the absence of situations

which the causal relation is exemplified means and consequences.

the relation of

Failure to utilize the situations so as to

415

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION lead the learner

on

to grasp the relation

the given cases of experience

in

ever, only too

common. The

is,

how-

logician gives

names "analysis and synthesis" operations by which means are

the the

to se-

There are signs of

zation.

ready

evidence.

in

We

this reaction al-

are told that our

schools, old and new, are failing in the

main

task.

They do not develop,

capacity

the

for

it

is

said,

discrimination

critical

The

lected and organized in relation to a pur-

and the

pose.

think

This principle determines the ultimate foundation for the utilization of activities

lation of miscellaneous ill-digested informa-

in

school.

Nothing can be more absurd

educationally than to

make

a plea for a

variety of active occupations in the school

while decrying the need for progressive of information and ideas.

organization Intelligent

activity

is

distinguished

aimless activity by the fact that selection of

it

from

involves

means -analysis -out of the

and arrangement — synthesis — to reach an intended aim or purpose. That the more immature the learner is, the simpler must be the ends held in view and the more rudimentary the means employed, is obvariety of conditions that are present,

their

But the principle of organization in terms of some perception of the relation of consequences to means applies even with the very young. Otherwise an activity ceases to be educative because it is blind. With increased maturity, the problem of interrelation of means becomes more urgent. In the degree in which intelligent observation is transferred from the relation of means to ends to the more complex question of the relation of means to one another, the idea of cause and effect becomes prominent and explicit. The final justification of shops, kitchens, and so on vious.

the school

is

not just that they afford

opportunity for activity, but that they provide opportunity for the kind of activity or for the acquisition of mechanical skills

which leads students to attend to the remeans and ends, and then to con-

lation of

sideration of the

one another is

the

same

to

way

things interact with

produce definite

in principle

effects. It

as the ground for

ability

to reason.

smothered,

we

ability

to

accumu-

are told, by

and by the attempt to acquire forms which will be immediately useful in the business and commercial world. We are told that these evils spring from the influence of science and from the magtion,

of

skill

nification of present requirements at the expense of the tested cultural heritage from the past. It is argued that science and its method must be subordinated; that we must return to the logic of ultimate first principles expressed in the logic of Aristotle and St. Thomas, in order that the young may have sure anchorage in their intellectual and moral life, and not be at the mercy of every passing breeze

that blows. If the

of activity

in

is

method of science had ever been

and continuously applied throughout the day-by-day work of the school in all subjects, I should be more impressed by this emotional appeal than consistently

I am. I see at bottom but two alternatives between which education must choose if it is not to drift aimlessly. One of them is expressed by the attempt to induce educators to return to the intellectual methods and ideals that arose centuries before scientific method was developed. The appeal

may be temporarily successful in a period when general insecurity, emotional and as well as economic,

intellectual

rife.

is

For under these conditions the desire to lean on fixed authority is active. Nevertheless,

it

is

conditions it

is

folly to

The other

so out of touch with

of modern

seek salvation alternative

zation of scientific

laboratories in scientific research.

and

Unless the problem of intellectual organization can be worked out on the ground

exploitation of the in

ideal

that

life

is

I

all

the

believe

in this direction.

systematic

method

utili-

as the pattern

of intelligent exploration and potentialities inherent

experience.

sure to occur to-

The problem involved comes home with

ward externally imposed methods of organi-

peculiar force to progressive schools. Fail-

of experience, reaction

is

416

\

John Dewey ure to give constant attention to develop-

ment of the

intellectual content of experi-

ences and to obtain ever-increasing organization of facts and ideas may in the end merely strengthen the tendency toward a

been done so as to extract the net meanings which are the capital stock for intelligent dealing with further experiences.

The present

is

not the

time nor place for a disquisition upon

sci-

method. But certain features of it are so closely connected with any educational scheme based upon experience that they should be noted. In the first place, the experimental entific

method

of

attaches

science

more

im-

portance, not less, to ideas as ideas than do

other methods. There

experiment action

The

is

in

no such thing as

some leading idea. employed are hy-

directed by

fact that the ideas

potheses, not

why

is

the scientific sense unless

final

truths,

is

the reason

more jealously guarded and science than anywhere else. The

ideas are

tested in

the

the disciplined mind.

reactionary return to intellectual and moral authoritarianism.

It is

organization and of

heart of intellectual

have been forced

I

and

to

speak

general

in

But what has been said is organically connected with the requirement that experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and of ideas. This condition is satisfied only as the educator views teaching and learning as a continuous process of reconstruction of experience. This condition in turn can be satisfied only as the educator has a long look ahead, and views every present experience as a moving force in influencing what future experiences will be. I am aware that the emphasis I have placed upon scientific method may be misleading, often

may

abstract

language.

result only in calling

up the spe-

moment

for

in

cial

that

is conducted by specialists. But the meaning of the emphasis placed upon scientific method has little to do with specialized techniques. It means that scientific method is the only authentic means

they are taken to be first truths themselves there ceases to be any reason for scrupulous examination of them. As fixed truths they must be accepted and is

the end of the matter. But as hy-

potheses, they must be continuously tested

and revised, a requirement that demands they be accurately formulated. In the second place, ideas or hypotheses are tested by the consequences which they produce when they are acted upon. This fact means that the consequences of action must be carefully and discriminatingly observed. Activity that is not checked by observation of what follows from it may be temporarily enjoyed. But intellectually it leads nowhere. It does not provide knowledge about the situations in which action occurs nor does it lead to clarification and expansion of ideas. In the third place, the

gence

manifested

in

method of the

intelli-

experimental

method demands keeping track of

ideas,

and observed consequences. Keeping track is a matter of reflective review and summarizing, in which there is both discrimination and record of the sigactivities,

nificant features of a

To

developing experience.

reflect is to look

back over what has

it

technique of laboratory research as

that

at

our

command

for

getting

at

the

sig-

nificance of our everyday experiences of

we live. It means that method provides a working pattern of the way in which and the conditions under which experiences are used to lead ever onward and outward. Adaptation of the method to individuals of various the world in which scientific

degrees of maturity

is

a problem for the

educator, and the constant factors

in

the

problem are the formation of ideas, acting

upon ideas, observation of the conditions which result, and organization of facts and ideas for future use. Neither the ideas, nor the activities, nor the observations, nor the organization are the same for a person six years old as they are for one twelve or eighteen years old, to say nothing of the adult scientist. But at every level there is an expanding development of experience if experience is educative in eff"ect. Consequently, whatever the level of ex-

417

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION we have no

perience,

operate

choice but either to

accord with the pattern

in

pro-

it

vides or else to neglect the place of intelligence

development and conand moving experience. the

in

of a living

trol

in the world so severe as the discipline of experience subjected to the tests of in-

development and direction. Hence can see for even a tem-

telligent

the only ground

porary

reaction

I

against

the

standards,

aims, and methods of the newer education is

the failure of educators

who

professedly

adopt them to be faithful to them in practice. As 1 have emphasized more than once, the road of the new education is not

VI]

EXPERIENCE-

an easier one to follow than the old road but a more strenuous and difficult one. It

THE MEANS AND GOAL OF EDUCATION

will

remain so until it has attained its maand that attainment will require many

jority

what

have said

I

Ingranted

have taken for

I

the soundness of the principle

accomplish

that education in order to

its

years of serious co-operative work on the part of that

ends both for the individual learner and for society must be based upon experience

easy that

— which

if

always the actual life-experience of some individual. I have not argued for the acceptance of this principle nor attempted to justify it. Conservatives as is

well as radicals in education are profoundly

discontented with the present educational

taken as a whole. There

situation

much agreement among

this

least

ligent

of both

persons

schools

is

at

intel-

of edu-

adherents.

its

attends

idea that

it

its is

its

The

future

is,

greatest danger I

believe,

the

an easy way to follow, so course may be improvised,

not in an impromptu fashion, at least

almost from day to day or from week to week. It is for this reason that instead of its principles, I have confined myself to showing certain conditions which must be fulfilled if it is to have the successful career which by right belongs

extolling

to

it.

have used frequently in what precedes words "progressive" and "new" education. I do not wish to close, however, I

The educational system must move one way or another, either

the

backward

without recording my firm belief that the fundamental issue is not of new versus old education nor of progressive against traditional education but a question of what anything whatever must be to be worthy of the name education. I am not, I hope and believe, in favor of any ends or any methods simply because the name progressive may be applied to them. The basic question concerns the nature of education with no qualifying adjectives prefixed. What we want and need is education pure and simple, and we shall make surer and faster progress when we devote ourselves to finding out just what education is and what conditions have to be satisfied in order that education may be a

cational thought.

the

to

and moral

intellectual

standards of a prescientific age or forward

ever

to

method

greater

utilization

of

scientific

development of the possibilities of growing, expanding experience. I have but endeavored to point out some of the conditions which must be satisin the

factorily

fulfilled

if

education

takes

the

latter course.

For ties

I

am

so confident of the potentiali-

of education

when

directed

telligently

it

is

treated as in-

development

possibilities inherent in ordinary

that

I

do not

feel

it

of

the

experience

necessary to criticize

here the other route nor to advance argu-

ments

in

perience.

favor of taking the route of ex-

The only ground

ing failure

my mind

in

for anticipat-

taking this path resides to

and not a name or a slogan. It is I have emphasized the need for a sound philosophy of

reality

danger that experience and the experimental method will not be ade-

for this reason alone that

quately conceived. There

experience.

in the

418

is

no discipline

NOTE TO THE READER the reader who would like to compare John Dewey's opinions on education with those of the authors of Great

or skill: the contrast between the empiric and the artist

Fir

Books of the Western World, there are several convenient places at which the comparison may begin. The introductory essays to the Syntopicon chapters on Education and Experience will be helpful.

The

3b.

issue concerning the role of

experience

in science

works in Great Books of the Western World are the richest sources of material on education, learning, and teaching: Plato, Meno and The Republic, Vol. 7,

The

following

pp. 174a-190a,c, 295a-441a,c

In

from 5.

the entire group of topics

Education, 5 to

8, pp.

5/ should be consulted.

The improvement of the mind by ing

teach-

and learning

5a.

The

5b.

The means and methods of

5c.

5d.

The nature of learning: its modes The order of learning: the

5e.

The emotional aspect of

profession of teaching: the relation of teacher and student teach-

ing

several

548d

Marcus Aurelius,

Meditations,

organi-

pleasure, desire, interest

Learning apart from teachers and books: the role of experience

I,

Descartes, Rules for the Direction of the Mind and Discourse on the Method, Part

I,

Vol. 31, pp. la-44c Summa Theologica, Part

I,

Q.

117, Art. l,Vol. 19,pp. 595d-597c

Montaigne, Essays, "On learning:

Bk.

Vol. 12,pp. 253a-256d

Aquinas,

zation of the curriculum

5/.

I, Ch. I, Vol. 499a-500b. Politics, Bk. VII, Ch. 13; Bk. VIII, Ch. 7, Vol. 9, pp. 536b-

Aristotle, Metaphysics, Bk.

the Education

of Children," Vol. 25, pp. 62a-80b James, Principles of Psychology, Ch. IV (habit), Ch.

XI (attention), Ch. XII

(conception),

Ch.

XIII

(discrimin-

and comparison), Ch. XIV (association), Ch. XXII (reasoning).

ation In

Experience

topics

is

Dewey

a

little

the choice of relevant

more

difficult.

Because

talks at length about the notion of

experience

itself,

it

may be

of interest to

Various conceptions of experience. In relation to education. Experi-

consult topic

ence

1

:

Vol. 53, pp. 68a-83b, 260a-395a, 664a-

693b

The reader should

Both

3-3/? are richest:

also consult the intro-

ductory essays to the chapters on Education and Experience in the Syntopicon. will

be helpful

in

providing him with a

general background of what the authors of 3.

Experience knowledge: 3«.

in

art

relation

to

organized

and science

Particular experiences and general rules

as conditions of expertness

Great Books of the Western World have to say on these topics. For additional readings, there are lists at the end of both of the chapters mentioned above.

419

Albert Einstein

RELATIVITY THE SPECIAL

AND GENERAL THEORY Translated by Robert W. Lawson

Einstein as a

young man

the fourth century B.C., Aristotle developed a theoretical system of physics. Almost 2,000 years elapsed before a physicist of eminence comparable to Aristotle arose. He was Sir Isaac Newton, and in his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy he offered new

In

laws of motion that completely replaced Aristotle's. But less than 300 years elapsed before Newtonian physics was challenged. This is all the more remarkable when we remember how successful

Newton and his followers were physical phenomenon in terms of

in explaining

known

almost every

the motion of material particles and

the gravitational forces which they exert

on one another. Yet

it

became

apparent during the latter half of the nineteenth century that certain phenomena — electrical, optical, and astronomical — could not be rationally explained by the principles of classical mechanics. The need to

account for these phenomena gave

rise to relativity physics.

Einstein and his theory of relativity revolutionized the fundamentals

of physics. In a series of papers published during the Isaac

Newton

the twentieth century, Einstein overthrew such

first

decade of

Newtonian concepts

as

absolute space, absolute time, and action-at-a-distance. Space and time

were now of a

to

be understood as relative to an observer; the conception

of force replaced the notion of action-at-a-distance. theory of relativity substitutes its own absolutes for those of

field

The Newtonian physics. The most notable of these new absolutes is the speed of light; relativity physics shows that it is the absolute limit of speed that any body might even theoretically attain. The theory of relativity also

stipulates

an unvarying characteristic

in the

laws of

nature:

Every general law of nature must be so constituted that it is transformed into a law of exactly the same form when, instead of the space-time variables ... of the original co-ordinate system ... we introduce new space-time variables ... of a [new] co-ordinate system {Relativity, p. 442) .

.

.

This is Einstein's way of telling us that the form of a general law of nature is independent of the reference system in terms of which it is stated. If the

tem and 422

laws of nature are independent of a particular reference systhe speed of light is absolutely invariant, certain other quan-

if

Introduction tities

which had been considered invariant

become variable or body. "The inertial mass of essarily

stant, but varies

A

few become famous (p.

443).

relative.

mechanics nec-

in classical

Among

these

the

is

mass of a

a body," Einstein writes, "is not a conin the energy of the body" announces the equation which has

according to the change

lines later, Einstein in

our time,

E = mc^. The

energy of a body,

this

equa-

equal to the mass of the body multiplied by the square of the speed of light. Einstein's way of indicating the equivalence between E and mc^ is as follows: "We see that the term mc^ ... is nothing else tion says,

is

than the energy possessed by the body For better or worse, the equation E

.

.

." (p.

444).

= mc^ opened the door of the whole new generation of scientists

atomic age in 1945. By this time, a had come to the forefront, and the theory of relativity itself had almost been pushed into the background by a host of new theories and discoveries. Nevertheless, Albert Einstein remains the father of relativity and the symbol of the atomic age. The work which we here reprint is his own elementary and popular exposition of his scientific achievement.

Albert

Einstein

Lfamily

was born at Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. His to Munich shortly thereafter, and his education

moved

began there. Later, when the family moved

to Italy,

he continued his

studies in Switzerland, training at the Polytechnic School in Zurich to

be a teacher of mathematics and physics.

He was

unable to obtain a

teaching position and began to work in the Swiss Patent Office. The performance of his duties still allowed him time to continue his studies in mathematics and physics and to reflect upon their basic foundations.

At

the age of 26, in 1905, Einstein published four papers, each pre-

new

physical hypothesis: (1) the special theory of relativity; (2) the equivalence of energy and mass: (3) the explanation of Brownian motion in liquids; and (4) the foundation of the photon theory of senting a

light.

These discoveries launched

his

academic career.

He became

a

professor of physics at the University of Zurich, then accepted the chair of theoretical physics at Prague in 1910, and returned to Zurich

1912 to be a professor at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School, where he had been a student. Finally, he went to Berlin in 1913 as a professor at the University of Berlin and a member of the Kaiser

in

Wilhelm Institute and the Royal Prussian Academy of Science. These positions gave Einstein the stimulation of association with other leading physicists. He published numerous technical papers in an eff'ort to integrate the theory of relativity and the theory of gravitation. This work culminated in his formulation of the General Theory of Relativity

The

in

1916.

General Theory of Relativity was a favor, but its general acceptance by the

logical consistency of the

strong recommendation in scientific

its

world awaited experimental confirmation.

A

British scientific

423

Albert Einstein

expedition under Sir Arthur Eddington undertook to test Einstein's hypothesis, based on the General Theory, that light rays from distant

bend as they pass near the sun because of the sun's gravitational The analysis of photographs made by the expedition during the solar eclipse of 1919 confirmed Einstein's hypothesis. Einstein lived in Berlin throughout World War I, but his personal inclinations and the fact that he had become a Swiss citizen in 1900 allowed him to remain neutral. In 1922, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. Thereafter, he travelled extensively, lecturing on his theory and assisting causes devoted to the promotion of peace ^and works of humanity. Returning to Berlin, he continued to participate in the advanced theoretical work in which men like Bohr, de Broglie, Schrodinger, Bom, and Heisenberg were now pioneering. Meanwhile, the international situation was worsening, and, in Germany, the stars

attraction.

Weimar Republic was

rapidly crumbling.

this

Advanced Study

anti-Semitic National

power under Adolf

New Jersey.

Here he worked for many on a theory which would give gravitational and electromagnetic forces.

at Princeton,

years, even after he

was formally

a unified explanation of

He

The

Hitler in 1933. At time Einstein decided to join the newly founded Institute for

Socialist Party finally attained

all

retired,

also continued his critical examination of the probabilistic inter-

pretation of

On

quantum mechanics. World War II, refugee

the eve of

scientists in the United States were concerned about the use of nuclear energy to make a tremendously powerful bomb. Fearing that German Nazi scientists might be working in this direction, they wished the United States to undertake such a project also. In order to interest the government in the pro-

they solicited Einstein's support. Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt led to the initiation of the "Manhattan Project" and ultimately to the development of nuclear weapons. Einstein died in Prince-

ject,

ton on April 18, 1955.

424

CONTENTS ALBERT EINSTEIN, RELATIVITY

PART

THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

427

PhysicalMeaningof Geometrical Propositions

427

The System of Co-ordinates

428

Mechanics

430

System of Co-ordinates

431

I

II

Space and Time

III

The

IV

V

The

Galileian

The Theorem

Incompatibility of the

in Classical

Mechanics

433

Law of Propagation of Light

with the Principle of Relativity

433

On the

Idea of Time in Physics

434

Relativity of Simultaneity

436

Relativity of the Conception of Distance

437

The Lorentz Transformation

438

Motion

439

Theorem of the Addition of Velocities. The Experiment of Fizeau

440

Heuristic Value of the Theory of Relativity

442

VIII

IX

X

On the

XI

X XIII

43

of the Addition of Velocities

Employed

The Apparent

in Classical

Principle of Relativity (in the Restricted Sense) VI

VII

I

1 1

The

The Behavior of Measuring-Rods and Clocks

XIV

The

XV XV

I

in

General Results of the Theory

442

Experience and the Special Theory of Relativity

444

Minkowski's Four-dimensional Space

446

XVII

PART

II

THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY XVIII

Special and

G eneral XIX

XX as an

Principle of Relativity

The

The Equality of Inertial and

Gravitational Field Gravitational

448 448

449

Mass

Argument for the General Postulate of Relativity

450

1

RELATIVITY, CONTENTS XXI

In

what Respects are the Foundations of Classical Mechanics and of the Special Theory of Relativity Unsatisfactory?

A Few

XXII

Inferences from the General Principle of Relativity

XXIII

Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Continuum

XXV XXVI

The Space-time Continuum of the

Gaussian Co-ordinates

Special

457 458

460

The Space-time Continuum of the General Theory of Relativity

XXVII

is

XXVIII

not a Euclidean Continuum

Exact Formulation of the General Principle of Relativity

XXIX

PART

XXX XXXII

The

Cosmological

Possibility of a "Finite"

The

462

463

III

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE

XXXI

46

The Solution of the Problem of Gravitation

on the Basis of the General Principle of Relativity

465

Newton's Theory

465

and yet "Unbounded" Universe

466

Difficulties of

Structure of Space According to the General Theory of

I

Relativity

468

APPENDICES

469

Simple Derivation of the Lorentz Transformation

469

Minkowski's Four-dimensional Space ("World") [Supplementary to Section

1 1 1

455

Theory of Relativity

Considered as a Euclidean Continuum

II

454

Behavior of Clocks and Measuring- Rods

on a Rotating Body of Reference

XXIV

453

The Experimental Confirmation of the General Theory

426

of Relativity

471

472

Motion of the Perihelion of Mercury

472

by a Gravitational Field

473

Displacement of Spectral Lines Towards the Red

474

{a)

(b) Deflection of Light (c)

XVIL]

PREFACE

The

intended, as far as

should repeat myself frequently, without

paying the slightest attention to the elegance of presentation. I adhered scru-

is

theory of Relativity

the ers

present book

possible, to give an exact insight into

who, from a general

to

those read-

scientific

and

phil-

the theory, but

who

theoretical

are not conversant with

cording to

the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.

pulously to the

in

osophical point of view, are interested

The work presumes a standard of

to I

be

precept of that brilliant

physicist,

whom

Boltzmann, ac-

L.

matters of elegance ought

the tailor and to the cobbler.

left to

make no pretence of having withheld from

education corresponding to that of a uni-

the reader difficulties which are inherent to

versity matriculation examination, and, de-

the

spite the shortness of the

book, a

fair a-

On

subject.

the other hand,

I

have

purposely treated the empirical physical

mount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader. The author has spared

foundations

himself no pains

in his endeavour to premain ideas in the simplest and most intelligible form, and on the whole, in the sequence and connection in which they ac-

miliar with physics

sent the

wanderer who was unable to see the forest for trees. May the book bring some one a few happy hours of suggestive thought!

tually originated.

ness,

it

of the theory in a "stepmotherly" fashion, so that readers unfa-

may

not feel like the

In the interest of clear-

appeared to

me

inevitable that

A. Einstein December, 1916

I

PART

I

THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY osition of this science to be untrue. But

PHYSICAL MEANING OF GEOMETRICAL PROPOSITIONS your schooldays most of you who read book made acquaintance with the noble building of Euclid's geometry, and you remember — perhaps with more

In

this

respect than love — the magnificent struc-

on the lofty staircase of which you were chased about for uncounted hours by conscientious teachers. By reason of your past experience, you would certainly regard everyone with disdain who should pronounce even the most out-of-the-way propture,

perhaps this feeling of proud certainty would leave you immediately if some one were to ask you: "What, then, do you mean by the assertion that these propositions are true?" Let us proceed to give this question a

little

consideration.

Geometry

from certain con"point," and "straight line," with which we are able to associate more or less definite ideas, and from certain simple propositions (axioms) ceptions

sets

such as

out

"plane,"

we

are in-

clined to accept as "true." Then,

on the

which,

in virtue

of these ideas,

basis of a logical process, the justification

427

RELATIVITY of which

we

ourselves compelled to

feel

remaining propositions are shown to follow from those axioms, i.e., they are proven. A proposition is then correct

admit,

all

when

("true")

it

has been derived

the

in

recognized manner from the axioms. The question of the "truth" of the individual propositions

geometrical

thus reduced

is

to one of the "truth" of the axioms. Now it has long been known that the last ques-

tion

not only unanswerable by the meth-

is

two points on a practically rigid body always correspond to the same distance (line-interval), independently of any changes in position to which we may subtion that

ject the body, the propositions of Euclid-

ean geometry then resolve themselves

on the possible

propositions

to

as to the "truth" of geometrical proposi-

justified in asking

things called "straight lines," to each of

ideas. In less exact terms

is

uniquely

uated on

way, since we are whether these proposi-

tions interpreted in this

are

tions

satisfied

we have

for those

things

real

associated with the geometrical

by saying

ascribed the property of being

this

determined by two points sitit. The concept "true" does not

understand

tally with the assertions of pure geometry, because by the word "true" we are eventually in the habit of designating always the correspondence with a "real" object; geometry, however, is not concerned with

Ge-

position of practically rigid bodies. ^

ometry which has been supplemented in this way is then to be treated as a branch of physics. We can now legitimately ask

ods of geometry, but that it is in itself entirely without meaning. We cannot ask whether it is true that only one straight line goes through two points. We can only say that Euclidean geometry deals with

which

in-

relative

we can

express

by the "truth" of a

that

geometrical proposition in this sense its

we

validity for a construction

with ruler and compasses.

Of course

the conviction of the "truth"

of geometrical propositions

in

this

sense

to

founded exclusively on rather incomplete experience. For the present we shall assume the "truth" of the geometrical

objects of experience, but only with the

propositions, then at a later stage (in the

the relation of the ideas involved in

logical

connection of these ideas

it

among

themselves. It

spite

is

not

of

difficult to

we

this,

understand why,

in

is

general theory of relativity)

we

that this "truth"

and we

is

limited,

consider the extent of

its

feel constrained to call

Geomore or less

II

metrical ideas correspond to

THE SYSTEM OF CO-ORDINATES

exact objects in nature, and these last are undoubtedly the exclusive cause of the genesis of those ideas.

give to logical

The

On

body

is

lodged deeply in our habit

We

are accustomed further to

tablish

on a For all,

If,

in

pursuance of our habit of thought,

we now supplement

the

propositions of

Euclidean geometry by the single proposi-

428

which has been

in-

are also in a position to es-

distance between two points body by means of measurements.

the

rigid this

purpose

(rod S) which

regard three points as being situated on a straight line, if their apparent positions can be made to coincide for observation with one eye, under suitable choice of our place of observation.

we

dicated,

some-

is

the basis of the physical interpreta-

tion of distance

practice, for example,

practically rigid

thing which

of thought.

to

order to

a "distance" two marked posi-

in

on a

in

structure the largest possible

unity.

of seeing tions

Geometry ought

from such a course, its

shall

limitation.

the propositions of geometry "true."

refrain

shall, see

is

we to

require a "distance" be used once and for

and which we employ as a standard If, now, A and B are two points

measure.

1

it follows that a natural object is associated also with a straight line. Three points A, B and C on a rigid body thus lie in a straight line when, the points A and C being given, B is chosen such that the sum of the distances and BC is as short as possible. This incomplete suggestion will suffice for our pres-

AB

ent purpose.

Albert Einstein

on a

rigid

body,

we can

construct the line

them according to the rules of geometry; then, starting from ^, we can mark off the distance S time after time until we reach B. The number of these operations required is the numerical measure of the

joining

AB. This is the basis of all measurement of length.^ Every description of the scene of an distance

event or of the position of an object in space is based on the specification of the

on a

point

body (body of reference)

rigid

with which that event or object coincides.

This applies not only to scientific description, but also to everyday life. If I analyze the place specification "Trafalgar Square, London, "2 I arrive at the following result.

The

earth

is

the rigid

body

to

which the

specification of the place refers; "Trafalgar

Square, London"

is

a well-defined point,

which a name has been assigned, and with which the event coincides in space. This primitive method of place specification deals only with places on the surface of rigid bodies, and is dependent on the existence of points on this surface which are distinguishable from each other. But we can free ourselves from both of these to

limitations

without altering the nature of

our specification of position. stance, a cloud

is

we can determine

Square, then

to the

tion relative

If,

for

in-

hovering over Trafalgar its

it

reaches the cloud.

The

place

the

1

the basis of this

Here we have assumed that there is nothing left i.e., that the measurement gives a whole number. This difficulty is got over by the use of divided measuring-rods, the introduction of which does not

demand any fundamentally new method. have chosen this as being more familiar to the English reader than the "Potsdamer Platz, Berlin," which is referred to in the original. (R.W.L.) 3 It is not necessary here to investigate further the significance of the expression "coincidence in space." This conception is sufficiently obvious to ensure that differences of opinion are scarcely likely 1

to arise as to

its

is

sup-

referred,

in

by the completed

rigid

body.

In locating the position of the ob-

(b)

we make use

ject,

number (here

of a

the

length of the pole measured with the measuring-rod)

of

instead

designated

points

of reference. (c) We speak of the height of the cloud even when the pole which reaches the cloud has not been erected. By means of optical observations of the cloud from diff'erent positions on the ground, and taking into account the properties of the propagation of light, we determine the length of the pole we should have required in order to

reach the cloud.

From

consideration

this

be advantageous

will

of position,

tion

it

we in

if,

should

see that

it

the descrip-

be

by means of numerical measures

possible to

make

ourselves independent of the existence of

marked positions (possessing names) on body of reference. In the physics of measurement this is attained by the the rigid

application

of the

Cartesian

system

of

This consists of three plane surfaces

each other and rigidly Referred to a system of co-ordinates, the scene of any event will be determined (for the main perpendicular to

attached

applicability in practice.

to

a rigid body.

by the specification of the lengths

of the three perpendiculars or co-ordinates

illus-

over,

2

in

such a manner that the object whose position we require is reached

part)

On

specification

plemented

of the position of the foot of the

supplies us with a complete place

specification.

manner

surface of the earth

ard measuring-rod, combined with the spec-

pole,

are able to see the

co-ordinates.

length of the pole measured with the stand-

ification

we

which a refinement of the conception of position has been developed. (a) We imagine the rigid body, to which

posi-

by erecting a pole perpendicularly on the Square, so that

tration,

{x,

y,

z)

which can be dropped from the

scene of the event to those three plane surfaces. The lengths of these three perpendiculars can be determined by a series

of

manipulations

with

rigid

measuring-

rods performed according to the rules and

methods In

laid

down by Euclidean geometry.

practice,

the

rigid

surfaces

which

constitute the system of co-ordinates are

generally

not available; furthermore, the

magnitudes

of the

actually determined

co-ordinates

are

not

by constructions with

429

RELATIVITY rods, but

rigid

by indirect means.

If the

of physics and astronomy are to

results

maintain

their

clearness,

physical

the

meaning of specifications of position must always be sought in accordance with the above considerations. "*

We

thus

obtain

the

following

Every description of events

in

result:

space

in-

It

not clear what

is

is

to

be understood

here by "position" and "space." at the

window of

I

stand

a railway carriage which

is travelling uniformly, and drop a stone on the embankment, without throwing it. Then, disregarding the influence of the air

resistance, straight

see the stone descend in a

I

A

line.

pedestrian

who

observes

volves the use of a rigid body to which

the misdeed

such events have to be referred. The

the stone falls to earth in a parabolic curve.

re-

sulting relationship takes for granted that

the laws of Euclidean geometry hold for

"distances,"

sented

the

physically

"distance" being repre-

by means of the con-

vention of two marks on a rigid body.

I

now

The

purpose of mechanics is to deshow bodies change their posispace with time." I should load

cribe tion

in

my

the "positions" traversed

the considerations of the previous section

we

SPACE AND TIME IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS

Do

ask:

that

by the stone lie "in reality" on a straight line or on a parabola? Moreover, what is meant here by motion "in space"? From the answer

Ill

from the footpath notices

is

self-evident. In the first place,

shun the vague word "space," of which, we must honestly acknowledge, we cannot form the slightest conception, and we replace it by "motion relative to entirely

body of reference." body of reference (railway carriage or embankment) a

practically

The

rigid

positions relative to the

conscience with grave sins against the sacred spirit of lucidity were I to formulate the aims of mechanics in this way,

preceding section. If instead of "body of reference" we insert "system of coor-

without

dinates," which

serious

explanations.

reflection

and

detailed

Let us proceed to disclose

these sins.

have already been defined

to say:

A

refinement and modification of these views does not become necessary until we come to deal with the general theory of relativity, treated in the second part of this book.

A man drops a

a useful idea for math-

ematical description, relative

4

is

The stone to

we

430

are in a position

traverses a straight line

a system of co-ordinates

rig-

idly attached to the carriage, but relative

to a

system of co-ordinates rigidly attached ground (embankment) it describes

to the

stone from a moving railway carriage to the embankment. Disregarding

he sees the stone descend in a straight line. As seen from the embankment, however, the stone falls in a parabolic curve air resistance,

in detail in the

Albert Einstein a parabola. With the aid of this example it is clearly seen that there is no such thing

independently existing trajectory "path-curve"^), but only a trajectory relative to a particular body of reference.

an

as

(lit.

In order to have a complete description of the motion, we must specify how the

body

alters

position

its

time;

with

i.e.,

on the trajectory it must be stated at what time the body is situated there. These data must be supplemented by such a definition of time that, in virtue of this definition, these time-values can be regarded essentially as magnitudes (results of measurements) capable of observation. If we take our stand on the ground of classical mechanics, we can satisfy for every point

this

requirement for our illustration in the We imagine two clocks

following manner.

of identical construction; the railway-carriage

window

them, and the

man on

is

man

are

bodies for which the law of inertia

certainly holds to a high degree of approx-

radius

we have

of the

With

velocity

this

by the

finiteness

of propagation of

light.

and with a second difficulty prewe shall have to deal in de-

adhere to

this

which the fixed stars do not A system of co-ordinates of which the state of motion is such that the law of inertia holds relative to it is called a "Galileian system of co-ordinates." The laws of the mechanics of GalileiNewton can be regarded as valid only for a Galileian system of co-ordinates. relative

move

to

in a circle.

THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY IN THE RESTRICTED SENSE order to In clearness,

is

a straight line. This law not only says something about the motion of the bodies, also indicates the reference-bodies

mechanics, which can be used

ical

Let

description.

The

visible

permissible in

That

is,

a curve along which the

call

its

although

the

car-

position relative to the

its

does not rotate in so a raven flying

yet

it

us

imagine

air in

such a manner that

its

uniform and

mechan-

fixed

body moves.

in a straight line. If

we were

observe the flying raven from the moving railway carriage, we should find that the to

motion of the raven would be one of

differ-

ent velocity and direction, but that

would

still

be uniform and in a straight in an abstract manner we

pressed If a

line

mass

it

line.

Ex-

may

say:

m is moving uniformly in a straight

with respect to a co-ordinate system

K, then and in a

it

will also

stars is

be moving uniformly

second provided that the

straight line relative to a

co-ordinate system latter

1

because

changes

in

in

We

motion, as observed from the embankment,

well

of co-ordinates,

supposed

to be motion a uniform translation ("uniform" because it is of constant velocity and direction,

through the

known, the fundamental law the mechanics of Galilei-Newton, which is known as the law of inertia, can be stated thus: A body removed sufficiently far from other bodies continues in a state of rest or of uniform motion

it

us return to our example

uniformly.

travelling

doing).

THE GALILEIAN SYSTEM OF CO-ORDINATES

systems

attain the greatest possible let

railway carriage

of the

embankment IV

or

inertia.

motions only to systems of co-ordinates

riage

but

is

ment of the law of

"translation"

tail later.

is

opposed to the stateSo that if we law we must refer these

day, a result which

the footpath the

vailing here

ASLof

immense

at the

not taken account of

the inaccuracy involved

a circle of

the course of an astronomical

in

holding one of

holding in his hand. In this

is

use a system of co-

rigidly attached to the

is

earth, then, relative to this system, every

Each of the observers determines the position on his own reference-body occupied by the stone at each tick of the connection

we

if

fixed star describes

other.

clock he

Now

imation.

ordinates which

K\

executing a uniform translatory

motion with respect

to K.

In

431

accordance

,

with the discussion contained

ceding section, If a: is

it

in the

pre-

a Galileian co-ordinate system,

then every other co-ordinate system K'

is

a Galileian one, when, in relation to K,

it

a condition of uniform motion of trans-

is in

lation. Relative to

accuracy

domain of mechanics. But

in the

that a principle of such

follows that:

broad generality

in one domain of phenomena, and yet should be in-

should hold with such exactness valid for another,

a priori not very prob-

is

able.

We now

K' the mechanical laws

proceed

to the

we

second argument,

of Galilei-Newton hold good exactly as

to

they do with respect to K.

of relativity (in the redoes not hold, then the Galileian co-ordinate systems K, K' K" etc., which are moving uniformly relative

We

If

advance a step farther

ization

when we express

in

our general-

the tenet thus:

If,

K, K' is a uniformly moving coordinate system devoid of rotation, then natural phenomena run their course with respect to K' according to exactly the same general laws as with respect to K. This relative to

statement

called

is

the principle

of

rel-

ativity (in the restricted sense).

As

was convinced that all phenomena were capable of rep-

long as one

natural

resentation with the help of classical me-

was no need

which, moreover, the

shall return later.

principle

sense)

stricted

,

to

each other,

will

not be equivalent for the

description of natural phenomena. In this

case

we

should be constrained to believe

that natural laws are capable of being for-

mulated in a particularly simple manner, and of course only on condition that, from

among

possible

all

systems,

we

Galileian co-ordinate

should have chosen one (Kq)

of a particular state of motion as our body

We

doubt the validity of this principle of relativity. But in view of the more recent development of electrodynamics and optics it became more and more evident that classical mechanics affords an insufficient foundation

of reference.

for the physical description of

railway carriage would be a system K,

chanics, there

phenomena. At

this

to

all

natural

juncture the question

of the validity of the principle of relativ-

became

and it did not appear impossible that the answer to ity

this

ripe for discussion,

question might be in the negative.

Nevertheless, there are two general facts at the outset speak very much in favor of the validity of the principle of rel-

which

Even though

(because of natural

should then be justified

merits for the description of

its

phenomena)

systems

K "in motion."

embankment were ative to

which

simplicity

carriage

would be due

we must

of the velocity of the carriage would nec-

rection of travel

it

that emitted

short of wonderful.

relativity

The

principle of

must therefore apply with great

432

We

should expect, for

instance, that the note emitted

it

little

"really")

reference to K, the magnitude and direction

grant

supplies us with the actual motions of the heavenly bodies with a delicacy of detail

to the fact that the

with respect to Kq. In the general laws of nature which have been formulated with

a considerable measure of "truth," since

still

rel-

would hold

K would be in motion {i.e.

pipe placed with

physical phenomena,

for instance, our

than with respect to Kq. This diminished

basis for the theoretical presentation of

all

If,

system

other Galileian

less simple laws

essarily play a part.

classical

all

the system Kq, then our

mechanics does not supply us with a sufficiently broad

ativity.

in calling this

"absolutely at rest," and

if

its

by an organ-

axis parallel to the di-

would be

different

from

the axis of the pipe were

placed perpendicular to this direction.

Now

motion in an orbit round the sun, our earth is comparable with a railway carriage travelling with a velocity of about in virtue

of

its

30 kilometres per second. If the principle of were not valid we should therefore expect that the direction of motion of the earth at any moment would enter into the laws of nature, and also that physical systems in their behavior would be dependent on the orientation in space with respect to the earth. For owing to the alteration in relativity

the

embankment

We

shall see later that this result,

presses

in

the second considered.

which extheorem of the addition of employed in classical mechanics,

the

velocities

cannot be maintained; in other words, the law that we have just written down does not hold in reality. For the time being, how-

we

ever,

shall

assume

its

correctness.

direction of the velocity of revolution of

VII

the earth in the course of a year, the earth cannot be at rest relative to the hypothetical system Kq throughout the whole year.

THE APPARENT INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE LAW OF PROPAGATION OF LIGHT WITH THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY

However, the most careful observations have never revealed such anisotropic properties in terresirial

physical space,

i.e.,

a

physical non-equivalence of different directions.

This

is

a very powerful

argument

There

is

hardly a simpler law of physics

than that according to which light

in

this

in

propagation takes place

with a velocity c

OF VELOCITIES EMPLOYED IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS

all

events

is the same for all colors, were not the case, the minimum of emission would not be observed

that this velocity

because

Let us suppose our old friend the railway carriage to be travelling along the rails v,

and that a man

traverses the length of the carriage in the direction of travel with a velocity

quickly, or, in other words, with locity

W

does the

man advance

in straight lines

= 300,000 km. /sec. At we know with great exactness

THE THEOREM OF THE ADDITION

with a constant velocity

is

empty space. Every child at school knows, or believes he knows, that

propagated

favor of the principle of relativity.

\\\

How

what ve-

relative to

if this

simultaneously for different colors during the eclipse of a fixed star by bor.

By means

its

dark neigh-

of similar considerations

based on observations of double stars, the Dutch astronomer De Sitter was also able to

show

that the velocity of propagation

The

of light cannot depend on the velocity of

only possible answer seems to result from

motion of the body emitting the light. The assumption that this velocity of propagation

the

the

embankment during following

the process?

consideration:

the

If

man

were to stand still for a second, he would advance relative to the embankment through a distance v equal numerically to the velocity of the carriage.

quence of

his walking,

As

a conse-

however, he trav-

erses an additional distance

w

relative to

is is

dependent on the direction "in space" in itself

improbable.

In short, let us

assume

that the simple

law of the constancy of the velocity of light c (in vacuum) is justifiably believed by the child at school. Who would imagine that

the carriage, and hence also relative to the

this

embankment,

tiously thoughtful physicist into the great-

w

in this

second, the distance

being numerically equal to the velocity

with which he

is

Thus

walking.

covers the distance

W

=

v

-\-

w

in total

he

relative to

simple law has plunged the conscien-

est intellectual difficulties?

Let us consider

how these difficulties arise. Of course we must refer

the process of

433

RELATIVITY the propagation of light (and indeed every

other process)

to

a rigid reference-body

(co-ordinate system).

As such

a system

let

us again choose our embankment. We shall imagine the air above it to have been removed. If a ray of light be sent along the embankment, we see from the above that

of the ray will be transmitted with

the tip

the velocity c relative to the

Now

let

riage

is

us suppose that our railway caragain travelling along the railway

lines with the velocity v,

tion

is

but

its

embankment.

same

the

and that

its

direc-

as that of the ray of light,

much

velocity of course

Let

less.

us inquire about the velocity of propagation

of the ray of light relative to the carriage. It is obvious that we can here apply the consideration of the previous section, since the

ray of light plays the part of the

W

bankment of

of the

is

man

walk-

to the intellect

simple.

The

to

smaller than

to the principle of relativity.

The develop-

theoretical physics shows,

ment of

we cannot pursue

ever, that

The epoch-making

how-

this course.

theoretical

investiga-

on the electrodynamical and optical phenomena connected with moving bodies show that experience in this domain leads conclusively to a theory of electromagnetic phenomena, of which the law of the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo is a necessary consequence. Prominent theoretical physicists were therefore more inclined to tions of H. A. Lorentz

reject

of the fact that no empirical data had been

embankment, w

carriage

is

the principle of relativity, in spite

found which were contradictory

to

this

principle.

At

juncture the theory of relativity

this

entered the arena.

As

a result of an analysis

of the physical conceptions of time and thus

comes out

space, is

it

became evident

that in reality- there

not the least incompatibility between the

principle of relativity-

c.

comes

so natural and

is

em-

and we have w - c - V. the

it

the propagation of light

The

velocity of propagation of a ray of light

relative

because

The law of

in vacuo would then have to be replaced by a more complicated law conformable

the required velocity of light with respect to the carriage,

retain the principle

relative to the

here replaced by the velocity

light relative to the

we should

the carriage.

ing along relatively to

velocity

man

expect that

of relativity, which appeals so convincingly

and

the law of prop-

the principle of relativity set forth in Section

agation of light, and that by systematically holding fast to both these laws a logically

V. For, like every other general law of

rigid

nature, the law of the transmission of light

has been called the special theory- of relativity- to distinguish it from the extended

But

in

this result

into conflict with

vacuo must, according to the principle of be the same for the railway car-

relativity,

riage as reference-body as

when

the rails

are the body of reference. But. from our above consideration, this would appear to

be impossible.

If

every ray of

agated relative to the

light is

it

theory, with which the following pages

—a

we shall deal later. In we shall present the

fundamental ideas of the special theory of relativity.

VIII

the

ON THE IDEA OF TIME

would

appear that another law of propagation of light must necessarily hold with respect to the carriage

result contradictory to the

IN

In view of this dilemma there appears to be nothing else for it than to abandon either

PHYSICS

Lightning has struck the

principle of relativity.

>

B

way embankment

far distant

at

rails on our railtwo places A and

from each other.

I

additional assertion that these

make two

the

light-

ning flashes occurred simultaneously. If

the principle of relativity or the simple law of the propagation of light in vacuo. Those of you who have carefully followed the

ask you whether there

preceding discussion are almost sure to

decided "Yes." But

434

This theory-

at.

prop-

embankment with

velocity c, then for this reason

theory could be arrived

ment, you

will

is

my

answer if

sense

I

I

in this state-

question with a

now approach you

Albert Einstein

me

with the request to explain to

more

of the statement after

some consideration

to this

question

you find the answer

that

not so easy as

is

the sense

precisely,

it

the observer perceives the

If

simultaneous.

appears

am

I

very pleased with

but for

at first sight.

After some time perhaps the following

answer would occur

"The

to you:

cance of the statement

signifi-

clear in itself and

is

needs no further explanation; of course

it

two flashes

of lightning at the same time, then they are

that

all

as quite settled, because

would certainly be

definition

only

feel constrained

I

knew

that the light

M

flashes travels along the length

events took place simultaneously or not."

B

cannot be

satisfied

with this answer for the

following reason. Supposing that as a result

of ingenious considerations an able meteor-

were must always

ologist

to discover that the lightning

strike the places

multaneously, then

we

A and B

si-

ity. all

We

accordance with the

encounter the same

difficulty

until

whether or not case.

We

it

is

fulfilled in

After a

an actual

thus require a definition of simul-

taneity such that this definition supplies us

consideration

further

somewhat

my

he has the possibility of discovering

— and

you declare: "I maintain

cause

in

reality

nothing about

mand

be made of the definition of simulnamely, that in every real case it must supply us with an empirical decision as to whether or not the conception that has to be defined is fulfilled. That my definito

whether or not both the lightning strokes

erse the path

long as this

allow my-

I

be deceived as a physicist (and of

self to

course the same applies icist),

As

when

I

am

if I

imagine that

I

not a phys-

am

able to

(I

would ask the reader not

proceed farther

on

until

he

is

fully

to

convinced

After thinking the matter over for some time you then offer the following suggestion with which to test simultaneity. By meas-

should be measured up and an observer

placed at the mid-point

M

of the distance

AB. This observer should be supplied with an arrangem.ent

{e.g., two mirrors inclined which allows him visually to observe both places A and B at the same time.

at

90°)

indisputable.

in reality neither a

is

to trav-

as for the path

supposi-

nor a hypothesis about the physical nature of light, but a stipulation which I can make of my own freewill in order to arrive at a definition of simultaneity." clear that this definition can be used

It is

an exact meaning not only

to give

events, but to as

many

events as

to

we

and independently of the

two care

posi-

tions of the scenes of the events with re-

spect to the

I

uring along the rails, the connecting line

AB

>M

>M

A

is

same time

tion

to choose,

this point.)

demand

light requires the

B

attach a meaning to the statement of simultaneity.

assumes absolutely There is only one de-

taneity,

tion satisfies this

not satisfied,

it

light.

That

is

cast

me — and

previous definition nevertheless, be-

present case, he can decide by experiment

requirement

you

disdainful glance at

with the method by means of which, in the

occurred simultaneously.

>M

A

circle."

rightly so

concept does not exist for the physicist

perceives the lightning

^M. But an examination of this supwould only be possible if we already had at our disposal the means of measuring time. It would thus appear as though we were moving here in a logical

with

The

I

position

real-

physical statements in which the con-

ception "simultaneous" plays a part.

if

with the same velocity as along the length

should be faced with

the task of testing whether or not this theoretical result is in

the observer at

right,

by means of which

would require some consideration if I were to be commissioned to determine by observations whether in the actual case the two I

"Your

following objection:

the

raise

to

this suggestion,

cannot regard the matter

I

body of reference^ (here the

We

suppose further

and

C

that,

'\i

A

is

that,

when

three events A,

B

places in such a manner simultaneous with B, and B is simultane-

take place

in different

C (simultaneous in the sense of the above the criterion for the simultaneity of the pair of events A, C \s also satisfied. This assumption is a physical hypothesis about the law of propagation of light; it must certainly be fulfilled if we are to maintain the law of the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo. ous with

definition), then

435

RELATIVITY

We

People travelling

led

dicated in Fig.

also to a definition of "time" in physics. For this purpose we suppose that clocks

train will with

of identical construction are placed at the points A, B and C of the railway line (co-

they regard

ordinate system), and that they are set in such a manner that the positions of their

along the line also takes place at a par-

pointers are simultaneously (in the above

tion of simultaneity

railway

embankment).

are

thus

a rigid

train.

we understand by

the

takes place

Also the definican be given relative

same way

As

as with

a natural

consequence, however, the following ques-

imme-

diate vicinity (in space) of the event.

reference to the

in

respect to the embankment.

the reading (position of the hands) of that is in

events

all

Then every event which

to the train in exactly the

the "time" of an event

one of these clocks which

in this

ticular point of the train.

Under these conditions

sense) the same.

1.

advantage use the train as reference-body (co-ordinate system);

tion arises:

In

Are two events

{e.g., the two strokes of and B) which are simultaneous

this

manner a time-value is associated with every event which is essentially capable

lightning

of observation.

also simultaneous relatively to tHe train?

This stipulation contains a further physhypothesis, the validity of which will

We be

hardly be doubted without empirical evidence to the contrary. It has been assumed

A

if

all

these clocks go at the

same

rate

they are of identical construction. Stated

more

When two

exactly:

clocks arranged

embankment

with reference to the railway

ical

that

A

show directly

shall

answer must

that the

in the negative.

When we say that the lightning strokes and B are simultaneous with respect to

embankment, we mean: the rays of emitted at the places A and B, where the lightning occurs, meet each other at the

light

M

of the length

A

^B

at rest in different places

the mid-point

body are

of the embankment. But the events

of a referencesuch a manner that a particular position of the pointers of the one clock is simultaneous (in the above sense) with the

set in

same

position of the pointers of

B

also correspond to positions

distance

A

when

the other clock, then identical "settings"

Just

are always simultaneous (in the sense of the

this point

above

point

definition).

M' be

the train. Let

M,

A and A and B on

the mid-point of the

^B on the

travelling^ train.

the flashes^ of lightning occur,

M'

naturally coincides with the

but

moves towards

it

the right in

the diagram with the velocity v of the train. If

an observer

sitting in the position

M'

in

the train did not possess this velocity, then

IX

he would remain permanently

THE RELATIVITY OF SIMULTANEITY

Up

to

A and B would i.e.,

now

our considerations have been

referred to a particular

erence, which

embankment."

we have

We

body of

ref-

styled a "railway

suppose a very long

train travelling

along the

stant velocity

v

and

in

rails

with the con-

the direction in-

M, and the

reach him simultaneously,

they would meet just where he

uated.

Now

reference

he

at

rays emitted by the flashes of lightning

light

is

reality

in

the

to

(considered

is sit-

with

embankment)

railway

hastening towards the

beam

of light

coming from B, while he is riding on ahead of the beam of light coming from ^4. Hence the observer will see the

emitted from

B

earlier than

emitted from A. Observers

beam of he

light

will see that

who

take the

railway train as their reference-body must EMBANKMENT

Fig.

I

therefore

1

436

come

As judged from

to the conclusion that the

the

embankment.

Albert Einstein

B

lightning flash

took place earlier than

the lightning flash A.

We

ON THE RELATIVITY OF THE CONCEPTION OF DISTANCE

thus arrive at

the important result:

which

Events reference

are

the

to

simultaneous

embankment

with not

are

simultaneous with respect to the train, and vice versa (relativity of simultane-

Every

ity).

system) has

we

reference-body its

own

(co-ordinate

particular time; unless

are told the reference-body to which

the statement of time refers, there

meaning

in

is

no

a statement of the time of an

Now

before the advent of the theory

had always

of relativity

it

assumed

physics

tacitly

been

that the statement an absolute significance, i.e., that it is independent of the state of motion of the body of reference. But we have just seen that this assumption is incompatible with the most natural definition of simultaneity; if we discard this assumption, then the conflict between the law of the propagation of light in vacuo and the principle of relativity (developed in Section VII) disappears. We were led to that conflict by the considerations of Section VI, which are now no longer tenable. In that section we concluded that the man in the carriage, who traverses the distance w per second rel-

time

in

had

same the embank-

ative to the carriage, traverses the

distance also with respect to

ment

embankand inquire as

the train^ travelling along the

ment with the velocity

v,

We

to their distance apart.

that

already

know

necessary to have a body of

is

it

ref-

erence for the measurement of a distance, with respect to which body the distance

can be measured up.

It

is

the simplest

plan to use the train itself as the reference-

event.

of

US consider two particular points on

Let

in

each second of time. But, ac-

cording to

the

foregoing considerations,

body (co-ordinate system). An observer in the train measures the interval by marking off

measuring-rod

his

in

a straight line

along the floor of the carriage) as

(e.g.,

many times as is necessary to take him from the one marked point to the other. Then the number which tells us how often the rod has to be laid down is the required distance.

a different matter

It is

when

the distance

has to be judged from the railway the following method suggests

we

call

A

line.

and B' the two points on the

'

whose distance apart

is

Here

itself.

If

train

required, then both

of these points are moving with the velocity

V along the

we

place

embankment. In the

first

require to determine the points

A and B

embankment which are by the two points A' and 5' at a particular time /—judged from the embankment. These points A and B of the embankment can be determined by of the

just being passed

by a particular occurrence with respect to the carriage must not be considered equal to the duration of

applying the definition of time given in

same occurrence as judged from the embankment (as reference-body). Hence

peated application of the

the time required

the

that the man in it cannot be contended walking travels the distance w relative to the railway line in a time which is equal to one second as judged from the embankment.

Moreover, the considerations of Section are based on yet a second assumption,

VI

Section VIII. points

A

and

The

B

distance between these

is

then measured by re-

measuring-rod

along the embankment.

A

it is by no means certain that measurement will supply us with the same result as the first. Thus the length of the train as measured from the embankment may be different from that obtained by measuring in the train itself. This circumstance leads us to a second objection

priori

this last

which, in the light of a strict consideration, appears to be arbitrary, although it was always tacitly made even before the introduction of the theory of relativity.

1

€.}>.

the middle of the

first

and of the hundredth

carriage.

437

RELATIVITY Can we conceive

which must be raised against the appar-

other words:

ently obvious consideration of Section VI.

between place and time of the individual

Namely,

man

the

if

in the carriage

covers

a unit of time — measured train, — then this distance — a^

w

the distance

in

from the measured from

embankment— is

the

not

events relative to both reference-bodies, such that every ray of light possesses the velocity of transmission c relative to the

embankment and This

necessarily also equal to w.

of a relation

question

relative

leads

to

a

to

the

quite

train? definite

positive answer, and to a perfectly definite

last

law for the space-time magnitudes of an event when changing over from one body of reference to another. Before we deal with this, we shall introduce the following incidental consideration.

of the law of propagation of light

Up to the present we have only considered events taking place along the embankment,

transformation

THE LORENTZ TRANSFORMATION results of the three sections Theshow that the apparent incompatibility

with

the

of relativity (Section

principle

VII) has been derived by means of a consideration

which borrowed two

unjustifi-

which had mathematically

to

function of a straight

In the

indicated in

able hypotheses from classical mechanics;

this

these are as follows:

ally

(1)

The

time-interval

two events

is

(time)

between

independent of the

condition of motion of the

body of

reference. (2)

The

space-interval

(distance)

be-

body is. independent of the condition of motion of the body of reference. If

we drop

rigid

these hypotheses, then the

dilemma of Section VII disappears, because the theorem of the addition of velocities derived in Section VI becomes invalid.

The

possibility

presents itself that

the law of the propagation of light in vacuo

may be compatible

with the principle of

and the question arises: How have we to modify the considerations of

relativity,

Section

VI

in

order to remove the apparent

disagreement between these two fundamental results of experience? This question leads to a general one. In the discussion of

Section VI we have to do with places and times relative both to the train and to the embankment. How are we to find the place and time of an event in relation to the train,

when we know

the place and time of the

event with respect to the railway embankment? Is there a thinkable answer to this

by means of

in a vertical direction

a framework of rods, so that an event which takes

with

place

anywhere can be localized

reference

ilarly,

tween two points of a

assume the manner

II we can imagine supplemented later-

Section

reference-body

and

line.

we can

to

this

framework. Sim-

imagine the train travelling

with the velocity v to be continued across the whole of space, so that every event,

no matter how far off it may be, could also be localized with respect to the second framework. Without committing any fundamental error, we can disregard the fact that in reality these frameworks would continually interfere with each other, owing to impenetrability

the

of

every such framework surfaces

marked

solid

we

bodies.

In

imagine three

each other, to and designated as "co-ordi-

perpendicular out,

nate planes" ("co-ordinate system").

K

ordinate system

A co-

then corresponds to the

embankment, and a co-ordinate system K' to the train. An event, wherever it may have taken place, would be fixed in space with respect to K by the three perpendiculars jc, y, z on the co-ordinate planes, and with regard to time by a time-value /. Relative to K' the same event would be fixed in respect of space and time by corresponding values x' ,y' z', t' which of course are ,

,

,

not identical with

jc,

y, z,

t.

It

has already

question of such a nature that the law of transmission of light in vacuo does not

tudes are to be regarded as results of phys-

contradict

ical

the

principle of relativity?

438

In

been

set forth in detail

measurements.

how

these magni-

Albert Einstein

Obviously our problem can be exactly in the following manner. What are the values x',y', z', t' of an event with respect to K' when the magnitudes x, y, z, t

formulated

,

K

are

must be so chosen

that

of the same event with respect to

given?

The

relations

the law of the trans-

mission or

light

^.

m

^

Aided by the following illustration, we can readily see that, in accordance with the Lorentz transformation, the law of the transmission of light in vacuo is satisfied both for the reference-body K and for the reference-body K' A light-signal is sent along the positive x-axis, and this light.

stimulus advances in accordance with the

-

vacuo is satisfied for one and the

equation

same ray of

i.e.,

X =ct,

light

with the velocity

According

c.

to the

(and of course for

equations of the Lorentz transformation,

every ray) with

this

spect to

For

K

the

orientation

re-

of fact,

relative in

simple relation between x and

volves a relation between

and K' space

of the

co-ordinate

systems indicated in the diagram (Fig. 2), problem is solved by means of the

in

the

if

we

first

x'

substitute for

and .v

/'.

t

in-

In point

the value ct

and fourth equations of the

Lorentz transformation,

we

-

v)t

this

(c

obtain:

equations:

x-vt

V'-^ y z'

-y =z

^

"-4

This system of equations

is

from which, by division, the expression x' = ct'

known

as the

"Lorentz transformation."^ If in place of the law of transmission of light we had taken as our basis the tacit assumptions of the older mechanics as to the absolute character of times and lengths, then instead of the above we should have obtained the following equations:

immediately follows. If referred to the system K', the propagation of light takes place according to this equation. We thus see that the velocity of transmission relative to the reference-body K' to c.

The same

result

is

also equal

obtained for rays

in

any other direction

Of course

this is not surprising,

of light advancing

whatsoever.

is

=x- vt

since the equations of the Lorentz trans-

formation

z'

=y =z

t'

=

x'

y'

this point

were derived conformably

to

of view.

t.

XII

This system of equations is often termed the "Galilei transformation." The Galilei transformation can be obtained from the

THE BEHAVIOR OF MEASURING-RODS AND CLOCKS IN MOTION

Lorentz transformation by substituting an large value for the velocity of

infinitely

light c in the latter transformation.

place a metre-rod in the .x'-axis of K' in such a manner that one end (the beginning) coincides with the point x' = 0, while

I 1

A is

simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation given in Appendix I.

the other end (the end of the rod) coincides

439

RELATIVITY with the point

=

x'

\.

What

is

the length of

the metre-rod relatively to the system

K?

In order to learn this, we need only ask where the beginning of the rod and the end

of the rod lie with respect to A: at a particular time t of the system K. By means of the first equation of the Lorentz transformation the values of these

time

/

=

two points

at the

can be shown to be

•^(beginning of rod)

-V'-T^

^(endofrod)=l'

W

i

_

-i_

from the equations of transformation, for the magnitudes x, y, z, t are nothing more nor less than the results of measurements obtainable by means of measuring-rods and clocks. If we had based our considerations on the Galilei transformation we should not have obtained a contraction of the rod as a consequence of its motion. Let us now consider a seconds-clock which is permanently situated at the origin (jc' = 0) of /C'. r' = and /' = 1 are two successive ticks of this clock. The first and fourth equations of the Lorentz transformation give for these two ticks: /

=

and

the distance between the points being

v^

VH But the metre-rod ity

V relative to

K.

It

therefore follows

that the length of a rigid metre-rod in the directio n

V

is

of

As judged from K,

moving with the veloc-

is

its

moving

length with a velocity

Vl — v^/c^ of a metre. The rigid rod is when in motion than when at

thus shorter

with the velocity

tween two strokes of the clock

second, but

,2

and the more quickly it is moving, the shorter is the rod. For the velocity v = c

we should have

\/

1

— v^/c^ =

0,

and

From

imaginary. in the

this

for

still

becomes

we conclude

that

theory of relativity the velocity c

the clock

moving

is

as judged from this ref-

erence-body, the time which elapses beis

not one

seconds,

i.e.,

a

V

rest,

greater velocities the square root

v;

larger time. As a consequence of motion the clock goes more slowly than

somewhat its

when

at rest.

Here

also the velocity c plays

the part of an unattainable limiting velocity.

plays the part of a limiting velocity, which

can neither be reached nor exceeded by any real body. Of course this feature of the velocity c

THEOREM OF THE ADDITION OF VELOCITIES. THE EXPERIMENT OF FIZEAU

as a limiting velocity also clearly follows

from the equations of the Lorentz transformation, for these if

become meaningless

we choose values of v greater than c. If, on the contrary, we had considered

a metre-rod at rest in the jf-axis with respect to K, then we should have found that the

can move NOWmeasuring-rodswe only with in practice

that are small

hence

we

of

siderations.

as being very singular,

A

we must be

to

light;

compare the

velocities

compared with the velocity

would have been Vl - v^ / c^; this is quite in accordance with the principle of relativity which forms the basis of our conlength of the rod as judged from K'

clocks and

shall

hardly be able

results of the previous sec-

tion directly with the reality. But,

on the

other hand, these results must strike you

and for that reason

now draw

able to learn something about the physical

another conclusion from the theory, one which can easily be derived

behavior

from

priori

it is

of

quite clear that

measuring-rods

440

and clocks

I

shall

the

foregoing

considerations,

and

Albert Einstein

which has been most elegantly confirmed by experiment. In Section VI we derived the theorem of the addition of velocities in one direction in the form which also results from the hy-

travel in the direction of the

potheses of classical mechanics. This the-

flowing through the tube with a velocity v?

orem can

also be

place of the riage,

we

man

(Section

XI).

By means of

the

it

In accordance with the principle of rela-

we shall certainly have to take for granted that the propagation of light always tivity

In

w

takes place with the same velocity

introduce a point moving rela-

x'

quickly does

arrow in the tube T (see the accompanying diagram, Fig. 3) when the liquid above mentioned is

walking inside the car-

tively to the co-ordinate system K' accordance with the equation

How

particular velocity w.

deduced readily from the

transformation

Galilei

Light travels in a motionless liquid with a

with

respect to the liquid, whether the latter

in

motion with reference

in

The

not.

=wt'

is

to other bodies or

velocity of light relative to the

and the velocity of the latter relative the tube are thus known, and we require

liquid

and fourth equations we can exterms of x and /, and we

first

of the Galilei transformation

to

press x' and

the velocity of light relative to the tube.

/'

in

It is

then obtain

Section

x = (v + w)t.

clear that

VI

we have

This equation expresses nothing else than the law of motion of the point with refer-

ence to the system K (of the man with erence to the embankment). We denote velocity

the problem of

again before us.

The tube

plays

r

ref-

this

by the symbol W, and we then

Fig. 3

obtain, as in Section VI,

relativity. In the

we must /,

plays the part of the carriage or of the co-

equation

= wt'

plays the part of the carriage, or of the

then express x' and t' in terms of making use of the first and fourth

ent section. If

we

is

then obtain

which corresponds

theorem of addione direction accord-

to the

ing to the theory of relativity.

now

arises as to

rems

is

On

we

The question

are enlightened by a

important experiment which the

most

brilliant

performed more than and which has been repeated since then by some of the best experimental physicists, so that there can be no doubt about its result. The experiment is concerned with the following question. physicist

moving point

we denote

along the

in the pres-

the velocity of

W, then

this

as

the Galilei transformation or the

which of these two theo-

the better in accord with experience.

this point

finally, the light

Lorentz transformation corresponds to the facts. Experiment^ decides in favor of equation (B) derived from the theory of relativity, and the agreement is, indeed, very exact. According to recent and most excellent measurements by Zeeman, the influence of the velocity of flow v on the

•(B),

tion for velocities in

and

man walking

given by the equation (A) or (B), accord-

ing

the equation

w

,

the light relative to the tube by

equations of the Lorentz transformation. Instead of the equation (A)

embankment or

railway

of the co-ordinate system K, the liquid ordinate system K'

x'

X and

part of the

the

W=v+w (A). But we can carry out this consideration just as well on the basis of the theory of

1

Fizeau is

...(,-i,) II W ^w-^v ^|. where

found

the index of refraction of the liquid.

hand, owing to the smallness of

—

On as

"

=

—

the other

compared

Fizeau

half a century ago,

with

1,

we can

W = (w +

I

)|

1

-

replace (B)

—I

proximation by » +

,

i

in

the

first

place by

or to the same order of apll

^1.

which agrees with

Fizeau's result.

441

RELATIVITY propagation

of

light

is

represented

by

law of exactly the same form when, instead x, y, z, t of the original co-ordinate system K, we introduce

formula (B) to within one per cent. Nevertheless we must now draw attention to the fact that a theory of this phenomenon was given by H. A. Lorentz long be-

of the space-time variables

fore the statement of the theory of relativity. This theory was of a purely electro-

tion the relation

new space-time

variables x'

,

y'

,

z'

t'

,

of

a co-ordinate system K'. In this connec-

between the ordinary and is given by the Lorentz transformation. Or, in brief: Gen-

the accented magnitudes

dynamical nature, and was obtained by the use of particular hypotheses as to the electromagnetic structure of matter. This cir-

eral

cumstance, however, does not in the least diminish the conclusiveness of the experiment as a crucial test in favor of the the-

that the theory of relativity

ory of relativity, for the electrodynamics of

ory becomes a valuable heuristic aid

Maxwell-Lorentz, on which the original theory was based, in no way opposes the theory of relativity. Rather has the latter been developed from electrodynamics as an

search for general laws of nature. If a gen-

astoundingly simple combination and generalization of the hypotheses, formerly in-

dependent of each other, on which electrodynamics was built.

This

Our

pages can be epitomized in the

fol-

eral

law of nature were

demands of

a

in the

be found which

to

one of the two fundamental assumptions of the theory would have been disproved. Let us now examine what general results the latter theory has hitherto evinced.

XV GENERAL RESULTS OF THE THEORY

It

is

clear from our previous considera-

tions

lowing manner. Experience has led to the

and

ciably

that the (special) theory

optics. In these fields

altered

ciple of relativity holds true,

but

the other

oretical

it

o^

rel-

has grown out of electrodynamics

ativity

conviction that, on the one hand, the prin-

and that on hand the velocity of transmission of light in vacuo has to be considered equal to a constant c. By uniting these two postulates we obtained the law of transformation for the rectangular co-ordinates x, y, z and the time t of the events which constitute

a definite mathematical condition

did not satisfy this condition, then at least

THE HEURISTIC VALUE OF THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY thought in the foregoing

is

natural law, and in virtue of this, the the-

XIV

train of

laws of nature are co-variant with

respect to Lorentz transformations.

the

it

has not appre-

predictions of theory,

has considerably simplified the thestructure,

laws, and — what

i.e.,

the derivation of

incomparably more important—it has considerably reduced the number of independent hypotheses formis

ing the basis of theory.

The

special theory

of relativity has rendered the Maxwell-

the processes of nature. In this connection

Lorentz theory so plausible, that the

we

would have been generally accepted by physicists even if experiment had decided

did not obtain the Galilei transforma-

tion, but, differing ics,

from

classical

mechan-

the Lorentz transformation.

The law of transmission of

light,

less unequivocally in

the ac-

ceptance of which is justified by our actual knowledge, played an important part in this process of thought. Once in possession of the Lorentz transformation, however, we can combine this with the principle of relativity, and sum up the theory thus: Every general law*of nature must be so constituted that it is transformed into a

442

its

favor.

Classical mechanics required to be ified

before

it

could

latter

come

mod-

into line with the

demands of the special theory of relativity. For the main part, however, this modification affects only the laws for rapid motions, in

which the

velocities of matter v

are not very small as velocity of light.

We

compared with the have experience of

such rapid motions only

in

the case of

Albert Einstein electrons and ions; for other motions the variations from the laws of classical

about, and what meaning to

is

to

be attached

it.

The

make themselves

chanics are too small to

We

me-

principle of relativity requires that

not consider

the law of the conservation of energy should

the motion of stars until we come to speak of the general theory of relativity. In accordance with the theory of relativity the

dinate system K, but also with respect to

evident in practice.

shall

mass no longer given by the well-known ex-

kinetic energy of a material point of

m

is

pression

m

hold not only with reference to a co-or-

every co-ordinate system K' which

—

transformation

2

transition

is

the deciding factor in the

from one such system

to another.

conclusion from these premises,

v^ must therefore always rehowever great may be the energies used to produce the acceleration. If

velocity

less than c,

we develop

energy

in the

mc^

form of a

+m—-H

—

is

m 8

ation without suffering an alteration in velocity in the process, has, as a

consequence,

energy increased by an amount

its

small

series,

—

we

V'

compared with

in

Eo

+ ••••

is

unity,

always small

comparison with the second, which alone considered

obtain

c2

the third of these terms

The

A body moving with the velocity v, which absorbs^ an amount of energy Eq in the form of radi-

the expression for the kinetic

2

When

con-

the electrodynamics of Maxwell: infinity as the

velocity v approaches the velocity of light

The

in

junction with the fundamental equations of

This expression approaches

main

a

By means of comparatively simple considerations we are led to draw the following

but by the expression

c.

is in

uniform motion of translation relative to K, or, briefly, relative to every "Galileian" system of co-ordinates. In contrast to classical mechanics, the Lorentz state of

classical

In consideration of the expression given

in

last is

mechanics.

term mc^ does not contain the velocity, and requires no consideration if

above for the kinetic energy of the body, the required energy of the body comes out be

to

first

C2 C2

we are only dealing with the question as to how the energy of a point-mass depends on the velocity.

We

shall

speak of its essential

significance later.

The most important

result of a general

character to which the special theory of

concerned with the conception of mass. Before the advent of relativity, physics recognized two conservation laws of fundamental importance, namely, the law of the conservation of energy and the law of the conservation of mass; these two fundamental laws appeared to be quite independent of each other. By means of the theory of relativity they have been united into one law. We shall now relativity

has led

Thus

consider

how

this unification

came

body has the same energy as a

body of mass

is

L^j

^ E^\ moving with the ve-

V. Hence we can say: If a body takes up an amount of energy Eq, then its iner-

locity

tial

mass increases by an amount —r

inertial

mass of a body

is

;

the

not a constant,

but varies according to the change in the

energy of the body. The inertial mass of a system of bodies can even be regarded as a I

briefly

the

is the energy taken up, as judged from a co-ordinate system moving with the body.

£„

443

:

RELATIVITY measure of

its

energy.

The law of

XVI

the con-

EXPERIENCE AND THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

mass of a system becomes

servation of the

law of the conservation only valid provided that the system neither takes up nor sends out energy. Writing the expression for the enidentical with the

of energy, and

is

TO what

This question

ergy in the form

is the special theory of supported by experience?

extent

relativity is

not easily answered for the

reason already mentioned

connection

in

with the fundamental experiment of Fizeau.

The

V

1

-—

from the Maxwell-Lorentz theory of electromagnetic phenomena. Thus all

we

special theory of relativity has crys-

tallized out

see that the term mc^, which has hither-

facts of experience

electromagnetic

support the

As being

of particular

our attention, is nothing else than the energy possessed by the body^ before it absorbed the energy Eq. A direct comparison of this relation with

theory of relativity.

experiment

ing us

to attracted

time,

is

owing

not possible at the present

to the fact that the

changes

in

energy Eq to which we can subject a system are not large enough to make themselves perceptible as a change in the inertial

in

mass of the system. _^

is

too small

comparison with the mass m, which was

present before the alteration of the energy.

owing to this circumstance that classical mechanics was able to establish successfully the conservation of mass as a law of independent validity. Let me add a final remark of a fundamental nature. The success of the FaradayMaxwell interpretation of electromagnetic

importance,

I

which support the

theory also

mention here the fact that

the theory of relativity enables us to pre-

produced on the light reachfrom the fixed stars. These results are obtained in an exceedingly simple manner, and the effects indicated, which are due to the relative motion of the earth with reference to those fixed stars, are found to be dict the effects

in

accord with experience.

yearly

movement of

We

refer to the

the apparent position

of the fixed stars resulting from the motion of the earth round the sun (aberration), and

It is

action at a distance resulted in physicists

becoming convinced

that there are

no such

things as instantaneous actions at a dis-

tance (not involving an intermediary medium) of the type of Newton's law of gravitation. According to the theory of relativity, action at a distance with the velocity of light always takes the place of instantaneous action at a distance or of action at a distance with an infinite velocity of transmission. This is connected with the fact that the velocity c plays a

role in this theory. In Part II in

what way

in the

2

this result

fundamental

we

shall see

becomes modified

general theory of relativity.

As judged from a

co-ordinate system moving with

the body.

444

to the influence of the radial

components of

the relative motions of the fixed stars with

respect to the earth on the color of the light

reaching us from them.

The

latter ef-

fect manifests itself in a slight displacement

of the spectral lines of the light transmitted to us from a fixed star, as compared with the position of the

same

spectral lines

when

they are produced by a terrestrial source of

(Doppler principle). The experimental arguments in favor of the Maxwell-Lorentz theory, which are at the same time arguments in favor of the theory of relativity, are too numerous to be set forth here. In light

reality they limit the theoretical possibilities to

such an extent, that no other theory and Lorentz has

than that of Maxwell

been able

to hold

its

own when

tested

by

experience.

But there are two classes of experimental which can be represented in the Maxwell-Lorentz theory only by the introduction of an auxiliary hypothesis, which in itself- i.e., without making use facts hitherto obtained

Albert Einstein theory of relativity — appears ex-

of the

known

It is

and the soby radioactive sub-

that cathode rays

called ^-rays emitted

stances

and the behavior of the electron. rived

traneous.

consist

of negatively

electrified

XIII

a similar conclusion in

at

are faced with the difficulty that

electrodynamic theory of

itself is

unable to

experiments.

We

V

that

in Section

all

attempts of this nature

led to a negative result. Before the theory

of relativity was put forward,

electrical

cult to

repulsions, unless there are forces of another kind operating

between them, the nature

of which has hitherto remained obscure to us.^ If

we now assume

that the relative dis-

tances between the electrical masses conthe

stituting

electron

remain unchanged

during the motion of the electron (rigid con-

in terrestrial

have already remarked

give an account of their nature.

For since masses of one sign repel each other, the negative electrical masses constituting the electron would necessarily be scattered under the influence of their mutual

by

The second class of facts to which we have alluded has reference to the question whether or not the motion of the earth in space can be made perceptible

we

foretold

of drawing on hypotheses as to the

sity

physical nature of the liquid.

trons,

is

the theory of relativity without the neces-

and large velocity. By examining the deflection of these rays under the influence of electric and magnetic fields, we can study the law of motion of these particles very In the theoretical treatment of these elec-

ar-

connection with the experiment of

in

Fizeau, the result of which

particles (electrons) of very small inertia

exactly.

We

Section

become reconciled

result, for

reasons

it

was

diffi-

to this negative

now to be

discussed.

The

inherited prejudices about time and space

did not allow any doubt to arise as to the prime importance of the Galilei transformation for changing over from one body of

reference to another.

Now

assuming that

the Maxwell-Lorentz equations hold for a

reference-body K,

we

then find that they

do not hold for a reference-body K' moving uniformly with respect to K, if we assume

nection in the sense of classical mechanics),

that the relations of the Galileian transfor-

we

mation exist between the co-ordinates of K and K'. It thus appears that of all Galileian co-ordinate systems one (K) corresponding to a particular state of motion is physically unique. This result was inter-

arrive at a law of

motion of the electron

which does not agree with experience. Guided by purely formal points of view, H. A. Lorentz was the first to introduce the hypothesis that the particles constituting

K

the electron experience a contraction in the

preted physically by regarding

direction of motion in consequence of that

with respect to a hypothetical aether of

motion,

being

k

\

the

amount of

proportional

--^-

to

this

the

contraction

expression

This hypothesis, which

is

not

space.

On

the other hand,

all

as at rest

co-ordinate

systems K' moving relatively to K were to be regarded as in motion with respect to the aether. To this motion of K' against the aether ("aether-drift" relative to K') were

justifiable

by any electrodynamical

facts.

suppHes us then with that particular law of motion which has been confirmed with

leads to the

same

law of motion, without requiring any special hypothesis whatsoever as to the structure

1

were supposed ly

to hold relative to

K'

.

Strict-

speaking, such an aether-drift ought also

to be

great precision in recent years.

The theory of relativity

assigned the more complicated laws which

assumed

relative to the earth,

a long time the

devoted

eff"orts

and for

of physicists were

to attempts to detect the existence

of an aether-drift at the earth's surface.

The general theory of relativity renders it likely that the electrical masses of an electron are held together

In one of the most notable of these attempts Michelson devised a method which appears as though it must be decisive. Imagine two mirrors so arranged on a rigid

by gravitational

body

forces.

that the reflecting surfaces face each

445

RELATIVITY

A

Other.

ray of light requires a perfectly

T

from one mirror to the other and back again, if the whole system be at rest with respect to the aether. It is found by calculation, however, that a definite time

to pass

slightly different time T'

process,

required for this

the body, together with the mir-

be moving relatively to the aether.

rors,

And

if

is

yet another point:

it

is

shown by

cal-

theory from this difficulty by assuming that the motion of the

body

relative to the aether

produces a contraction of the body tion being just

the

difference

time mentioned above.

in

Comparison with the discussion in Section XII shows that also from the standpoint of the theory of relativity this solution of

culation that for a given velocity v with ref-

the difficulty

erence to the aether, this time T' is different when the body is moving perpendicularly to

basis of the theory of relativity the

the planes of the mirrors

when

the motion

is

from that resulting

parallel to these planes.

Although the estimated difference between two times is exceedingly small, Michelson and Morley performed an experiment involving interference in which this difference should have been clearly dethese

in the

amount of contracsufficient to compensate for

direction of motion, the

was the

right one.

But on the

method

incomparably more satisfactory. According to this theory there is no such thing as a "specially favored" (unique) co-ordinate system to occasion

of interpretation

is

tectable.

introduction of the aether-idea, and hence there can be no aether-drift, nor any experiment with which to demonstrate it. Here the contraction of moving bodies follows from the two fundamental principles

tive result

of the theory without the introduction of

icists.

But the experiment gave a nega— a fact very perplexing to physLorentz and FitzGerald rescued the

the

particular

hypotheses; and as the prime

factor involved in this contraction

MICHELSON-MORLEY EXPERIMENT

A beam of light is divided by a half-silvered mirror A which transmits one part to the mirror B and reflects

the other perpendicularly to the mirror C. Both beams are reflected back to a detecting apparatus D. According to classical physics, if the line LB is in the direction of the earth's motion, the time necessary for a beam to traverse the path

LBAD

find,

to

itself,

Thus

the particular case in point.

for a co-

ordinate system moving with the eart;h the

mirror system of Michelson and Morley not shortened, but

should be greater than for LAC D. The experiment revealed that both beams take exactly the same time

we

which we cannot attach any meaning, but the motion with respect to the body of reference chosen in not the motion in

it is

ordinate system which

is

shortened for a cois

at rest relatively

to the sun.

XVII

MINKOWSKI'S FOURDIMENSIONAL SPACE c

The

/

non-mathematician

mysterious shuddering

is

seized by a

when he

hears

of "four-dimensional" things, by a feeling not unlike that awakened by thoughts of the occult.

U-J>

And

yet there

is

no more common-

place statement than that the world in which

we

live

is

a four-dimensional space-time

continuum.

Space

By

this

is

a three-dimensional continuum.

we mean

that

it

is

possible to de-

scribe the position of a point (at rest)

means of three numbers

-----. 446

J, z,

and that there

is

by

(co-ordinates) x,

an indefinite number

Albert Einstein

Moreover, according

to this equation the

of points in the neighborhood of this one, the position of which can be described by

time difference Ar' of two events with re-

co-ordinates such as x^, y^, z^, which may be as near as we choose to the respective

when

spect to K' does not in general vanish, even the time difference Ar of the

values of the co-ordinates x, y, z of the first point. In virtue of the latter property we

events with reference to

speak of a "continuum," and owing to the

to

fact that there are three co-ordinates

speak of

it

we

as being "three-dimensional."

ena which was

world of physical phenombriefly called "world" by

Minkowski

naturally

Similarly, the

in the

is

is

de-

namely, three

x, y, z

many "neighboring" we

events (realized or at least thinkable) as care to choose, the co-ordinates

jc^,

y^,

of which differ by an indefinitely small

amount from those of

the event x, y,

z, t

we have

not

considered. That

originally

been accustomed

to regard the

world

in this

sense as a four-dimensional continuum

is

due to the fact that in physics, before the advent of the theory of relativity, time played a different and more independent role, as compared with the space co-ordinates. It is for this reason that we have been in the habit of treating time as an independent continuum. As a matter of fact, according to classical mechanics, time is absolute, i.e., it is independent of the position and the condition of motion of the system of coordinates. We see this expressed in the last equation of the Galileian transformation {t'=t).

The four-dimensional mode of ation of the "world"

ory of

is

natural

consider-

on the

the-

according to this the-

relativity, since

ory time is

is

robbed of its independence. This

shown by

the fourth equation of the

Lorentz transformation:

results in "time-distance" of the

for the formal

development of the theory of lie here. It is to be found

does not

relativity,

the theory of relativity, in

lationship

essential

to

re-

three-dimensional con-

the

tinuum of Euclidean geometrical space. In order to give due prominence to this relationship, however, we must replace the usual time co-ordinate / by an imaginary magnitude V- 1-cr proportional to it. Under these conditions, the natural laws satisfying the demands of the (special) theory of relativity assume mathematical forms, in

which the time co-ordinate plays exactly same role as the three space co-ordi-

the

Formally, these four co-ordinates

nates.

correspond exactly to the three space coordinates in Euclidean geometry. It must be clear even to the non-mathematician

consequence of this purely formal

that, as a

addition to our knowledge, the theory perforce gained clearness in no

mean measure.

These inadequate remarks can give the reader only a vague notion of the important idea contributed by Minkowski. Without

it

the general theory of relativity, of which

the fundamental ideas are developed in the following pages, would perhaps have got no farther than

work

is

its

long clothes. Minkowski's

doubtless

difficult

one

inexperienced

since

it is

of access to any-

mathematics,

but not necessary to have a very exact in

grasp of this work in order to understand the fundamental ideas of either the special or the general theory of relativity, I shall

it

V

most

its

formal properties, shows a pronounced

at present leave

1

same

.

rather in the fact of his recognition that the

and a time coordinate, the time-value t. The "world" is in this sense also a continuum; for to every

Zj, t^

K

events with respect to K' But the discovery of Minkowski, which was of importance

four-dimensional space-time continuum of

scribed by four numbers,

as

"space-distance" of two events with respect

composed

it is

of individual events, each of which

event there are

same

vanishes. Pure

four-dimensional

space-time sense. For

space co-ordinates

K

1

it

here, and shall revert to

only towards the end of Part Cf. the

pendix

somewhat more

II.

detailed discussion in

II.

447

Ap-

PART

II

THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY we

XVIII

principle rather asserts

SPECIAL AND GENERAL PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY

formulate the general laws of nature as they are obtained from experience, by making

what follows:

If

use of

The basal principle, which was the pivot

our previous considerations, was the special principle of relativity, i.e., the principle of the physical relativity of all uniform motion. Let us once more analyze its of

all

meaning carefully. It

was

from the conveys to us,

at all times clear that,

point of view of the idea

it

embankment

as reference-body,

{a)

the

(b)

the railway carriage as reference-

body, then these general laws of nature

{e.g.,

the

laws of mechanics or the law of the propagation of light in vacuo) have exactly the same form in both cases. This can also be expressed as follows: For the physical de-

every motion must only be considered as

scription of natural processes, neither of

a relative motion. Returning to the illustra-

the reference-bodies K, K'

tion

we have

frequently used of the em-

bankment and the railway

carriage,

we can

"specially

marked out")

the other. Unlike the

as

is

unique

first, this latter

express the fact of the motion here taking

ment need not of necessity hold a

place in the following two forms, both of

is

which are equally justifiable: The carriage is in motion relative to (a) the embankment. {b) The embankment is in motion relative to the carriage.

In (a) the embankment, in (b) the carriage, serves as the

body of reference

in

our

statement of the motion taking place. If it is simply a question of detecting or of describing the motion involved,

it is

in prin-

state-

priori;

it

not contained in the conceptions of "mo-

tion" and "reference-body" and derivable from them; only experience can decide as to

its

correctness or incorrectness.

Up

to the present, however, we have by no means maintained the equivalence of all

bodies of reference

K

in

connection with

Our course was more on the following lines. In the first place, we started out from the assumption that there exists a reference-body K, whose the formulation of natural laws.

ciple immaterial to

what reference-body we

condition of motion

refer the motion.

As

ian law holds with respect to

already mentioned,

(lit.

compared with

is

such that the Galileit:

A

particle

removed

must not be confused with the much more comprehensive

left

statement called "the principle of relativ-

a straight

ity," which we have taken as the basis of our investigations.

were be as simple as possible. But in addition to K, all bodies of reference K' should be given preference in this sense, and they should be exactly equivalent to K for the

this is self-evident,

The

principle

but

it

we have made use of not we may equally well

only maintains that

choose the carriage or the embankment as our reference-body for the description of

any event

(for this, too, is self-evident).

448

Our

to itself

from

all

and

sufficiently far

other particles line.

moves uniformly

With reference

to

in

K (Galile-

ian reference-body) the laws of nature to

formulation of natural laws, provided that they are in a state of uniform rectilinear and

non-rotary motion with respect to K;

all

these bodies of reference are to be regarded as Galileian reference-bodies.

of the principle of relativity

The vaHdity was assumed

only for these reference-bodies, but not for others

(e.g.,

those possessing motion of a

different kind). In this sense

we speak

of

"general

we wish

principle

ies relative to the

riage.

is

mani-

person

in the railway car-

The mechanical behavior

is

different

to understand

carriage, as hold with reference to the car-

riage

erence K, K',

all

are equivalent for the

phenomena

description of natural

The retarded motion

fested in the mechanical behavior of bod-

the following statement: All bodies of refetc.,

powerful

correspondingly

a

of relativity"

theory of relativity. In contrast to this

experiences

jerk forwards.

from that of the case previously considered, and for this reason it would appear to be impossible that the same mechanical laws hold relatively to the non-uniformly moving

the special principle of relativity, or special

by the

brakes, then the occupant of the carriage

(formula-

when

events

at rest or in

it is

uniform motion. At

clear that the Galileian law

does not hold with respect to the non-uni-

whatever may be their state of motion. But before proceeding farther, it ought to be pointed out that this formulation must be replaced later by a more abstract one, for reasons which will become evident at a later

formly moving carriage. Because of

stage.

sion cannot be maintained.

tion of the general laws of nature),

we

compelled

feel

this,

at the present juncture

to grant a kind of absolute physical reality to

non-uniform motion,

in opposition to the

general principle of relativity. But in what follows

we

shall

soon see that

this

conclu-

Since the introduction of the special principle of relativity has intellect

must

which

feel the

been

justified,

every

XIX

strives after generalization

THE GRAVITATIONAL FIELD

temptation to venture the step

towards the general principle of relativity. But a simple and apparently quite reliable consideration seems to suggest that, for the

present at any rate, there

is little

hope of

success in such an attempt. Let us imagine

we

If why

pick up a stone and then let it go, does it fall to the ground?" The

usual answer to this question

is: "Because by the earth." Modern physformulates the answer rather differently

it is

attracted

ourselves transferred to our old friend the

ics

railway carriage, which is travelling at a uniform rate. As long as it is moving uniformly, the occupant of the carriage is not sensible of its motion, and it is for this reason that he can without reluctance interpret the facts

for the following reason.

of the case as indicating that the carriage

dium.

is

at rest,

but the

embankment

Moreover, according ciple

of relativity,

quite justified also

in motion.

to the special prin-

this

interpretation

is

from a physical point of

view.

motion of the carriage is now non-uniform motion, as for instance by a powerful application of the If

the

changed

into a

As

a result of the

more careful study of electromagnetic phenomena, we have come to regard action at a distance as a process impossible without the intervention of If,

some intermediary me-

for instance, a

piece of iron,

magnet

we cannot be

attracts a

content to re-

meaning that the magnet acts on the iron through the intermediate empty space, but we are constrained to imagine — after the manner of Faraday — that the magnet always calls

gard

this as

directly

into being

something physically real in the it, that something being what

space around

449

RELATIVITY we

a "magnetic field." In

call

magnetic

field

so that the latter strives to

We

the magnet.

its

We

is

indeed a somewhat arbitrary one.

mention that with

shall only

aid elec-

its

much more

than without

and

electromagnetic

of

waves. The effects of gravitation also are regarded

The

in

gravitation

we

The

earth produces in

surroundings a gravitational

field,

then have (Force)

=

(gravitational mass) x (intensity

of the gravitational

field),

where the "gravitational mass"

is likewise a characteristic constant for the body. From

these two relations follows:

according to a quite definite law, as

The law governing

we

pro-

the properties of the

must be a

per-

fectly definite one, in order correctly to rep-

resent the diminution of gravitational ac-

from operative bod-

tion with the distance

something like this: The body {e.g., the earth) produces a field in its immediate neighborhood directly; the intensity and direction of the field at points farther removed from the body are thence determined by the law which governs the properties in space of the gravitational fields ies. It is

themselves. In contrast to electric and magnetic fields, the gravitational field exhibits a

most

re-

markable property, which is of fundamental importance for what follows. Bodies which

moving under the

fall

in exactly the

when they

start off

from

rest or with the

same initial velocity. This law, which holds most accurately, can be expressed in a difform

in

the light of the following

field).

find

to

gravitational

to

its

inertial

It

is

mass of a body

is

equal

mass.

true that this important law had

been recorded in mechanics, but it had not been interpreted. A satisfactory interpretation can be obtained only if we rechitherto

ognize the following

fact:

of a body manifests

itself

The same

quality

according to

cir-

cumstances as "inertia" or as "weight"

(lit.

"heaviness"). In the following section

we

shall

show

the case,

to

what extent

and how

this

this is actually

question

is

connected

with the general postulate of relativity.

XX THE EQUALITY OF INERTIAL AND GRAVITATIONAL MASS AS AN ARGUMENT FOR THE GENERAL POSTULATE OF RELATIVITY

same

vacuo),

is

The

which does not in the least depend either on the material or on the physical state of the body. For instance, a piece of lead and

wood

now, as we

^ (intensity of

mass)

from experience, the be independent of the nature and the condition of the body and always the same for a given gravitational field, then the ratio of the gravitational to the inertial mass must likewise be the same for all bodies. By a suitable choice of units we can thus make this ratio equal to unity. We then have the following law: If

acceleration

sole influence of a

in a gravitational field {in

(gravitational mass)

the gravitational

gravitational field receive an acceleration,

a piece of

=

which motion

ceed farther and farther away from the earth. From our point of view this means: gravitational field in space

(acceleration)

(inertial

on the stone and produces its As we know from experience, the intensity of the action on a body diminishes acts

ferent

now

the cause of the acceleration,

its

of fall.

manner

is

an analogous manner.

action of the earth on the stone takes

place indirectly.

are

"inertial

constant of the accelerated body. If

satisfactorily

this applies particularly

transmission

the

to

it,

= (inertial mass) x (acceleration), mass" is a characteristic

(Force)

where the

tromagnetic phenomena can be theoretically represented

Newton's law of motion,

to

we have

move towards

shall not discuss here the

justification for this incidental conception,

which

According

turn this

operates on the piece of iron,

We

imagine a large portion of empty space, so far

removed from

other appreciable masses that fore

stars

and

we have

be-

us approximately the conditions re-

quired by the fundamental law of Galilei.

consideration.

450

Albert Einstein

An

a uniformly accelerating chest moving upward through empty space will and will observe that a ball released from his hands approaches the floor with an accelerated motion, as though drawn by the force of gravity. He will conclude that he and the chest are at rest in a gravitational field. To an outside, stationary observer, the ball would seem to continue to move upward at the speed of the chest at the moment of release, while the floor of the chest, accelerating, overtakes it

observer standing

in

feel pressure on his feet,

relative to

The chest together move "upwards" with a uniformly accelerated mo-

rest

tion.

It is

then possible to choose a GaHleian

erence-body for

ref-

space (world),

this part of

which points at rest remain at and points in motion continue permanently in uniform rectilinear motion. As

with a constant force.

with the observer then begin to

In course of time their velocity will

reach

values — provided

unheard-of

let

us imagine a spacious

we

chest resembling a

room with an observer

erence-body which

reference-body inside

who

is

equipped with apparatus.

He must

fasten himself with

strings to the floor, otherwise the slightest

is

But how does the man the process? will

The

fixed externally a

lid

of the chest

is

hook with rope attached,

if

in the

chest regard

be transmitted to him by the reaction

take up this pressure by

the middle of the

ref-

acceleration of the chest

slowly towards the ceiling of the room.

will

that

from another

not being pulled with

of the floor of the chest.

To

he does not wish to be

on the

floor.

He

and now a "being" (what kind of a being

in

exactly the

immaterial to us) begins pulling at this

in

a

is

this

cause him to

impact against the floor rise

all

a rope.

Gravitation naturally does not exist for this observer.

are viewing

room of

is

He must laid

out

then standing

same way

therefore

means of

as

his legs

full

length

in the

chest

anyone stands

a house on our earth. If he re-

451

RELATIVITY body which he previously had

lease a

in his

experience

supposing

in

body to be "at rest." Suppose that the man

reason the body will approach the floor of the chest with an accelerated relative motion. The observer will further convince

a rope to the inner side of the

this

himself that the acceleration of the body towards the floor of the chest is always of the same magnitude, whatever kind of body

he

may happen

to use for the experiment.

Relying on his knowledge of the graviit was discussed in the pre-

reference-

his

hand, the acceleration of the chest will no longer be transmitted to this body, and for

in the

chest fixes

lid,

and that

he attaches a body to the free end of the rope. The result of this will be to stretch the rope so that

downwards.

If

it

we

cause of tension

will

hang "vertically"

ask for an opinion of the in the rope, the

man

in

"The suspended body experiences a downward force in the gravthe chest will say:

and

this is neutralized

by the

tational field (as

itational field,

ceding section), the man in the chest will thus come to the conclusion that he and the

tension of the rope; what determines the

chest are in a gravitational field which

is

Of course he

constant with regard to time.

be puzzled for a moment as to why the chest does not fall in this gravitational field. Just then, however, he discovers the hook in the middle of the lid of the chest and the rope which is attached to it, and he consewill

comes

quently chest

to the conclusion that the

suspended

is

at rest in the gravita-

tional field.

Ought we

to smile at the

man and

that he errs in his conclusion?

we ought to if we wish to we must rather admit that

lieve

sistent;

say

do not beremain con-

I

his

mode

of grasping the situation violates neither

reason nor

known mechanical

though

being accelerated with respect

it

is

Even

to the

body attached just large

the rope

is

the inertial

Guided by

We

have thus good grounds for

extending the principle of relativity to

in-

tension of

we

the body."

see that our

extension of the principle of relativity im-

law of the equality and gravitational mass. Thus we

plies the necessity of the

of

inertial

have obtained a physical interpretation of this law.

From our

ing at rest.

The

mass of

example,

this

erated chest

first

it.

enough to effect the acceleration of the body. That which determines the magnitude of the tension of is

considered,

space"

to

the rope

nevertheless regard the chest as be-

to the "Galileian

we can

laws.

magnitude of the tension of the rope is the gravitational mass of the suspended body." On the other hand, an observer who is poised freely in space will interpret the condition of things thus: "The rope must perforce take part in the accelerated motion of the chest, and it transmits this motion

consideration of the accel-

we

see that a general theory

of relativity must yield important results on the laws of gravitation. In point of fact, the

clude bodies of reference which are accel-

systematic pursuit of the general idea of

erated with respect to each other, and as a

relativity has supplied the

result

we have

gained a powerful argument

for a generalized postulate of relativity.

We bility

farther,

must note carefully that the possi-

mode

of this

of interpretation rests

on the fundamental property of the gravitational

same same

field

of

giving

acceleration, or, thing,

all

bodies

what comes

the

to the

on the law of the equality of

and gravitational mass. If this natlaw did not exist, the man in the accel-

inertial

ural

erated chest would not be able to interpret the behavior of the bodies around

him on

the supposition of a gravitational field, and

he would not be justified on the grounds of

452

the gravitational

field.

however,

I

laws satisfied by

Before proceeding

must warn the reader

against a misconception suggested by these

considerations. for the

man

that there

A

gravitational field exists

in the chest, despite the fact

is

no such

field for

the co-or-

Now we

might suppose that the existence of a gravitational field is always only an apparent one. We might also think that, regardless of the kind of gravitational field which may be present, we could always choose another reference-body such that no gravitational field exists with reference to it. This is by dinate system easily

first

chosen.

Albert Einstein

no means true for

gravitational fields,

all

but only for those of quite special form. It is, for instance, impossible to choose a

body of reference such

judged from

we

relativity

therefore

K

differentiate

be-

the gravitational field of the earth (in

tween reference-bodies

entirety) vanishes.

the recognized "laws of nature" can be said

it,

its

that, as

each other. Relative to other referencebodies K the law is not valid. Both in classical mechanics and in the special theory of

We ment

can

now

not convincing,

is

why that arguwhich we brought

appreciate

forward against the general principle of relativity at the end of Section XVIII. It is certainly true that the observer in the railway carriage experiences a jerk forwards as a result of the application of the brake, and that he recognizes in this the non-uniformity of motion (retardation) of the carriage. But he is compelled by no-

body

to refer this jerk to a "real" accel-

eration

(retardation)

He

of the carriage.

relative to

which

hold, and reference-bodies K relative which these laws do not hold. But no person whose mode of thought is logical can rest satisfied with this condition of things. He asks: "How does it come to to

that certain reference-bodies (or their states

of motion) are given priority over other reference-bodies (or their states of motion)?

What is the reason for this preference? In order to show clearly what I mean by this question, I

am

I

shall

make use of a comparison.

standing in front of a gas range.

might also interpret his experience thus:

Standing alongside of each other on the

"My body

range are two pans so

of reference (the carriage) re-

mains permanently at rest. With reference to it, however, there exists (during the period of application of the brakes) a gravitational

field

and which

is

which

is

directed forwards

variable with respect to time.

Under the influence of this field, the embankment together with the earth moves non-uniformly in such a manner that their original velocity in the backwards direction is continuously reduced."

XXI IN

WHAT RESPECTS ARE THE

FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND OF THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY UNSATISFACTORY?

We

have already stated several times mechanics starts out

that classical

from the following law: Material particles sufficiently far removed from other material particles continue to

move uniformly

in a

straight line or continue in a state of rest.

much

one Both are half full of water. I notice that steam is being emitted continuously from the one pan, but not from the other. I am surprised at this, even if I have never seen either a gas range or a pan before. But if I now notice a luminous something of bluish color under the first pan but not under the other, I cease to be astonished, even if I have never before seen a gas flame. For I can only say that this bluish something will cause the emission of the steam, or at least possibly it may do so. If, however, I notice the bluish something in neither case, and if I observe that the one continuously emits steam while the other does not, then I shall remain astonished and dissatisfied until I have discovered some circumstance to which I can attribute the different behavior of the two pans. Analogously, I seek in vain for a real something in classical mechanics (or in the special theory of relativity) to which I can

may be mistaken

alike that

for the other.

attribute the different behavior of bodies

considered with respect to the reference-

systems

K

and K'.^ Newton saw

this

ob-

We

have also repeatedly emphasized that this fundamental law can only be valid for bodies of reference K which possess certain unique states of motion, and which are in uniform translational motion relative to

The objection is of importance more especially when the state of motion of the reference-body is of such a nature that it does not require any external agency for its maintenance, e.g., in the case when the reference-body

is

rotating uniformly.

453

RELATIVITY jection and attempted to invalidate

it,

With respect to the Galileian referencebody K, such a ray of light is transmitted

but

without success. But E. Mach recognized it most clearly of all, and because of this objection he claimed that mechanics must be

new

placed on a

we

of by means of a physics which is conformable to the general principle of relrid

chest

we

this

hold for every body of reference, whatever state of motion.

can

It

straight line

same

when

with reference to the accel(reference-body

conclude, that,

light are

may be its

it

c.

that the path of the

no longer a

is

consider

erated

equations of such a theory

ativity, since the

shown

ray of light

can only be got

basis. It

with the velocity

rectilinearly

easily be

in

K').

From

general, rays of

propagated curvilinearly in gravitwo respects this result

tational fields. In is

of great importance. In the

place,

first

it

can be compared with

XXII A FEW INFERENCES

the reality. Although a detailed examination

FROM THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE

of the question shows that the curvature

OF RELATIVITY

of light rays required by the general the-

ory of relativity

The

considerations of Section

XX

show

is

only exceedingly small

for the gravitational fields at our disposal in

that the general principle of relativity

practice,

its

estimated magnitude for

rays passing the sun at grazing inci-

puts us in a position to derive properties of

light

the gravitational field in a purely theoret-

dence is nevertheless 1.7 seconds of This ought to manifest itself in the

manner. Let us suppose, for instance, that we know the space-time "course" for any natural process whatsoever, as regards ical

manner in which it takes place in the Galileian domain relative to a Galileian body of reference K. By means of purely theoretical operations {i.e., simply by cal-

lowing way.

known

we

are then able to find

how

this

process appears, as seen from a reference-body K' which is accelnatural

erated relatively to K. But since a gravitational

field

new body

with respect to this

exists

of reference K'

how

ation also teaches us field

,

our consider-

the gravitational

influences the process studied.

For example, we learn is in

that a

stars appear to be in the neighborhood of the sun, and are thus capable

K

with respect to

accordance with the law of Galilei) is executing an accelerated and in general curvilinear motion with respect to the accelerated reference-body K' (chest). This acceleration or curvature corresponds to the influence on the moving

body of the

(in

gravitational field prevailing

known

relatively to

K'

tional

influences

field

.

It is

the

that a gravita-

sun. At such times, these stars ought to appear to be displaced outwards from the sun by an amount indicated above, as compared with their apparent position in the sky when the sun is situated at another part of the heavens. The examination of the correctness or otherwise of this deduction is a problem of the greatest importance, the early solution of which is to be expected

of astronomers.^ In the second place our result shows

according to the general theory of law of the constancy of the

that,

relativity, the

velocity of light in vacuo, which constitutes one of the two fundamental assumptions in the special theory of relativity and to which we have already frequently referred, cannot claim any unlimited validity. A curvature of rays of light can only take place

when

the velocity of propagation of light

movement of

bodies in this way, so that our consideration supplies us with nothing essentially new.

However, we obtain a new result of fundamental importance when we carry out the analogous consideration for a ray of light. 454

of observation during a total eclipse of the

body which

a state of uniform rectilinear motion

fol-

seen from the earth, certain

fixed

the

culation)

As

arc.

1

By means of the star photographs of two expeditions equipped by a Joint Committee of the Royal and Royal Astronomical Societies, the existence of the deflection of light demanded by theory was confirmed during the solar eclipse of May 29, 1919. (Cf.

Appendix

III.)

Albert Einstein

Now we might think consequence of this, the special theory of relativity and with it the whole theory of relativity would be laid in the dust. But in reality this is not the case. We can only conclude that the special theory of relativity cannot claim an unlimited domain of validity; its results hold only so varies with position.

investigation of the laws satisfied

that as a

gravitational

we

long as

are able to disregard the influ-

ences of gravitational ena (^.^., of light). Since

on the phenom-

fields

opponents of the theory of the

special

relativity that

theory of relativity

thrown by the general theory of it

is

over-

relativity,

perhaps advisable to make the facts

is

of the case clearer by means of an appropriate

comparison.

Before

develop-

the

ment of electrodynamics the laws of electrostatics were looked upon as the laws of electricity. At the present time we know that electric fields can be derived correctly from electrostatic considerations only for the case, which is never strictly realized, in which the electrical masses are quite at rest relatively to each other, and to the co-ordinate system. Should we be justi-

reason electro-

fied in saying that for this

statics is

overthrown by the field-equations

of Maxwell in electrodynamics? least.

Electrostatics

We

itself.

by the

Let us consider

moment.

are acquainted with space-time do-

mains which behave (approximately) in a "Galileian" fashion under suitable choice of reference-body, i.e., domains in which gravitational fields are absent. If

we now

domain to a reference-body K' possessing any kind of motion, then re-

refer such a

to K' there exists a gravitational which is variable with respect to space

lative

has often been contended by

it

this for a

field

is

Not

in the

contained in elec-

field

and time. 2 The character of this field will of course depend on the motion chosen for

According

K'.

lativity,

must be

field

fields

to the general theory of re-

the general law of the gravitational satisfied for all gravitational

obtainable in this way.

Even though

by no means all gravitational fields can be produced in this way, yet we may entertain the hope that the general law of gravitation will be derivable from such gravitational fields of a special kind. This hope has been realized in the most beautiful manner. But between the clear vision of this goal and its actual realization it was necessary to surmount a serious difficulty, and as this lies deep at the root of things, I dare not withhold it from the reader. We require to extend our ideas of the space-

time continuum

farther.

still

trodynamics as a limiting case; the laws of the latter lead directly to those of the former for the case in

which the

No

iable with regard to time.

tiny could

XXIII

fields are invar-

BEHAVIOR OF CLOCKS AND MEASURING-RODS ON A ROTATING BODY OF REFERENCE

fairer des-

be allotted to any physical theit should of itself point out

ory, than that

the

way

to

the introduction of a

comprehensive theory,

in

which

it

more on

lives

as a limiting case.

In the example of the transmission of light just dealt with,

we have

seen that the

I have purposely refrained from speaking about the physical interpretation of space- and time-data in

Hitherto

the case of the general theory of relativity.

As a consequence,

general theory of relativity enables us to

slovenliness

derive

know from

theoretically

gravitational field

the

influence

of

a

on the course of natural

is

guilty of a certain

we

the special theory of relativity,

from being unimportant and pardonis now high time that we remedy defect; but I would mention at the outthat this matter lays no small claims

able.

known when

absent.

this

But the most attractive problem, to the solution of which the general theory of relativity supplies the key, concerns the

set,

field is

am

far

processes, the laws of which are already

a gravitational

I

of treatment, which, as

It

2 This follows from a generalization of the discussion in

Section

XX.

455

,

RELATIVITY on the patience and on the power of abstrac-

We

start

off again

from quite special

we have

frequently used be-

cases, which fore.

Let us consider a space-time domain

which no gravitational reference-body

a

to

in

of the circular disc, and the other on the

field exists relative

edge of the disc, so that they are at rest relative to it. We now ask ourselves whether both clocks go at the same rate from the standpoint of the non-rotating Galileian reference-body K. As judged from this body, the clock at the center of the disc has no velocity, whereas the clock at the edge of the disc is in motion relative to K in consequence of the rotation. Ac-

K

whose

of

state

K

motion has been suitably chosen.

is

then a Galileian reference-body as regards

domain considered, and the

the

results of

the special theory of relativity hold relative

K. Let us suppose the same domain rebody of reference K' which is rotating uniformly with respect to

ferred to a second

K. In order to fix our ideas, we shall imagine K' to be in the form of a plane circular disc, which rotates uniformly in

to

own plane about server who is sitting

its

its

An

center.

ob-

on the disc K' is sensible of a force which acts outwards in a radial direction, and which would be interpreted as an effect of inertia (centrifugal force) by an observer who was at

rest

eccentrically

with respect to the original

ref-

erence-body K. But the observer on the disc may regard his disc as a reference-body

which

doing

and

"at rest";

on the basis of the gen-

principle of relativity he

eral in

is

The

this.

in fact

on

all

based on his observations. What will be experience in this enterprise? To start with, he places one of two identically constructed clocks at the center his

tion of the reader.

is

justified

force acting on himself,

other bodies which are at

rest relative to the disc,

he regards as the

effect of a gravitational field. Nevertheless,

the space distribution of this gravitational field is of a kind that would not be possible on Newton's theory of gravitation. ^ But

cording to a result obtained it

that a general law of gravitation can be formulated — a law which not only explains

the motion of the stars correctly, but also the field of force experienced by himself.

The observer performs experiments on his circular disc with clocks

permanently slower than that of the clock

observed from K.

at

it is

and measuring-

exact definitions for the signification of disc

K'

,

It

as

is

Thus on our circular disc, or, to make more general, in every gravitational field, a clock will go more quickly or less disc.

the case

quickly, according to the position in which

the clock

reason

it is

is

situated

(at

rest).

For

this

not possible to obtain a reason-

able definition of time with the aid of clocks

which are arranged at to the body of reference.

rest with respect

A similar difficulty

presents itself when we attempt to apply our earlier definition of simultaneity in such a case, but I do not wish to go any farther into this question.

Moreover, of the

space

co-ordinates

unsurmountable applies

his

rod which

is

stage the

this

at

definition

also

diflflculties. If

presents

the observer

measuring-rod

standard

(a

compared with the

short as

radius of the disc) tangentially to the edge

of

the

disc,

then,

as

judged from the

Galileian system, the length of this rod

be

less

than

1,

since,

according to

his intention to arrive

time- and space-data with reference to the circular

i.e.,

obvious that the same effect would be noted by an observer whom we will imagine sitting alongside his clock at the center of the circular

will

rods. In doing so,

Section XII,

at the center of the circular disc,

since the observer believes in the general

theory of relativity, this does not disturb him; he is quite in the right when he believes

in

follows that the latter clock goes at a rate

these definitions

being

Section XII, moving bodies

suffer a short-

ening in the direction of the motion. the

other

hand,

the

measuring-rod

On will

not experience a shortening in length, as

judged from K, 1

The

disappears at the center of the disc and increases proportionally to the distance from the center as we proceed outwards.

if

it

is

applied

to

the

field

456

disc in the direction of the radius.

the

observer

first

If,

then,

measures the circum-

Albert Einstein

We

ference of the disc with his measuring-

"jumps"

rod and then the diameter of the disc,

press this property of the surface by de-

on dividing the one by the other, he

scribing the latter as a continuum.

not obtain as quotient the familiar 7r

=

3.

14

.

.,

.

will

number

but a larger number,^ whereas

of course, for a disc which

is

at rest with

Let us little

(if

he

not too pedantic).

is

now imagine that a large number of

rods of equal length have been made,

their lengths being small

compared with the

respect to K, this operation would yield

dimensions of the marble

propo-

they are of equal length,

TT

This

exactly.

proves

the

that

Euclidean geometry cannot hold

sitions of

exactly on the rotating disc, nor in general in a gravitational field, at least if

we

attri-

bute the length 1 to the rod in all positions and in every orientation. Hence the idea of a straight line also loses

its

meaning.

We

ex-

can be

laid

slab.

When

mean

I

say

one on any other without the ends

We

overlapping.

I

that

next lay four of these

little

rods on the marble slab so that they constitute a quadrilateral figure (a square), the

To enwe make square we

diagonals of which are equally long. sure the equality of the diagonals,

are therefore not in a position to define

use of a

exactly the co-ordinates

add similar ones, each of which has one rod in common with the first. We proceed in like manner with each of these squares until finally the whole marble slab is laid out with squares. The arrangement is such, that each side of a square belongs to two squares and each corner to four squares. It is a veritable wonder that we can carry

to the disc

x,

y,

z relative

by means of the method used

in

discussing the special theory, and as long as the co-ordinates and times of events

have not been defined we cannot assign an exact meaning to the natural laws in which these occur.

Thus all our previous conclusions based on general relativity would appear to be called in question. In reality we must

make

a subtle detour in order to be able to

apply the postulate of general relativity exactly.

shall

I

prepare the reader for this

in the following paragraphs.

testing rod.

To

this

out this business without getting into the greatest difficulties.

We

only need to think

of the following. If at any

moment

three

squares meet at a corner, then two sides of the fourth square are already laid, and as a

consequence, the arrangement of the remaining two sides of the square is already completely determined. But I am now no longer able to adjust the quadrilateral so

XXIV

that

EUCLIDEAN AND NON-EUCLIDEAN

surface of a marble table

is

spread

can get from any one point on this table to any other point by passing continuously from one point to a "neighboring" one, and repeating this proc-

number of times, or, in other words, by going from point to point without executing "jumps." I am sure the reader appreciate

what

I

with

rods about which

fully surprised.

many such

We

I can only be thankmust needs experience

surprises

if

the construction

is

I

ess a (large)

will

may be equal. If they are own accord, then this is an

diagonals

especial favor of the marble slab and of the little

out in front of me.

its

equal of their

CONTINUUM

The

little

sufficient

clearness

mean here by "neighboring" and by

to

be successful. If everything has really gone smoothly,

then

I

say that the points of the marble slab

constitute a Euclidean continuum with re-

spect to the

little

rod,

which has been used

By choosing one corner of a square as "origin," I can as a "distance" (line-interval).

characterize every other corner of a square

with reference to this origin by means of 2

Throughout Galileian

this consideration

(non-rotating)

we have

system

K

as

to use the

reference-

body, since we may only assume the validity of the results of the special theory of relativity relative to K (relative to K' a gravitational field prevails).

two numbers. I only need state how many rods I must pass over when, starting from I proceed towards the "right" and then "upwards," in order to arrive at

the origin,

457

RELATIVITY corner of the square under considThese two numbers are then the

the

eration.

"Cartesian co-ordinates" of this corner with reference to the "Cartesian co-ordinate system" which is determined by the arrangement of Httle rods. By making use of the following modification of this abstract experiment, we rec-

ognize that there must also be cases in which the experiment would be unsuccess-

without our proceeding being

in the highest

measure grossly arbitrary? The method of Cartesian co-ordinates must then be discarded, and replaced by another which does not assume the validity of EucHdean geometry for rigid bodies.^ The reader will notice that the situation depicted here cor-

responds to the one brought about by the general postulate of relativity (Section XXIII).

We shall suppose that the rods "expand" by an amount proportional to the in-

ful.

crease of temperature.

We

heat the central

XXV GAUSSIAN CO-ORDINATES

part of the marble slab, but not the periphery, in

which case two of our

little

rods can

be brought into coincidence at every on the table. But our construction

still

rods on the central region of the table expand, whereas those on the outer part do

to Gauss, this combined anaand geometrical mode of handling the problem can be arrived at in the following way. We imagine a system of arbitrary curves (see Fig. 4) drawn on the sur-

not.

face of the table.

position

of squares must necessarily

come

into dis-

order during the heating, because the

With reference

to

fined as unit lengths

our

— the

little

rods

marble slab

longer a Euclidean continuum, and

no longer

also

little

— deis

we

no are

in the position of defining

Cartesian co-ordinates directly with their since the above construction can

aid,

no

longer be carried out. But since there are

other things which are not influenced in a similar

not at is

manner to the little rods (or perhaps by the temperature of the table, it

all)

possible quite naturally to maintain the

point of view that the marble slab

is

manner by making a more stipulation about the measurement or

satisfactory

the comparison of lengths.

But

if

material)

rods of every kind

were

to

regards the influence

{i.e.,

of every

same way as of temperature when

behave

in

the

they are on the variably heated marble slab,

and

if

we had no

other means of detecting

the effect of temperature than the geomet-

behavior of our rods in experiments analogous to the one described above, then our best plan would be to assign the disrical

tance one to two points on the slab, pro-

vided that the ends of one of our rods could

be made to coincide with these two points; for

how

else should

458

we

L

lytical

These we designate as uthem by means of a number. The curves u = 1 « = 2 and w = 3 are drawn in the diagram. Between the curves u = 1 and w = 2 we must imagine an infinitely large number to be drawn, all of which correspond to real numbers lying between 1 and 2. We have then a system of M-curves, and this "infinitely dense" system covers the whole surface of the table. These w-curves must not intersect each other, and through each curves, and

we

indicate each of

,

^

a "Eu-

clidean continuum." This can be done in a

subtle

According

define the distance

1

Mathematicians have been confronted with our problem in the following form. If we are given a surface {e.g., an ellipsoid) in Euclidean three-dimensional space, then there exists for this surface a twodimensional geometry, just as much as for a plane surface. Gauss undertook the task of treating this two-dimensional geometry from first principles, without making use of the fact that the surface belongs to a Euclidean continuum of three dimensions. If we im.agine constructions to be made with rigid rods in the surface (similar to that above with the marble slab), we should find that different laws hold for these from those resulting on the basis of Euclidean plane geometry. The surface is not a Euclidean continuum with respect to the rods, and we cannot define Cartesian co-ordinates in the surface. Gauss indicated the principles according to which we can treat the geometrical relationships in the surface, and thus pointed out the way to the method of Riemann of treating multi-dimensional, non-Euclidean continua. Thus it is that mathematicians long ago

solved the formal problems to which the general postulate of relativity.

we

are led by

Albert Einstein

Fig. 4

point of the sur-

co-ordinates are simply Cartesian ones.

face one and only

is

one

curve

pass.

Thus a

must per-

fectly definite val-

sidered, of such a nature that numerical

ue of u belongs to every point on the surface of the mar-

values

ble

slab.

In like

manner we imagine a system of v-curves drawn on the surface. These satisfy the same conditions as the w-curves, they are provided with numbers in a corresponding manner, and they

may

likewise be of arbi-

trary shape. It follows that a value of u

and

a value of v belong to every point on the surface of the table. We call these two numbers the co-ordinates of the surface of the table (Gaussian co-ordinates).

the point

P in

co-ordinates w points

spond

P and

For example,

the diagram has the Gaussian

=

P'

3, v

=

1.

Two

neighboring

on the surface then correu,v

P':

u

So far, these considerations hold for a continuum of two dimensions. But the Gaussian method can be applied also to a continuum of three, four or more dimensions. If, for instance, a continuum of four dimensions be supposed available, we may represent it in the following way. With every point of the continuum we associate arbitrarily four numbers, x^, x^, x^, x^, which are known as "co-ordinates." Adjacent points correspond to adjacent values of the co-ordinates. If a distance ds

ated with the adjacent points

where g^, gi2. 822 ^re magnitudes which depend in a perfectly definite way on u and V. The magnitudes g^^, g^^ and ^22 determine the behavior of the rods relative to the w-curves and v-curves, and thus also relative to the surface of the table. For the case in which the points of the surface considered form a Euclidean continuum with reference to the measuring-rods, but only

in

draw the w-curves attach numbers to

possible to

and v-curves and to them, in such a manner, that we simply have:

= g,,dx^^ +

associP'

,

this

fol-

= du^ +

dv^.

conditions, the w-curves and

in the sense of Euclidean geometry, and they are perpendicular to each other. Here the Gaussian

v-curves are straight lines

Ig^^dx^dx^ ....+ g^^dx^,

where the magnitudes g^^, etc., have values which vary with the position in the continuum. Only when the continuum is a Euclidean one is it possible to associate the coordinates x^. .x^ with the points of the continuum so that we have simply

In this case relations hold in the four-di-

mensional continuum which are analogous to those holding in our three-dimensional

measurements.

However, the Gauss treatment for ds"^ which we have given above is not always possible.

It is

only possible

when

suf!icient-

small regions of the continuum under consideration may be regarded as Euclidean

ly

continua. For example, this obviously holds in the case of the marble slab of the table

and

local variation of temperature.

perature ds^

is

P and

distance being measurable and well-defined

ds^

signify very small nummanner we may indicate the distance (line-interval) between P and P', as measured with a little rod, by means of the very small number ds. Then according to Gauss we have

Under these

"in space."

+ du,v + dv,

bers. In a similar

it is

very slightly from each

lowing formula holds:

where du and dv

this case,

differing

other are associated with neighboring points

from a physical point of view, then the

to the co-ordinates P:

It

Gauss co-ordinates are nothing more than an association of two sets of numbers with the points of the surface conclear that

is

The tem-

practically constant for a small

part of the slab, and thus the geometrical behavior of the rods is almost as it ought to be according to the rules of Euclidean ge-

ometry.

Hence

the

imperfections of the

construction of squares in the previous sec-

459

.

RELATIVITY form the basis for the defrom the special theory of relativity, and in themselves they

do not show themselves clearly until is extended over a con-

tion

valid.

siderable portion of the surface of the table.

We

can sum

this

invented a method

up as follows: Gauss for the

("distances"

"size-relations"

neighboring points) are defined.

last

of deductions

are nothing

more than the expression of the

universal validity of the law of transmission

mathematical

treatment of continua in general,

These

rivation

construction

this

which between

of light for

in

Galileian systems of refer-

all

ence.

Minkowski found

To every many

that the Lorentz trans-

point of a continuum are assigned as

formations

numbers (Gaussian co-ordinates) as the continuum has dimensions. This is done in such a way, that only one meaning can be attached to the assignment, and that numbers (Gaussian co-ordinates) which diifer by an indefinitely small amount are assigned to adjacent points. The Gaussian coordinate system is a logical generalization

conditions. Let us consider

of the Cartesian co-ordinate system.

for these

satisfy

two neighboring events, the relative position of which in the four-dimensional continuum is given with

dz and the time difference

It is

two events are

condition^

"size" or "distance," small parts of the

dx^ dx'^

tion follows

notice.

express this

The

is

mine an event or — in the

four-dimensional

to

by

c^dt^,

two adjacent points of the

jCj, jCr

space-time all

continuum,

selected (Galile-

we

Xo, X.,

replace x, y, z, also obtain

we

/,

V-

we can

1

ct instead of the

regard the space-

time continuum — in accordance with the special theory of relativity — as a "Euclid-

t,

continuum,

independent of the choice of the body of We call the magnitude ds the

imaginary variable

which deterother words — a point z,

ct,

real quantity

ordinate systems." For these systems, the y,

the

"distance" apart of the two events or fourdimensional points. Thus, if we choos e as time-variable the

called these "Galileian co-

jc,

dt'

reference.

of the four-dimensional, space-time

four co-ordinates

,

the result that

tems are given preference for the descrip-

We

dz'

fulfil

formulate

ory of relativity, certain co-ordinate sys-

of

= dx^ + dy^ ^ dz^ -

ian) reference-bodies. If

more exactly the idea of Minkowski, which was only vaguely indicated in Section XVII. In accordance with the special the-

continuum.

,

this condition.

has the same value for

1

dy'

Lorentz transformaWe can as follows: The magnitude

from

four-dimensional

THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM OF THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY CONSIDERED AS A EUCLIDEAN CONTINUUM

,

validity of the

ds^

tion

refer-

+ dy^ + dz^ - c^dt^ = + dy'^ + dz'^'-c^dt'^.

which belongs

XXVI

dx'

magnitudes always

these

continuum under consideration behave more nearly like a Euclidean system, the smaller the part of the continuum under our

We

With

dt.

ence to a second Galileian system we shall suppose that the corresponding differences

but only when, with respect to the defined

in a position to

by

the space co-ordinate differences dx, dy,

Then

now

K

respect to a Galileian reference-body

also applicable to non-Euclidean continua,

are

simple

following

the

ean" four-dimensional continuum, a result which follows from the considerations of

are

defined physically in a simple manner, as

the preceding section.

set forth in detail in the first part of this

book. For the transition from one Galileian

system to another, which is moving uniformly with reference to the first, the equations of the Lorentz transformation are

460

1

Cf. Appendices I and II. The relations which are derived there for the co-ordinates themselves are valid also for co-ordinate differences, and thus also for co-ordinate differentials (indefinitely small differ-

ences).

Albert Einstein this

We refer the four-dimenspace-time continuum in an arbi-

difficulty.

XXVII

sional

THE SPACE-TIME

trary

CONTINUUM OF THE GENERAL THEORY

assign to

OF RELATIVITY

ordinates),

IS

NOT A EUCLIDEAN

first

part of this

book we were able

XXVI, can be

regarded as four-

dimensional Cartesian co-ordinates. This was possible on the basis of the law of the

constancy of the velocity of according to Section

XXI,

we

But

light.

the general the-

ory of relativity cannot retain the contrary,

co-ordinates.

We

jCg,

x^, x^ (co-

which have not the

least direct

x^^,

physical significance, but only serve the

use of space-time co-ordinates which allowed of a simple and direct physical interpretation, and which, according

to Section

Gauss

to

every point of the continuum

(event) four numbers,

CONTINUUM

In tothemake

manner

this law.

On

arrived at the result that

purpose of numbering the points of the continuum in a definite but arbitrary manner. This arrangement does not even need to be of such a kind that We must regard x^, x^, Xq as "space" co-ordinates and x^ as a "time" co-ordinate. The reader may think that such a description of the world would be quite inadequate. What does it mean to assign to an event the particular co-ordinates jc^, X2, JC4, if in themselves these co-ordinates have no significance? More careful con-

Xq,

sideration shows, however, that this anx-

according to this latter theory the velocity

iety

of light must always depend on the co-

instance, a material point with any kind of

ordinates ent.

when a

gravitational field

is

In connection with a specific

tration in Section

XXIII, we found

presence of a gravitational

which led us

to

motion. If this point had only a momentary existence without duration, then

field invalidates

in the

special theory of relativity.

In view of the results of these considerations

we

are led to the conviction that,

according to the general principle of ativity, the

rel-

space-time continuum cannot be

regarded as a Euclidean one, but that here we have the general case, corresponding to

marble slab with local variations of temperature, and with which we made acquaintance as an example of a two-dimenthe

sional

continuum. Just as

impossible

it

was there

construct a Cartesian co-

to

ordinate system from equal rods, so here is

it

impossible to build up a system (refer-

ence-body) from rigid bodies and clocks, which shall be of such a nature that measuring-rods

and

clocks,

arranged

rigidly

with respect to one another, shall indicate

Such was the we were Section XXIII.

position and time directly.

essence of the

difficulty

with which

confronted in But the considerations of Sections

and

XXVI

show us

the

way

to

Let us consider, for

illus-

that the

our objective

unfounded.

pres-

the definition of the co-ordinates and the time,

is

XXV

surmount

be described in system of values

would

it

space-time

by a

x^, X2, x^, x^.

Thus

single its

per-

manent existence must be characterized by an infinitely large number of such systems of values, the co-ordinate values of which are so close together as to give continuity;

corresponding to the material point,

we

thus

have a (uni-dimensional) line in the fourdimensional continuum. In the same way, any such lines in our continuum correspond to

many

points in motion.

The only

state-

ments having regard to these points which can claim a physical existence are in reality the statements about their encounters. In our mathematical treatment, such an expressed

in the fact that the

encounter

is

two

which represent the motions of

lines

points in question have a particular system of co-ordinate values, x^, Xg, x^, JC4, in common. After mature consideration the reader will doubtless admit that in reality such encounters constitute the only actual evidence of a time-space nature with which we meet in physical state-

the

ments.

When we were

describing the motion of

a material point relative to a body of ref-

461

RELATIVITY erence,

we

stated nothing

more than

the

eral not possible in space-time description.

encounters of this point with particular points of the reference-body. We can also determine the corresponding values of the

The Gauss

time by the observation of encounters of the body with clocks, in conjunction with

fundamental

observation of the encounter of the hands of clocks with particular points on

ordinate systems are essentially equivalent

the

same in the case of space-measurements by means of meas-

the dials.

just the

It is

a

as

uring-rods,

little

consideration will

co-ordinate system has to take

the place of the

following

of

ciple

body of reference. The corresponds

statement of

idea

the

prin-

Gaussian

"All

relativity:

the

to

general

co-

for the formulation of the general laws of nature." We can state this general principle of relativity in

yet

still

more

another form, which renders clearly intelligible than

show.

it

following statements hold generally: Every physical description resolves itself

when

form of the natural extension of the special principle of relativity. Ac-

number of statements, each of which two

cording to the special theory of relativity,

The

into a

refers to the space-time coincidence of

A

and B. In terms of Gaussian coordinates, every such statement is expressed by the agreement of their four coevents

ordinates Xj,

JC2,

^3,

X4.

Thus

reality,

in

it

is

in the

the equations which express the general

laws of nature pass over into equations of

same form when, by making use of the

the

Lorentz

we

transformation,

space-time variables

x, y,

K

z-,

replace r

the

of a (Gali-

the description of the time-space continuum by means of Gauss co-ordinates completely

leian)

replaces the description with the aid of a

character of the continuum which has to

body K'. According to the general theory of relativity, on the other hand, by application of arbitrary substitutions of the Gauss variables x^, jCj, JCg, x^, the equations must pass over into equations of the same form;

be represented.

for

body of reference, without the defects of the latter tion;

it

is

not tied

down

suffering

mode

from

of descrip-

to the Euclidean

reference-body

variables x'

,

y' , 7!

,

t'

by the space-time

of a

new

reference-

every transformation (not only the Lorentz transformation) corresponds to the transition of one Gauss co-ordinate system into another. If we desire to adhere to our "old-time" three-dimensional view of things, then we can characterize the development which is being undergone by the fundamental idea

XXVIII

EXACT FORMULATION OF THE

GENERAL PRINCIPLE

of the general theory of relativity as follows: The special theory of relativity has ref-

OF RELATIVITY

erence to Galileian domains, in

We

are

now

in a position to replace the

provisional formulation of the gen-

eral principle of relativity given in Section

XVIII by an exact

formulation.

The form

there used, "All bodies of reference K,

K', etc., are equivalent for the description phenomena (formulation of the

of natural

general laws of nature), whatever their

state

may be

of motion," cannot be main-

tained, because the use of rigid reference-

bodies, in the sense of the in the special

method followed

theory of relativity,

462

is

in gen-

which no gravitational

this

connection

a

i.e.,

field

Galileian

to those

exists.

In

reference-

body serves as body of reference, i.e., a body the state of motion of which is

rigid

so chosen that the Galileian law of the uniform rectilinear motion of "isolated" material points holds relatively to

it.

Certain considerations suggest that

we

should refer the same Galileian domains to non-G alileian reference-bodies also. A gravitational field of a special kind is then present with respect to these bodies

Sections

XX and

XXIII).

(cf.

Albert Einstein In gravitational fields there are

no such

XXIX

things as rigid bodies with Euclidean properties;

ence

thus the fictitious rigid

THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION ON THE BASIS OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE

body of refer-

of no avail in the general theory of

is

relativity.

The motion

of clocks

is

also

OF RELATIVITY

influenced by gravitational fields, and in such a way that a physical definition of

time which

is

made

directly with the aid of

clocks has by no means the

same degree of

plausibility as in the special theory of rel-

the reader has followed

Ifconsiderations,

all

our previous

he will have no further difficulty in understanding the methods leading to the solution of the problem of

ativity.

For

this

reason

non-rigid

reference-

bodies are used which are as a whole not

any way whatsoever, but which also suffer alterations in form ad lib. during their motion. Clocks, for which the law of motion is of any kind, however ironly moving

in

gravitation.

We

from a consideration of a i.e., a domain in which

start off

Galileian domain,

there

is

no gravitational

relative to

field

The

the Galileian reference-body K.

be-

havior of measuring-rods and clocks with

K

known from

the special

regular,

reference to

We

theory of relativity, likewise the behavior

serve for the definition of time. have to imagine each of these clocks

fixed at a point

on the non-rigid reference

body. These clocks satisfy only the one condition, that the "readings" which are

observed simultaneously on adjacent clocks (in space) differ from each other by an indefinitely small amount. This non-rigid reference-body, which might appropriately be termed a "reference-mollusk," is in the

Gaussian four-dimensional co-ordinate system chosen arbitrarily. That which gives the "mollusk" a certain comprehensibleness as compared with the Gauss co-ordinate system is the

main equivalent

to a

(really unjustified)

formal retention of the

separate existence of the space co-ordinates

opposed to the time co-ordinate. Every point on the mollusk is treated as a spacepoint, and every material point which is at

as

rest relatively to

it

as at rest, so long as the

mollusk

The

is considered as reference-body. general principle of relativity requires

that

all

these mollusks can be used as ref-

erence-bodies with equal right and equal

is

material

of "isolated"

move uniformly and

points;

the latter

straight

in

lines.

Now let us refer this domain to a random to a

"mollusk"

Then with

respect to

Gauss co-ordinate system or as reference-body K'.

K'

there

is

a gravitational field

particular kind).

We

measuring-rods

and clocks material

freely-moving

G

(of a

learn the behavior of

and also of

points

with

ref-

erence to K' simply by mathematical transformation. We interpret this behavior as the

of measuring-rods,

behavior

clocks

and material points under the influence of the gravitational field G. Hereupon we introduce a hypothesis: that the influence of the gravitational field on measuring-rods, clocks and freely-moving material points

continues to take place according to the same laws, even in the case when the prevailing gravitational field is not derivable

from the Galileian special case, simply by

means of a transformation of

The next

step

is

co-ordinates.

to investigate the space-

success in the formulation of the general laws of nature; the laws themselves must be quite independent of the choice of

time behavior of the gravitational field G, which was derived from the Galileian special case simply by transformation of the

mollusk.

co-ordinates. This behavior

The

great

power possessed by

the general

in a law,

which

principle of relativity lies in the

hensive limitation which

the description

laws of nature in have seen above.

compreimposed on the consequence of what we

always

is

valid,

formulated

no matter

the reference-body (mollusk) used in

how

is

is

This law

is

may be chosen.

not yet the general law of the

gravitational field,

since the gravitational

463

RELATIVITY under consideration

field

of a special

is

kind. In order to find out the general law-

we

of gravitation

of-field

require to

still

obtain a generalization of the law as found

above. This can be obtained without caprice, however, by taking into consideration the following (a)

The

generalization

must

likewise satisfy the general pos-

any matter

If there is

under

in the

domain

only

consideration,

XV

in exciting

a

must

satisfy

matter tothe law of

proportional

deviations from the theory of Newton their appearance, practically all of

test of obser-

vation owing to their smallness.

We

must draw attention here

one of

moves round the sun in an which would permanently maintain

theory, a planet ellipse,

position with respect to the fixed stars,

we

could disregard the motion of the fixed

stars

themselves and the action of the other

if

we

correct the observed motion of the planets

on the course of all those

theory be

stars.

is

which have already been fitted frame of the special theory of relativity. In this connection we proceed in principle according to the method which has already been explained for measuringrods, clocks and freely-moving material i.e.,

into the

influences,

strictly

and

correct,

if

is

fixed with reference to the fixed

with great accuracy, has been confirmed for

all

the planets save one, with the pre-

cision that

is

capable of being obtained by

the delicacy of observation attainable at the

present time.

The

sole exception

Mercury, the planet which

lies

sun. Since the time of Leverrier,

known

excels not only in

for the influences

moving the defect attaching to classical mechanics which was brought to light in

XXI; nor in

interpreting the empir-

law of the equality of inertial and gravmass; but it has also already ex-

itational

plained a result of observation in astron-

omy, against which

classical

mechanics

is

powerless. confine the application of the theory

where the gravitational fields can be regarded as being weak, and in which all masses move with respect to the co-ordito the case

nate system with velocities which are small

compared with the velocity of then obtain as a

light,

we

approximation the Newtonian theory. Thus the latter theory

464

first

to

This deduction, which can be tested

The theory of gravitation derived in this way from the general postulate of relativity beauty; nor in re-

Newton's

we ought

points.

its

if

obtain for the orbit of the planet an ellipse,

which

a gravitational field

two

for these

processes which take place according to

we

to

these deviations. According to Newton's

known laws when

If

make

which

planets under consideration. Thus,

permits us to determine the influence of the

ical

we

the conservation of energy (and

gravitational field

Section

the

to

of impulse). Finally, the general principle of relativity

absent,

inversely

is

square of the distance between them. If

its

field.

Gravitational field and

gether

points

its

mass, and thus accordonly its enering to Section gy is of importance for its effect inertial

(c)

Newton had to introduce the hypothesis that the force of attraction between mutually attracting material

must nevertheless escape the

tulate of relativity. (b)

without any particular

here

increase the accuracy of the calculation,

demands:

required

obtained

is

assumption, whereas

is

nearest the it

has been

that the ellipse corresponding to the

orbit of

Mercury,

it has been corrected mentioned above, is not

after

stationary with respect to the fixed stars,

but that

it

rotates exceedingly slowly in the

plane of the orbit and in the sense of the

The value obtained for this movement of the orbital ellipse was 43 seconds of arc per century, an amount

orbital motion.

rotary

ensured to be correct to within a few seconds of arc. This eff"ect can be explained by means of classical mechanics only on the assumption of hypotheses which have little probability, and which were devised solely for this purpose.

On

the basis of the general theory of rel-

ativity,

planet

found that the ellipse of every round the sun must necessarily

it is

rotate in the

manner indicated above;

that

Albert Einstein for

rays by the gravitational field of the sun,^

the planets, with the exception of

all

Mercury,

rotation

this

and a displacement of the spectral lines of light reaching us from large stars, as com-

too small to be

is

detected with the delicacy of observation possible at the present time; but that in the

case of Mercury

must amount

it

pared with the corresponding lines for light produced in an analogous manner terres-

to 43

seconds of arc per century, a result which strictly in agreement with observation.

Apart from

this one,

it

has hitherto been

by the same kind of molecule). do not doubt that these deductions from

trially (i.e.,

is

I

the theory will be confirmed also.

make only two deductions from

possible to

the theory which admit of being tested

by 1

observation, to wit, the curvature of light

Observed by Eddington and others Appendix III.)

PART

in

1919. (Cf.

III

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE UNIVERSE

WHOLE

AS A XXX COSMOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES OF NEWTON'S THEORY

ceed outwards from

Apart from the difficulty discussed in Sectial

XXI,

tion

L

there

a second funda-

is

knowledge, was

first

my

discussed in detail by

infinite

in the infinite

is

isfactory. It

succeeded

The

finite island

ocean of space. ^

This conception

it

it

region of emptiness.

universe ought to be a

stellar

difficulty attending classical celes-

mechanics, which, to the best of

center the group

finally, at great distances,

by an

mental

this

density of the stars should diminish, until

is still

is

in itself

not very sat-

less satisfactory

because

leads to the result that the light emitted

we ponder

by the

over the question as to

how

the universe,

stellar

considered as a whole,

is

to

be regarded,

and also individual stars of the system are perpetually passing out into infinite space, never to return, and

that suggests itself to us

without ever again coming into interaction

astronomer

the

the is

first

Seeliger.

answer

surely this:

the universe

As

regards space (and time) infinite.

is

If

There are

stars

stars

with other objects of nature. Such a

everywhere, so that the density of matter,

come

although very variable in detail,

erished.

is

never-

on the average everywhere the

theless

However far we might travel through space, we should find everywhere an attenuated swarm of same.

fixed

In other words:

stars

of

approximately

the

same

kind and density.

This view

is

not in harmony with the

theory of Newton.

The

latter

theory rather

1

gradually but systematically impov-

Proo/.

- According

number of

to

the theory of

stars

is

a

maximum, and

that as

we

pro-

Newton, the

which come from ina mass m is proportional to

"lines of force"

and terminate in the mass m. If, on the average, the mass-density Po is constant throughout the universe, then a sphere of volume V will enclose the average mass p^ Thus the number of lines of force passing through the surface F of the sphere into its interior is proporfinity

^

For unit area of the surface of the sphere the number of lines of force which enters the sphere is thus proportional to Pq — or to PqR.

tional to p^ V.

F

requires that the universe should have a

kind of center in which the density of the

finite

material universe would be destined to be-

Hence

the intensity of the field at the surface would ultimately become infinite with increasing radius R

of the sphere, which

is

impossible.

465

RELATIVITY In order to escape this dilemma, Seeliger

modification

a

suggested

assumes

law, in which he

of

Newton's

that for great

the all-inclusive reality of their plane. In

Eugeometry can be carried out by

particular, the constructions of plane

clidean

distances the force of attraction between

means of the

two masses diminishes more rapidly than would result from the inverse square law.

struction, considered in Section

way

In this

it

is

possible for the

mean den-

of matter to be constant everywhere,

sity

even

to

infinity,

gravitational

without

fields

large

infinitely

produced.

being

We

contrast

beings it

to

is

room

(surface)

ought to possess something of the nature of a center. Of course we purchase our emancipation from the fundamental difficulties mentioned, at the cost of a modi-

in the

their

infinity.

made up

squares

is

infinite.

universe

number of

of rods,

"plane," there

is

little

on more is

sense that

can perform the constructions of plane Euclidean geometry with their rods. In this connection the individual rods al-

surface instead of on a plane.

principles as

is

they

without our being able to state a reason why one of them is to be preferred to the others; just as

volume

mean

statement, because they

pendently of their position.

general theoretical

identical

these beings say

If

ways represent the same

any one of these laws would be founded

its

i.e.,

and complication of Newton's law

for

In

In their universe there

which has neither empirical nor theoretical foundation. We can imagine innumerable laws which would serve the same purpose,

fication

XXIV.

universe of these

the

for an infinite

ourselves from the distasteful thus conception that the material universe free

ours,

two-dimensional; but, like ours,

extends to

is

rods, e.g., the lattice con-

Let us consider

distance, inde-

now a second two-dimen-

sional existence, but this time

on a spherical

The flat beings

with their measuring-rods and other objects fit

exactly on this surface and they are un-

able to leave

it.

Their whole universe of

observation extends exclusively over the

the law of Newton.

surface of the sphere.

Are these beings

able to regard the geometry of their uni-

XXXI

verse as being plane geometry and their

THE POSSIBILITY OF A "finite" and yet "unbounded" universe

rods withal as the realization of "distance"?

They cannot do curve,

But

speculations on the structure of the

universe also

move

in quite

another

The development of non-Euclidean geometry led to the recognition of the fact, that we can cast doubt on the infiniteness of our space without coming into conflict with the laws of thought or with experience (Riemann, Helmholtz). These questions have already been treated in detail and with unsurpassable lucidity by Helmholtz and Poincare, whereas I can only touch on them briefly here. In the first place, we imagine an existence in two-dimensional space. Flat beings with flat implements, and in particular flat rigid direction.

measuring-rods, are free to

move

in

a.

plane.

For them nothing exists outside of this plane: that which they observe to happen to themselves and to their flat "things" is 466

this.

For

if

they attempt to

realize a straight line, they will obtain a

which we "three-dimensional be-

ings" designate as a great circle,

i.e.,

a

self-

which can be measured up by means of a measurcontained line of definite

finite length,

ing-rod. Similarly, this universe has a finite

area, that can be

compared with the area of

a square constructed with rods.

charm lies in

resulting

from

The

great

consideration

the recognition of the fact that the

universe of these beings

no

this

is finite

and yet has

limits.

But the spherical-surface beings do not need to go on a world-tour in order to perceive that they are not living in a Euclidean universe. They can convince themselves of this on every part of their "world," provided they do not use too small a piece of it. Starting from a point, they draw "straight lines" (arcs of circles as judged in threedimensional space) of equal length

in all

Albert Einstein

They

directions.

will call the line joining

of these lines a "circle."

the free ends

For

on another closed

rather than

choice has

this

of

closed surfaces, the sphere

a plane surface, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, both lengths being measured with the same rod,

that,

is, according to Euclidean geometry of the plane, equal to a constant value tt, which is

ratio of the

independent of the diameter of the circle. On their spherical surface our flat beings

would

find,

unique

all

in

points on

possessing the property that are equivalent.

it

is

all

admit that the

I

circumference c of a circle to its radius r depends on r, but for a given value of r it is the same for all points of "world-sphere";

the

"world-sphere"

for this ratio the value

But

surface.

justification in the fact

its

other words, the

in

a "surface of constant

is

curvature."

To there

this is

two-dimensional sphere-universe

a three-dimensional analogy, name-

the three-dimensional spherical space

ly,

which was discovered by Riemann. i.e:,

a smaller value than-n-, the difference

being the more considerable, the greater

is

the radius of the circle in comparison with

R

the radius

means of

of the "world-sphere."

By

this relation the spherical beings

can determine the radius of their universe ("world"), even when only a relatively small part of their world-sphere is available for their measurements. But if this part is very small indeed, they will no longer be able to demonstrate that they are on a spherical "world" and not on a Euclidean

points are likewise

equivalent.

all

It

Its

pos-

sesses a finite volume, which

is

determined

by

it

possible to

"radius" {2k^R^). Is

its

imagine a spherical space? To imagine a space means nothing else than that we imagine an epitome of our "space" experience,

of

i.e.,

have

in the

In this sense

experience

we can

we can

that

movement of

"rigid" bodies.

imagine a spherical

space.

plane, for a small part of a spherical surface

Suppose we draw lines or stretch strings from a point, and mark off from each of these the distance r with a

only slightly from a piece of a plane

measuring-rod. All the free end-points of

differs

of the same size.

Thus

if

these lengths

the spherical-surface beings are

on a planet of which the solar system occupies only a negligibly small part of the spherical universe, they have no means of living

determining whether they are living in a finite

or in an infinite universe, because the

"piece of universe" to which they have ac-

both cases practically plane, or Euclidean. It follows directly from this discussion, that for our sphere-beings the circumference of a circle first increases with

cess

in

is

the radius until the "circumference of the is reached, and that it thenceforward gradually decreases to zero for

universe"

still

further increasing values of the radius.

During

this

in all directions

process the area of the circle

lie

on a spherical

surface.

We

can specially measure up the area (F) of this surface by means of a square made up of measuring-rods. If the universe is Euclidean, then

then

F

is

F =

always

creasing values of

4rr2;

if it

is

spherical,

less than 4jrr^. r,

F

With

in-

increases from zero

up to a maximum value which is determined by the "world-radius," but for still further increasing values of

r,

the area gradually

diminishes to zero. At

first,

the straight

which radiate from the starting point diverge farther and farther from one another, but later they approach each other, and finally they run together again at a lines

"counter-point"

to

the

starting

point.

Under such conditions they have traversed

continues to increase more and more, until

the

becomes equal to the whole "world-sphere."

that the three-dimensional spherical space

finally

it

Perhaps the reader

will

the total area of

is

wonder why we

have placed our "beings" on a sphere

whole spherical space.

It is

easily seen

quite analogous to the two-dimensional

spherical surface.

It

is

finite {i.e.,

volume), and has no bounds.

467

of

finite

RELATIVITY may be mentioned

It

that there

yet

is

another kind of curved space: "elHptical space." It can be regarded as a curved space in which the two "counter-points"

from each other). An elliptical universe can thus be considered to some extent as a curved universe possessing central symmetry. It follows from what has been said, that are identical (indistinguishable

without

spaces

closed

ceivable.

From among

space (and the

con-

these, the spherical

on

it

and

and that is whether the which we live is infinite, or

it

finite

is

spherical universe.

from being

in the manner of Our experience is

sufficient to enable us to

the far

answer

But the general theory of relour answering it with a moderate degree of certainty, and in this connection the difficulty mentioned in this question.

ativity permits of

Section

XXX finds

its

clude the possibility of the exact validity of Euclidean geometry in our universe. But it

is

conceivable that our universe differs

only slightly from a Euclidean one, and this notion seems all the more probable, since calculations

show

rounding space

is

that the metrics of sur-

influenced only to an ex-

ceedingly small extent by masses even of

We

the magnitude of our sun.

might imag-

but which nowhere departs appreciably from a plane: something like the rippled surface of a lake. Such a universe might fittingly be called a quasi-Euclidean universe. As regards its space it would be infinite. But calculation shows that in a

quasi-Euclidean universe the average density of matter would necessarily be nil. Thus such a universe could not be inhabited by matter everywhere; it would pre-

sent to us that unsatisfactory picture which

solution.

we portrayed in Section XXX. If we are to have in the universe an

XXXII

THE STRUCTURE OF SPACE ACCORDING TO THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY to the general theory of rel-

Lativity, the geometrical properties of

space are not independent, but they are

determined by matter. Thus we can draw conclusions about the geometrical structure of the universe only if we base our considerations on the state of the matter as

aver-

age density of matter which differs from zero, however small may be that difference, then the universe cannot be quasi-Euclidean. On the contrary, the results of calculation indicate that

According

sufficient to ex-

itself is

in

behaves analogously to a surface which is irregularly curved in its individual parts,

in-

physicists,

whether

by the distribution of

i.e.,

This

are equivalent.

teresting question arises for astronomers

universe in

fields,

ine that, as regards geometry, our universe

its

a result of this discussion, a most

As

matter.

sim-

excels in

elliptical)

plicity, since all points

are

limits

tional

if

matter be

distri-

buted uniformly, the universe would necessarily be spherical (or elliptical). Since in reality the detailed distribution of matter is

not uniform, the real universe will deviate

in individual parts

from the spherical,

i.e.,

the universe will be quasi-spherical. But it

will

be necessarily

In fact, the

finite.

chosen

theory supplies us with a simple connection^ between the space-expanse of the

co-ordinate system, the velocities of the

universe and the average density of matter

being something that

from experience

known.

We know

that, for a suitably

stars are small as ity

is

compared with the veloc-

of transmission of

light.

We

in

it.

can thus as

a rough approximation arrive at a conclu-

1

For the "radius"

sion as to the nature of the universe as a

whole,

if

we

of the universe

R^

treat the matter as being at

rest.

We

R

The use of

already

know from our

previous dis-

cussion that the behavior of measuringrods and clocks

468

is

influenced by gravita-

we

obtain the

equation

gives

—

matter.

the

2

KP

C.G.S. system

= 108.IO";p

is

in

this

equation

the average density of the

Albert Einstein

APPENDIX

I

SIMPLE DERIVATION OF THE LORENTZ

TRANSFORMATION [Supplementary To Section

the relative orientation of the co-

For

ordinate systems indicated in Fig. 2,

the constants a and b in place of the constants X

and

/i

where

the x-axes of both systems permanently coincide. In the present case

we can

X +

divide

by considering

the problem into parts

first

Any

such event

and

k -

the abscissa x and the time

t,

K by and with

we

obtain the equations

respect to the system K' by the abscissa

and the time

and

t'

A

t'

when x and

light signal,

.

/

We

require to find

is

the positive axis of x,

We

proceeding along transmitted ac-

is

cording to the equation x

x' ct'

x'

are given.

which

=

/A

represented with

is

respect to the co-ordinate system

x'

/A

->

only events which are localized on the AT-axis.

xi]

= ax- bet act - bx

=

(5). S

should thus have the solution of our

problem,

if

b were from the following

the constants a and

known. These

result

discussion.

ct

or

x'

x-ct =

(D-

For the origin of K' we have permanently = 0, and hence according to the first of

the equations (5) ''^ be t.

Since the same light signal has to be transmitted relative to K' with the velocity c, the propagation relative to the system K'

be represented by the analogous

will

for-

If

we

call V the velocity

origin of K'

is

have

mula

v x'

-ct'

=0

The same

will

be the case when the relation {x'

- ct') =\{x -

equation

fulfilled in general,

velocity ;c-axis)

ct)

(3),

the dis-

appearance of {x - ct) involves the disappearance of (x' - ct'). If we apply quite similar considerations to light rays which are being transmitted Ac-axis,

we

obtain the

condition

By adding and

(4),

if

we

(directed

we can

velocity of the

calculate the velocity

towards

K

+

(or

ct')

=fi{x

+

ct)

subtracting)

(4).

equations

and introducing for convenience

the

/C,

or the

negative

with respect to K'

designate v as the relative

two systems.

Furthermore, the principle of relativity teaches us that, as judged from K, the length of a unit measuring-rod which is at rest with reference to K' must be exactly the

same

as the length, as judged from K'

a unit measuring-rod which

is

how

,

of

at rest rel-

the points

appear as viewed from K, we only require to take a "snapshot" of K' from K\ this means that we have to insert a particular value of t (time of K), e.g., / = 0. of the

(3)

(6).

ative to K. In order to see {x'

then

value v can be obtained from

(5),

of a point of

(3)

where X indicates a

constant; for, according to

along the negative

we

^

of another point of K' relative to

In short, is

=

to K,

(2).

Those space-time points (events) which satisfy (1) must also satisfy (2). Obviously this

with which the

moving relative

jc'-axis

469

RELATIVITY value of

we

this

of the equations (5)

/

Two

this result, to include

events which take place outside the x-axis,

obtained by retaining equations (8) and supplementing them by the relations

is

= ax.

x'

The extension of

then obtain from the

For first

points of the jc'-axis which are sep-

arated by the distance Ax'

=

1

when mea-

(9).

sured in the K' system are thus separated in our instantaneous photograph by the

In

distance

the constancy of the velocity of light in

Ax But

=

(/'

and

if

we

we

satisfy

postulate of

the

vacuo for rays of

light of arbitrary direcboth for the system K and for the system K' This may be shown in the fol-

tion,

eliminate

tions (5), taking into (6),

(7).

the snapshot be taken from K'

if

0),

1

=

way we

this

from the equa-

/

.

lowing manner.

We

account the expression

suppose a

the origin of

obtain

K

out from

light signal sent

at the time

/

=

0.

It will

be propagated according to the equation

•(-7^)

r

we conclude

that two points and separated by the distance 1 (relative to K) will be represented on our snapshot by the distance

From

on the

this

jc-axis

or, if

=

a(^-^)

(7«

\/jc2

we

v2

+ z^= ct,

square this equation, according

x^+y^ + z'-c^t^ =

in

(10).

required by the law of propagation of

conjunction with the postulate of

light, in

transmission of the signal

relativity, that the

But from what has been said, the two snapshots must be identical; hence A.v in (7) must be equal to A.v' in {la), so ihat

+

to the equation

It is

^^

we

=

question should take place — as judged

A^' — in accordance with the corresponding formula

from

obtain

r'

=ct'

or x'2-|->.'2

{lb). 1

The equations constants a and

(6) b.

and {lb) determine the

By

inserting the values

in

(5),

(10«).

In order that equation (10a) may be a consequence of equation (10) we must have

T

of these constants in first

+ ^'2_c2r'2 =

we

x'2+>;'2

+

2'2-c2r'2

= (r{x^

obtain the

and the fourth of the equations given

on the

Section XI.

+ y^ + z^-c^t^)

(11)

Since equation {Sa) must hold for points X-axis,

we

thus have

a

=

It is

1.

easily seen that the Lorentz transformation vt

really

V '-7? (8),

^1-^ C2

Thus we have obtained

the

Lorentz

transformation for events on the x-axis. It satisfies

the condition

satisfies

for (11)

is

equation (11) for

=

1;

(9),

and hence also of (8) and (9). We have thus derived the Lorentz transformation. The Lorentz transformation represented by (8) and (9) still requires to be generalized. Obviously it is immaterial whether the axes of K' be chosen so that they are spatially parallel to those of

K.

It is

also

not essential that the velocity of translation

of K' with respect to direction of the x-axis.

470

a-

a consequence of {Sa) and

K should be in the A simple considera-

Albert Einstein

shows

tion

that

we

are able to construct

expresses

It

the Lorentz transformation in this general

linear

sense from two kinds of transformations,

t

y'

,

we

ing in other directions.

t

we can

generalized

characterize the

Lorentz transformation thus:

z'

terms of

in

t'

,

x,

y,

z,

x'2+y'^ + z'^-c^t'

special sense

Mathematically,

,

of such a kind that the relation

from Lorentz transformations in the and from purely spatial transformations, which corresponds to the replacement of the rectangular co-ordinate system by a new system with its axes pointviz.

x'

homogeneous functions of

x^

satisfied

is

identically.

+ y^ +

z^-c^t^.

That

is

to say:

substitute their expressions in

in

place of x'

,

y'

,

z'

,

(Wa)

jc,

If

y, z,

on the left-hand

t'

side, then the left-hand side

of

(1 la)

agrees

with the right-hand side.

APPENDIX

II

MINKOWSKI'S FOUR DIMENSIONAL SPACE ("WORLD") [Supplementary To Section xvii]

We

can characterize the Lorentz transstill more simply if we in-

formation

troduce the imaginary /

as time-variable.

this,

we

If,

Vin

1

-

ct in place of

accordance with

insert

x^=x x^

x^

= =

z

V^

'

pressed thus:

+x'^+xj^+x:^ = + JCo^ + JC,

(12).

by the afore-mentioned choice of "co-ordinates" (1 la) is transformed into is,

We

see from

( 1

2) that the

x^ enters

of transformation

into

imaginary time

four-dimensional continuum described

by the "co-ordinates" x^, X2, x^, x^ was called "world" by Minkowski, who also termed a point-event a "world-point." From a "happening" in three-dimensional space, physics becomes, as it were, an "existence" four-dimensional "world." This four-dimensional "world" bears a

close

similarity

to

the

three-dimensional

"space" of (Euclidean) analytical geometry. If we introduce into the latter a new Cartesian co-ordinate system ix\, x\, x' with the same origin, then x\, x\, x\ are linear

homogeneous functions of

which

identically satisfy the equation Xi'2

+ jc^'Z + x^^ = X^

We

(12)

is

-h

V+

x^, x^, X3,

X^.

a complete one.

can regard Minkowski's "world"

in a

the condition

formal manner as a four-dimensional Eu-

same way

clidean space (with imaginary time co-or-

in exactly the

as the space co-ordinates x^, x^, x^.

due

x^.

A

The analogy with

this equation.

co-ordinate

same form as the space co-

ordinates x^, x^,

in the

ct,

and similarly for the accented system K' then the condition which is identically satisfied by the transformation can be ex-

That

ural laws in the

It

is

to this fact that, according to the theory

of relativity, the "time" x^ enters into nat-

the Lorentz transformation corresponds to a "rotation" of the co-ordinate system in the four-dimensional "world." dinate);

471

RELATIVITY

APPENDIX

III

THE EXPERIMENTAL CONFIRMATION OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY a systematic theoretical point of view, we may imagine the process of

From

evolution of an empirical science to be a continuous process of induction. Theories are evolved, and are expressed in short

compass as statements of a large number of individual observations in the form of empirical

from which the general

laws,

laws can be ascertained by comparison. Regarded in this way, the development of a science bears

compilation is,

as

But

it

some resemblance

to the

of a classified catalogue.

It

were, a purely empirical enterprise.

this point

of view by no means em-

braces the whole of the actual process; for it slurs over the important part played by

and deductive thought in the development of an exact science. As soon as a science has emerged from its initial stages, theoretical advances are no longer achieved merely by a process of arrangement. Guidintuition

for existence,

ment which

so-called axioms.

thought a

We

theory.

call

the

such a system of

The theory

finds

the

justification for its existence in the fact that it

number of

correlates a large

servations,

and

it

is

"truth" of the theory

just

single ob-

here that the

lies.

of being tested, the agreement between the theories may be so complete, that it becomes difficult to find such deductions in which the two theories diff"er from each able

terest in

As an example, is

a case of general

in-

available in the province of biology,

the Darwinian theory of the develop-

ment of species by selection 472

in the struggle

of acquired

characters.

We have another instance of far-reaching agreement between the deductions from two theories in Newtonian mechanics on the one hand, and the general theory of relativity on the other. This agreement goes so far, that up to the present we have been able to find only a few deductions from the general theory of relativity which are capable of investigation, and to which the physics of pre-relativity days does not also lead, and this despite the profound difference in the fundamental assumptions of the two theories. In what follows, we shall again consider these important deductions, and we

shall

dence

discuss the empirical evi-

also

appertaining

hitherto

them which has

to

been obtained. {a)

Motion of the

Perihelion of Mercury

According to Newtonian mechanics and Newton's law of gravitation, a planet which is revolving round the sun would describe an ellipse round the latter, or, more correctly, round the common center of gravity of the sun and the planet. In such a system, the sun, or the

Corresponding to the same complex of empirical data, there may be several theories, which differ from one another to a considerable extent. But as regards the deductions from the theories which are cap-

other.

transmission

hereditary

the

ed by empirical data, the investigator rather develops a system of thought which, in general, is built up logically from a small

number of fundamental assumptions,

and in the theory of developbased on the hypothesis of

is

gravity, lies in ellipse in

common

one of the

such a manner

center of

foci of the orbital that, in the

course

of a planet-year, the distance sun-planet

grows from a minimum to a maximum, and then decreases again to a minimum. If instead of Newton's law we insert a some-

what

different

calculation,

new in

we

law of attraction into the find that,

according to this

law, the motion would

still

take place

such a manner that the distance sun-

planet exhibits periodic variations; but in this

case the angle described by the line

joining sun and planet during such a per-

,

I

Albert Einstein iod (from perihelion — closest proximity to

the sun — to perihelion)

would

differ

from

of the orbit would not then be a closed one, but in the course of time it would fill up an annular part of the orbital 360°.

The

line

plane, viz.

between the

circle of least

and

the circle of greatest distance of the planet

from the sun. According also to the general theory of relativity, which differs of course from the theory of Newton, a small variation from the Newton-Kepler motion of a planet in its orbit should take place, and in such a

The motion of the perihelion of Mercury (greatly exaggerated)

on Mercury by the remaining was found (Leverrier— 1859 —

exerted planets,

and

it

Newcomb— 1895)

way, that the angle described by the radius sun-planet between one perihelion and the next should exceed that corresponding to one complete revolution by an amount

perihelial

given by

The _247rf£f_

{N.B. — One

complete

responds to the angle 2 tt angular measure customary

e

light,

its

Our

in physics,

and

amount by

eccentricity, c the velocity of

result

may

also be stated as

According to the general theory

follows:

of relativity, the major axis of the ellipse

same sense as planet. Theory reshould amount to

rotates round the sun in the

the orbital motion of the quires that this rotation

to a

empirical

of the

few seconds

result

only.

Deflection of Light by a

(b)

and T the period of revolution of the

planet.

43 seconds of arc per century.

-I-

uncertainty

cor-

which the radius sun-planet exceeds this angle during the interval between one perihelion and the next.) In this expression a represents the major semi-axis of the ellipse,

mentioned

Gravitational Field

in the absolute

the above expression gives the

that an unexplained

of the orbit of Mer-

cury remained over, the amount of which does not differ sensibly from the above-

amounts

revolution

movement

XXII

it has been already according to the general theory of relativity, a ray of light will experience a curvature of its path when pass-

In

Section

mentioned

that,

ing through a gravitational field, this curva-

ture being similar to that experienced

path of a body which gravitational field.

As

is

by the

projected through a

a result of this theory,

we

should expect that a ray of light which is passing close to a heavenly body would be deviated towards the latter. For a ray of light

which passes the sun

A sun-radii from

its

deflection (a) should

43 seconds of arc per century for the planet

^

^

1.7

at a distance of

center, the angle of

amount

to

seconds of arc

.

A

Mercury, but for the other planets of our solar system its magnitude should be so small that it would necessarily escape de-

ry, half of this deflection

tection.^

Newtonian

It

may be added field

that,

according to the theois

produced by the

of attraction

/ *

that the theory of

of the sun, and the other half by the geometrical modifi-

/

to calculate the

cation ("curvature") of space

/ /

that of the delicacy of observation attain-

caused by the sun. This result admits of an experimental test by means of

In point of fact, astronomers have found

Newton does not suffice observed motion of Mercury with an exactness corresponding to able at the present time. After taking ac-

count

of

all

the

disturbing

Especially since the next planet Venus has an orbit is almost an exact circle, which makes it more

that

difficult to locate

/

qJa/ /

/

Oif/oz

influences

of stars during a total eclipse 1

/

the perihelion with precision.

of the sun.

/

The only reason

why we must

wait for a total

473

Fig. 5

RELATIVITY eclipse is because at every other time the atmosphere is so strongly illuminated by the light from the sun that the stars situated

near the sun's disc are invisible.

The

pre-

nents of the observed and of the calculated deviations of the stars (in seconds of arc) are set forth in the following table of results:

dicted effect can be seen clearly from the

accompanying diagram. If the sun (5) were not present, a star which is practically infinitely distant would be seen in the direction Dj, as observed from the earth. But as a consequence of the deflection of light from the star by the sun, the star will be seen in the direction D^, ie., at a somewhat greater distance from the center of the sun than corresponds to

its

Observed

The

is

Calculated

Observed

Calculated

Star

11

-0.19

-0.22

5

-hO.29

+0.31

4

+0.11

3

-H0.20

6

-hO.lO

10

-0.08

2

+0.95

+0.10 +0.12 +0.04 +0.09 +0.85

real position.

In practice, the question

following way.

Second Co-ordinate

First Co-ordinate

Number of the

+0.16 -0.46

+0.02 -0.43

+0.83

+0.74

+ 1.00

+0.87

+0.57

+0.40

+0.35 -0.27

+0.32 -0.09

tested in the

stars in the neighbor(c)

hood of the sun are photographed during a

Displacement of Spectral Lines

Towards

the

Red

solar eclipse.

In Section

In addition, a second photograph of the

same at

stars

is

taken

when

another position

months

the sun

in the sky,

earlier or later.

is

situated

i.e.,

a few

As compared

with

in

XXIII

has been shown that

it

a system K' which

is in

rotation with re-

gard to a Galileian system K, clocks of identical construction,

and which are con-

the standard photograph, the positions of

sidered at rest with respect to the rotating

on the eclipse-photograph ought appear displaced radially outwards (away from the center of the sun) by an amount corresponding to the angle a.

reference-body, go at rates which are de-

the stars

to

We are to the

indebted to the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society for the

pendent on the positions of the clocks. We shall now examine this dependence quantitatively. A clock, which is situated at a distance r from the center of the disc, has a velocity relative to K which is given by

investigation of this important deduction.

Undaunted by the war and by difficulties of both a material and a psychological nature aroused by the war, these societies e-

of rotation of the disc K' with respect to

quipped two expeditions ~ to Sobral (Brazil) and to the island of Principe (West Africa)

the clock per unit time ("rate" of the clock) relative to

— and

the "rate" of the clock {v)

sent several of Britain's

most

cele-

astronomers (Eddington, Cottingham, Crommelin, Davidson), in order to obtain photographs of the solar eclipse of brated

May

29, 1919.

The

where K.

a?

If vo

represents the angular velocity

represents the

relative to

number of

ticks of

K when the clock is at rest, then K

when it is moving

with a velocity

with respect to the disc,

v,

will, in

but at rest

accordance

with Section XII, be given by

relative discrepancies

to be expected between the stellar photographs obtained during the eclipse and the comparison photographs amounted to a

=

"0^1^

or with sufficient accuracy by

few hundredths of a millimetre only. Thus great accuracy was necessary in making the adjustments required for the taking of the photographs, and in their subsequent measurement.

The results of the measurements confirmed the theory in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. The rectangular compo474

This expression following form:

may

also be stated in the

•('-?--?)

Albert Einstein If

we

represent the difference of potential

of the centrifugal force between the position

of the clock and the center of the disc by 0, i.e., the work, considered negatively,

which must be performed on the unit of mass against the centrifugal force in order to transport it from the position of the clock on the rotating disc to the center of the disc, then we have

From

-^

-

= it

follows that

In the

first

we

place,

at

center of the disc. This result

is

from the

is

disc, the latter

hence the result we have obtained generally

we can

will

gravitational

for

r

is

known. an open question whether or not this and at the present time astronomers are working with great zeal towards It is

effect exists,

Owing

to the smallness of the is difficult

it

doubt,

a gravitational field of potential

quite

general

also valid

when

rotating with the disc.

as judged

in

nor the radius

from the

from the standpoint of an observer who

Now,

M

mass

neither the

form an opinion as to its existence. Whereas Grebe and Bachem (Bonn), as a result of their own measurements and those of Evershed and Schwarzschild on the cyanogen bands, have placed the existence of the effect almost beyond

see from this ex-

distances

different

not possible

is

case of the stars, because

to

struction will go at different rates situated

other

investigators,

particularly

John, have been led to the opposite opinion in consequence of their measurements. Mean displacements of lines towards the St.

,

hold

fields.

refrangible end of the spectrum are

less

by

revealed

certainly

investi-

statistical

regard an atom which

gations of the fixed stars; but up to the pre-

emitting spectral lines as a clock, so that

sent the examination of the available data does not allow of any definite decision be-

Furthermore, is

trustworthy calculation

in the

effect in the case of the sun,

pression that two clocks of identical con-

in

A

the solution. this

ing arrived at, as to

er,

and discussed

K

M —

,

where

constant of gravitation, and

K

M

in detail

in reality

The

the effect of gravitation.

to

results

from the stand-

point of the question which has been en-

gaging our attention here,

in a paper by E. Freundlich entitled "Zur Priifung der allge-

meinen

Relativitats-Theorie"

turwissenschaften,

= -

whether or not these

Na-

(Die

1919, No. 35,

p.

520:

Julius Springer, Berlin). is

is

Newton's the

mass

At

all

events, a definite decision will be

reached during the next few years.

If the

Thus a displacement

displacement of spectral lines towards the

towards the red ought to take place for spectral lines produced at the surface of

red by the gravitational potential does not

compared with the spectral lines of the same element produced at the surface of the earth, the amount of this dis-

will

cause of the displacement of spectral lines

placement being

potential, then the study of this displace-

of the heavenly body.

stars as

exist,

then the general theory of relativity

be untenable.

be definitely

ment

will

On

traced

furnish

us

the other hand,

to

the

with

if

the

gravitational

important

in-

formation as to the mass of the heavenly c2

r

bodies.

475

NOTE TO THE READER Einstein

participates significantly in the

"great conversation" that takes place

among

the authors of Great

Western

World.

ideas

basic

Galileo, and

He

Books of the same

discusses the

and problems as Aristotle, Newton. There can be no bet-

ter preparation for

Under Topic 5, "The basic phenomena and problems of mechanics: statics and dynamics," there are several relevant

5e.

Rectilinear motion

Uniform motion: and laws

(1)

understanding Einstein's

thought than to read what his predecessors

is

This

will

help the reader to see what

5/

be consulted

several chapin

connection

are obvious choices as starting points,

but the chapters on

Mechanics and Phys-

ics are also valuable.

the

introductory

Perturbation of motion: the two and three body problems Under Topic 6, "Basic concepts of mechanics," the following topics should prove (2)

rewarding:

In each of these chapters, the reader will find

essays helpful.

6d.

Force:

In (1)

addition,

the

following

topics

the most relevant passages Books of the Western World: to

will in

lead

The

(2)

role of space or place in local

I.

its effects^

mass and

force:

Action-at-a-distance:

the

field

and medium of force The chapter on Physics deals mainly with the nature and method of the natural

motion: the theory of proper places;

sciences.

absolute and relative space

following topics:

Time:

kinds and

relation of

its

The

the law of universal gravitation

Great

Space: 2a.

planets, pro-

Determination of orbit, force, speed, time, and period

(1)

ters that should

Time

Motion about a center: pendulum

jectiles,

concepts.

with the theory of relativity. Space and

causes

fall

revolutionary in Einstein's view of these

The Syntopicon contains

its

Accelerated motion: free

(2)

thought about space, time, motion, mass, etc.

subgroups

of topics:

The reader should

consult the

Physics:

The nature of time: time

as duration or 2.

as the measure of motion; time as a con-

tinuous quantity; absolute and relative

time

Experimental physics and the empirof experimental and philosophical physical natural sciences: the relation

ics

Mechanics: 1 The foundations of mechanics

2a.

la.

Matter, mass, atoms: the pri-

lb.

mary qualities of bodies The laws of motion: the

Ic.

476

derivation of definitions,

and principles from

the philosophy of nature: the

metaphysics of the scientist inertia;

measure of force; action

and reaction Space and time of motion

The

distinctions,

.

2b.

The treatment of causes ics:

in the analysis

in phil-

osophical and empirical physdescription

and explana-

theory and prediction In Great Books of the Western World, tion,

Albert Einstein the following passages contain the tailed treatments

Aristotle, 10-14,

Physics,

Vol.

most de-

of space and time:

8,

pp.

IV,

Bk.

Ch.

287a-292c,

1-5,

297c-

304a,c

This question also occupies a great deal of Faraday's attention. References to this

problem are scattered throughout

his

work.

The following pages will give the reader some indication of his thinking on the subject:

Newton, Natural

Mathematical

Principles

of

Scholium — Defi-

Philosophy,

nition VIII, Vol. 34, pp. 8b- 13a.

in

528c-532a,

Britannica for the articles on Relativ-

Optics, Question 31, Vol. 34,

ity; Relativity: Philosophical Consequences; and Space-Time. The last article was contributed by Einstein himself.

possibility

Newton

tance:

pp.

Researches pp.

dis-

the end of the Optics,

Newton,

45,

of action-at-a-dis-

Human Knowl-

436b

the

Vol.

816b,d-819a,c

edge, Sect. 110-117, Vol. 35, pp. 434b-

At

Experimental

Electricity,

The reader who wishes to read more about space, time, and relativity will find lists of additional readings at the end of the Syntopicon chapters mentioned above. He may also wish to consult the Encyclopcedia

Berkeley, Principles of

cusses

Faraday,

531b-544a

477

Moliere

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Translated by Morris Bishop

Moliere

might surprise a twentieth-century reader to learn that MoHere's in its time and was threatened with suppression because of its language and subject matter. Moliere was subjected to considerable personal criticism, but both play and author found protection at the hands of King Louis XIV, the playwright's enthusiastic but demanding patron. The original production of the play, in which Moliere himself appeared as Arnolphe, was an immediate success. The School for Wives is a love story and comedy which centers around the custom of arranged marriages. Though it is scarcely forty years since women have attained the right to vote in the United States and the United Kingdom, we tend to forget the inferior legal status to which they were relegated throughout the rest of Western history. In seventeenth-century France, the setting for Moliere's play, women not only could not vote or otherwise participate in the affairs of government, but frequently they could not own property and were legally considered to be the wards of their fathers and husbands. Under such circumstances, it was plausible to consider women incompetent to select their own marriage partners. Consequently, Moliere's contemporaries were shocked by the playwright's unfavorable treatment of the custom of arranged marriages. Nor was this the only criticism voiced against The School for Wives. Some playgoers professed to be shocked by the way in which Moliere handled talk about sex. Others claimed that he used the stage merely to mock and humiliate certain of his contemporaries. Some critics claimed that Moliere's play failed to live up to the requirements of classic drama. Moliere considered these charges as sufficiently serious to require an answer:

It

The School for Wives was a controversial play

That

manners and customs, and only indirectly at innot apply these general criticisms to ourselves; and let's profit by the lesson, if we can, without suggesting that we are the objects of it. All these ridiculous exaggerations we see on the stage ought not to be taken to heart. They are public mirrors and if we take offense at reproof, we are making a public confession of our faults.^ sort of satire hits at

dividuals.

So

let's

.

1

The Critique of The School for Wives

in

Modem Library,

13

York: The

480

1957), p.

1

.

.

Eight Plays by Moliere, trans, by Morris Bishop

(New

Introduction

Furthermore, Moliere maintained that

it

is

particularly difficult to

write comic plays: are painting men. you must paint from nature. Everyone Hkenesses resemble reahty; and you haven't accompHshed anything, unless you make your audience recognize the men of our own time. In a word, in serious plays, all you need to do. to escape criticism, is to say reasonable things in good style. But in the lighter plays that isn't enough: you have to amuse. And it's a strange enterprise, to make honest .

.

.

when you

insists that the

folk laugh.

For

Moliere has been acclaimed

his efforts in this "strange enterprise,"

for over three centuries.

Moliere

was born Jean Baptiste Poquelin

in

mid-January, 1622,

the son of a respectable and upper middle-class Parisian crafts-

man, Jean Poquelin. The family had been upholsterers for generations; Moliere's father had the honor to be appointed the official valet tapissier to the King, a position which Moliere inherited but later resigned. The father, ambitious that his son should receive a good education, arranged for him to attend the excellent Jesuit school. College de Clermont. After completing the classical curriculum there, Moliere constudies under the famous priest-philosopher-epicurean, Pierre Gassendi. Gassendi, a critic of Descartes and an exponent of

tinued his

seventeenth-century atomism, was also tutoring the great swordsman and man-about-town, Cyrano de Bergerac. It is thought that Moliere received part of his initiation into the night

life

of Paris in the

company

of Cyrano. In 1643, to the disappointment of his father, Moliere rejected the family business and instead formed a theatrical company with Madeleine Bejart, an actress and business woman who starred in the produc-

company. Here Moliere received his first acting experience. was not a financial success, and Moliere was even imprisoned for a short time by one of the creditors of the com-

tions of his

However,

the adventure

pany. His father

came

to the rescue, but

if

he expected his son to

re-

turn to the upholstery business, he was disappointed. The Illustre Theatre, as the company named itself, having undergone bankruptcy

went on a tour of the provinces, and from 1645 to 1658 Moliere served his apprenticeship in the theatre, progressing from minor to more important roles and presumably trying his hand at writ-

in Paris,

ing.

Although the years had

their hardships, they also

had

their

compen-

The company made money and won the attention and patronage of important people. One of their protectors was the Prince de Conti, a relative of Louis XIV, who served to introduce the company sations.

appearance before the King, Moliere chose to present a tragedy of Corneille's, Nicomede. Although the performance was satisfactory, it was not exceptional. Moliere, sensing his opporto the Court. In his first

2

I bid.,

pp.

115-116

481

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES, INTRODUCTION made a curtain speech in which he asked permission to present then and there one of the entertainments that his group had been offering in the provinces. Permission was granted, and Moliere and his tunity,

company amused and charmed the Court with a comedy, Le Docteur amoureux (Love's the Best Doctor). This was the beginning of an association with the King which lasted until Moliere's death.

was assured. In 1662 he married Armande be the youngest sister of Madeleine Bejart with whom he had begun his career. From 1660 on, Moliere's company was installed at the Palais-Royal and gave regular performances of his comedies, which satirized the manners and customs of the day. Les Precieuses ridicules (The Precious Damsels) mocked the excessive attention given to matters of speech and fashion; L'Ecole des maris (The School for Husbands) satirically treated opposed views of education; Le Misanthrope exposed the vice of being too virtuous to live with the rest of mankind; and a series of plays written while Moliere himself was sick and dying, most notably Le Medecin malgre lui (The Physician in Spite of Himself), caricatured the shortcomings of sevenMoliere's worldly success

Bejart, said to

teenth-century medicine. Moliere's increasing theatrical success was accompanied, however,

by

his physical

at the

decUne.

command

He worked

under great pressure

to turn out,

of the King, Court entertainments, such as the com-

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Would-be Gentleman). Other playwrights, jealous of Moliere's success, severely attacked his work; the Church censored Tartuffe, because of its portrayal of a religious hypocrite, and it took the King to rescue the work from tjireatened oblivion. Though Moliere's health declined, he kept working on a play, Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), about a man with an imagined illness. He performed the leading part in this play on the day of his death. On February 17, 1673, Moliere's wife and friends, observing the poor state of his health, urged him not to go through with that night's performance. He replied that some fifty people were depending on him for work and that he must go on. He did, managing to get through the performance, though convulsed with a fit of coughing at one point. He was carried home and called for a priest. While someone sought in vain for a clergyman to administer the Last Sacraments, Moliere died, cared for by two nuns whom he had invited to stay at his home when they had come to Paris to beg their Lenten alms. According to the custom of the time, an actor had to renounce his profession if he were to become reconciled with the Church. In view of the suddenness of Moliere's death, he did not have the opportunity for this reconciliation, and so he was denied burial in consecrated ground. However, through the intercession of King Louis XIV, in response to the pleas of Moliere's wife, Moliere was given a religious funeral without pomp or ceremony. His grave went unmarked for hisedy-ballet

tory.

482

Moliere and his company ofplayers

THE CHARACTERS also known as Monsieur Delafield AGNES, Arnolphe's ward

ARNOLPHE

HORACE ALAIN, peasant, Arnolphe's servant

GEORGETTE, Alain's wife CHRYSALDE, friend of Arnolphe ENRIQUE, Chrysalde's brother-in-law ORONTE, father of Horace

A NOTARY is a quiet street in a residential section of a provincial city. At the rear, the facade of a house, with practicable second-story casement windows. In front of the house, a small garden with a grilled gate. Outside the

The scene

low enclosure, an arbor, with garden seats and a

ACT

table.

I

CHRYSALDE and ARNOLPHE

are discovered.

CHRYSALDE: And so you say you've come to marry her? arnolphe: I want to get it over by tomorrow. CHRYSALDE: We are alone; we can't be overheard; So let's discuss the matter somewhat frankly. Perhaps you'd care to have a friend's opinion?

Your project is alarming — for your And any way you look at it, I think It's

arnolphe:

sake.

a rash act for you to take a wife.

may well be, Chrysalde, that you have reason To find that marriage is a chancy state; And one who feels the horns upon his brow It

May well believe that they're CHRYSALDE: Fate

inevitable.

plants the horns according to

its

whim;

All one's precautions are a waste of time.

But you're

in special

danger, from your habit

Of making fun of every hapless husband. And you know well no cuckold, high or lowly. Escapes the malice of your mockery.

483

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES

My dear Arnolphe, your greatest pleasure is arnolphe:

To bring to light invisible intrigues — Why, very well is there another town Where husbands are so patient and enduring? ;

We have examples here of every sort Who get their just deserts within the home. One piles up wealth; his wife distributes it To those who undertake to make him cuckold. Another, somewhat happier, I admit. Allows his wife to pocket handsome presents, And never thinks of showing jealousy. Because, she says, they're tributes to her virtue. There's one who shouts and storms, without effect;

Another calmly

lets things

take their course.

And when he sees a gallant come to call. He decently takes his hat and overcoat. One cunning lady tells her faithful spouse About

the foul proposals of her friend.

And so

she

lulls

him, and he smiles and pities

The gallant for his Another lady,

all

pains — which are not wasted.

too prosperous.

Ascribes her purchases to luck at gaming. Her husband doesn't know what game she plays, And renders thanks to heaven for her winnings. So, with such themes for comedy around. May I not, as a witness, be amused?

And not — chrysalde:

Why, yes but he who laughs at others Must fear that others will have their laugh at him. Now, I hear gossip, when the gossipers ;

Recount the current scandals of the town; yet, whatever juicy tales I learn. No one has ever heard me gloat about them. I keep my counsel; even though I may

And

Condemn some manifestations heartily, And though I've no intention of enduring What certain husbands I

don't proclaim

placidly accept,

my purpose openly;

tables may be turned. dangerous to swear what one will do. Or what one won't, in such a circumstance. For if, by some fatality, the horns Of cuckoldry should sprout upon my brow, I think that my behavior will ensure That any mockery will be well hidden. Even, perhaps, some kindly folk will say That my affliction is regrettable. But you, Arnolphe, would find it otherwise; The risk you run is devilishly great. Since you have always joked most savagely About your comrades' marital misfortunes.

For after all, the It's

484

Moliere Since you have chosen to be merciless, take the challenge;

You must beware lest others And any hint of infidelity

Will be the joy of every tattletale.

And

if-

My good Chrysalde, you needn't worry.

arnolphe:

No one is going to make a fool of m^-; For I know all the tricks, all the devices That ladies use to victimize their husbands,

And I know how they work their sleight-of-hand, And so I've taken adequate precautions. The girl

I'll

marry

is

an innocent,

And her simplicity is my protection. chrysalde: And you imagine that simplicity — arnolphe: One isn't simple to take a simple wife. Of course I know your wife But an

intelligent

woman

is

virtuous.

isn't safe.

I know what certain friends of mine have suffered For marrying women with too many talents. I'll

hardly pick an intellectual,

Whose talk is all of literary clubs,

Who writes seductively in prose and verse. While

I

am just the lovely lady's husband,

A saint, of course, but one without worshipers. No,

I

don't care for the blue-stocking type;

books, she knows a lot too much. want her so sublimely ignorant That she won't even know that words can rhyme. Why, if one plays the crambo-game,^ you know"What goes in?" you ask, and expect a rhyme-word I'd gladly have her answer: "A cream tart!" Let her have no accomplishments at all. If she writes I

be satisfied if she knows how say her prayers, and sew and spin, and love me. chrysalde: So it's your whim to have a stupid wife? arnolphe: Exactly. I'd rather have an ugly fool I

shall

To

Than a beautiful woman with

intelligence.

chrysalde: Beauty and charm — Morality's enough. arnolphe: chrysalde: But how do you expect a simpleton Will ever understand morality? I needn't mention what a dreadful bore One's life would be beside a witless wife; But do you think your principle is sound, That it's a guarantee against disaster?

A clever woman may betray her faith; At least, The fool

she has to do so consciously. is

often false without intention,

Hardly aware of what 1

Corbillon, a parlor game in which one a rhyming response.

it is

she does.

side asks a question

demanding

485

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES arnolphe:

Let

me reply by quoting

Rabelais.

Pantagruel answered his friend Panurge:

"Offer me any woman but a fool, And preach and pound from now to Pentecost, And you will be astounded to discover You will not have convinced me an iota."

chrysalde

All right; enough.

arnolphe:

Everyone has his method. have my own; and it applies to marriage. I'm rich enough to do without a dowry; My wife will be dependent upon me. She'll be in no position to allege I

Her property I

noticed her

rights, or

when

her superior birth.

she was four years old.

And I was taken by her modest air. Her mother was destitute, and so I had The idea of asking for her guardianship. And the good peasant woman was delighted To make provision for her daughter's welfare. In a small convent, off the beaten track, I had her educated by my system. That is, I furnished them a set of rules

To cultivate her simple-mindedness. And God be praised, the process was

successful.

Now she is grown; and she's so innocent That

I

bless

heaven which has favored me,

Making a bride

to

fit

my specifications.

my house always open to all sorts of people. And since one always should foresee the worst, I have installed her in that small house yonder. And to preserve unspoiled her natural goodness, I've chosen servants simple as herself. She's out of the convent now; but since Is

You wonder why I tell you this long story? Simply to show how carefully I work. And since you're one of my best and oldest friends, I'd like to have you sup with me tonight. You'll have a chance to examine her a

you will be happy to.

We'll see

chrysalde arnolphe:

I

shall

criticize

if

little;

my choice.

You will be able To judge her person and her innocence.

CHRYSALDE: Well, as

for that,

all

that you've just related

Certainly proves —

arnolphe:

I

have been understating.

Why, her naive remarks are my delight. Some of them make me nearly die with laughing. The other day — and this you'll hardly credit — She was much troubled, and she came to ask me, In absolute and perfect innocence. If children are

486

begotten through the ear!

Moliere

chrysalde: I'm very glad, Seigneur Arnolphe — Now look! arnolphe: Why must you always call me by that name? chrysalde: It's automatic; and despite myself I never think of Monsieur Delafield. Anyway, what possessed you, at the age

Of forty-two,

to unbaptize yourself,

And give yourself an aristocratic name After a stony

arnolphe:

field

on your country place?

The name not only goes with

the property,

But Delafield sounds better than Arnolphe. chrysalde But why should you renounce your father's name, To take one which is only fanciful? The process, to be sure, is all the rage. I am reminded — not by comparison — Of a poor countryman named Peterkin, Who owned a wretched acre or two of land; He dug a muddy ditch around the field. And proudly called himself Monsieur de I'lsle. arnolphe: Such an example has no application.

Remember that my name is It's legally

Delafield.

warranted; besides,

I

like

it.

To call me anything else is disobliging. chrysalde:

It's

hard for people to get used to

it.

Your mail comes mostly to Seigneur Arnolphe. arnolphe:

can accept Arnolphe from the uninformed. But you — I

chrysalde:

All right.

I

shan't insist

upon

it.

do violence to my ancient habit, And call you only Monsieur Delafield. arnolphe: Good-by. I'll merely knock by way of greeting, So that they'll know that I am home again. chrysalde {aside): Really, poor old Arnolphe is off his head! {Exit CHRYSALDE.) arnolphe: On certain subjects he's a little cracked. It's always curious to see how people So desperately cling to their opinions. {Knocking at gate) I

shall

Hola! {The head o/alain appears at upper window. does not at first see arnolphe.) ALAIN:

Who's there?

arnolphe:

Open! {To himself) They I

ALAIN:

arnolphe: ALAIN

GEORGETTE ALAIN:

He

think, to see

will

be pleased,

me after ten days' absence.

Who is it? Me. {without looking at arnolphe, calls to a lower window): Georgette!

head out of lower window and looking up at ALAIN): What? {putting her

Open

the door!

487

:

!

!

!

!

!

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES georgette: You do

it!

No, you do

ALAIN:

it!

georgette: ALAIN:

arnolphe:

Faith,

{Slams window shut.) And I won't neither! (Slams his window shut.) What's

To leave me

I

this

won't!

hocus-pocus?

here outside!

(Pounds knocker) Hola there!

Ho!

GEORGETTE (opening window): Who's there? arnolphe: Your master! GEORGETTE (frightened): Alain! ALAIN What? (opening window): georgette:

It's

Master!

Open the door!

You do

ALAIN:

georgette:

it!

I'm blowing the

fire.

ALAIN:

I'm keeping the cat from catching the canary.

arnolphe:

Whoever doesn't open the door for me

(Both windows slam shut.) Will get no food during four days at least.

GEORGETTE

(ALAIN and GEORGETTE appear, blocking each other in doorway.) (to ALAIN) Why do you come when I am almost :

there?

ALAIN:

Why you, not me? A trick A !

strodagem

georgette: Get out of here

Get out of here

ALAIN:

yourself!

(They emerge from doorway and run to gate.) georgette: I want to open the gate ALAIN: I want to, too (They struggle.) georgette: You won't! ALAIN: Well, you won't neither! georgette: Neither will you ARNOLPHE ( to himself): Surely I have a very patient spirit! (ALAIN and GEORGETTE Open the gate together.) ALAIN: I opened it! georgette: Like fun you did 'Twas me ALAIN Saving the presence of our master here, I'd(alain throws himself on georgette, who dodges behind arnolphe. arnolphe receives alain's !

blow.)

arnolphe:

Curses!

ALAIN:

I

beg your pardon.

arnolphe: ALAIN:

arnolphe: 488

You clumsy fool It's

her

fault, sir!

Now both of you be quiet.

!

Moliere

ALAIN

Answer my questions; let's have no more nonsense. Now, Alain, how have things been going here? Why, things, sir — (arnolphe removes alain's hat from his head: ALAIN, uncomprehending replaces Everything — ,

{Same

it)

business)

Thanks be

to

God,

We've been —

ARNOLPHE

{removes alain's hat and throws

it on ground): you impudent rogue. To wear your hat while speaking to your master? You're right. Now ask Miss Agnes to come down. {Exit ALAIN) Was she unhappy when I went away?

Where

alain:

arnolphe:

did

you

learn,

georgette: Unhappy? No arnolphe: No? georgette: Yes, she was! And how? arnolphe: georgette: Why, she kept thinking you'd be coming back. We didn't hear a horse or mule or ass

arnolphe:

Pass by, without she thought it might be you. {Enter agnes, carrying needlework, and alain.) She has her work in hand; that's a good sign. Well, Agnes, here I am back from my journey.

And are you pleased? agnes:

arnolphe:

Oh yes, sir, God be And I am very pleased to see you too. You've been as

well,

I

praised.

hope, as you appear?

agnes:

Why yes; though the fleas bothered me last night.

arnolphe:

You'll soon have

agnes:

That

arnolphe:

Yes; I imagine What's that you're making?

will

be

someone who

will drive

off.

so.

A linen cap for me.

agnes:

Your nightshirts and your nightcaps arnolphe:

them

nice.

That's excellent.

are

all

done.

Now go upstairs again.

Keep yourself busy.

I

shall

come back

soon.

have important things to talk about. {Exit ALAIN, GEORGETTE, \GNES) Heroines of our time, and learned ladies. Partisans of the simpering, love-sick mode, I defy you and all your prose and poems. Your novels and your billets-doux, to equal This decent, modest, honest ignorance. I'll

{Enter Horace) In marriage, money's not the important thing. If

HORACE:

honor's there - Who's this?

Or maybe not. My dear Ar

It is,

It

can't be -

though! Yes,

it's

Yes

Horace!

489

!

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Horace

arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe:

Arnolphe

What a

surprise!

How long have you been in town? HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe:

Just eight days. Really! I

called

I'd

first

gone

your house, but you weren't there.

to the country.

Yes; two days before. Well,

how young people grow in a few short years!

It's really

HORACE: arnolphe:

at

amazing

to see

you as you

are,

When I remember you no bigger than that! You see — Enough of that. Your father Oronte,

My excellent friend, whom I esteem and honor. What is he up to? He's still gay and hearty? He knows I'm interested in all his news.

We haven't seen each other for four years; In fact,

HORACE:

we haven't written in all that time.

Seigneur Arnolphe, he's gayer than you and

I

are!

He gave me a letter to present to you. But now a later message has informed me He's coming in person; he hasn't told me why. Do you perhaps know of a local man

arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE:

Who's coming home soon with a lot of money He's made in fourteen years in America? No; no. You wouldn't know his name? Enrique.

No;

no.

Well, father speaks of his return

As if I ought to be acquainted with him. And they expect, he says, to travel together To treat an important matter; he doesn't say what. {He hands arnolphe:

I'll

And

HORACE:

arnolphe:

arnolphe.) him again, give him a proper welcome here.

letter to

certainly be glad to see I

shall

{Reads letter, and pockets it) Old friends hardly require such protestations; He needn't waste his time in mere politeness. Without a word from him, I would have offered To let you draw on me, if you need cash. Since you're so cordial, I'll take you at your word. I do in fact need some pistoles. A hundred. Why, it's a pleasure to have you act so frankly; And by a fortunate chance I have them on me. {Hands a fat purse to Horace, who starts to empty it)

Keep the purse,

too.

HORACE: arnolphe:

But

must give you — Nonsense!

Tell me, Horace,

490

I

how do you find our city?

Moliere

HORACE:

Busy and with some very handsome ;

And arnolphe:

I

buildings.

suspect that people enjoy themselves.

Everyone seeks

for pleasures to his taste.

And those they call the gay Find plenty of opportunity

Lotharios

town.

in this

Our women know the tricks of coquetry, And both brunettes and blondes are- very kind. And husbands are uncommonly indulgent. Why, it's a happy hunting ground! I often Get much amusement from the goings-on. Perhaps you've smitten some tender heart already? Some gallant enterprise among the ladies? Good looks like yours get more than money will;

You are the type that manufactures cuckolds. HORACE:

Why, there's no reason I should In fact, I've landed in a

HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE:

hide the truth.

adventure.

tell you, if you'd be amused. can see a spicy story coming, An item I can add to my collection. But please, it must be absolutely secret. I'll

arnolphe:

little

gladly

Good!

I

Of course! You're well aware that If anything leaks out, the affair

is

in these matters.

ended.

I will admit to you in utter frankness That I've been captured by a lovely lady. And my attentions have been so successful That I have taken the first important steps. I mustn't boast, or do her any wrong, But I can say that things look promising.

ARNOLPHE HORACE

{laughing)'.

Who is she?

{pointing to agnes' house):

She's a beautiful

girl

who lives

In this very house, with the red vines on the walls. She is naive; but that's the fault of a man

Who hides her away from contact with the world. Although he tries to keep her ignorant. She shows the most entrancing qualities: A sweet, engaging air, with something tender About her, which is utterly captivating. But possibly you've seen her, that young star

Of love, so radiant with every charm Her name is Agnes. ARNOLPHE

{aside):

Hellfire!

The man's name

HORACE:

Delavan or Delaware or something. wasn't much concerned about his name.

Is I

Rich, so they say, but not intelligent. In fact, they say he's rather ridiculous.

You wouldn't know him? ARNOLPHE

{aside):

HORACE:

You didn't speak?

This

is

too

much

to take

491

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE:

What? Oh He's crazy,

isn't

yes, yes,

I

know

him.

he?

WellIs that your answer? "Well — " That means yes. Also absurdly jealous?

A fool?

I

my

see

information's good.

Agnes fascinates me. She is a lovely and alluring creature. It would be sinful if so rare a creature Should stay in the clutches of that nincompoop. So I shall bend all my most earnest efforts In short, the charming

To winning her heart, despite The money

that

I

the jealous ogre.

borrowed so brazenly

Will serve in bringing

my enterprise to pass.

For you know well that labor's not enough, And money is the key to victory. That pleasant metal has the power to smite And to make conquests, in both war and love. You're looking very solemn. Can it be That you do not in fact approve my purpose?

arnolphe: HORACE:

No;

I

was thinking — I

Good-by.

I'll

call at

am boring you.

your house to state

my thanks.

{Starts to leave.)

arnolphe HORACE

{to himself):

Oh,

it

must be — Again, please be discreet.

{returning):

Kindly don't

tell

my secret to a soul.

{Starts to leave.)

ARNOLPHE HORACE

{to himself):

This

arnolphe:

That

I

must suffer— Especially to

{returning): is

the kind of thing that

my father.

makes him angry.

Yes. {Exit

that

HORACE; ARNOLPHE,

HORACE

is

after a false presentiment

again returning, sinks down on a

bench)

Oh, how I suffered during that interview! Was anyone ever so disturbed in mind How recklessly, and how imprudently. He came and told me all about his dealings! Though my new name was strange to him, no fool Ever ran quite so eagerly In spite of my pain,

To learn

I

into folly!

should have led him on.

exactly what

I

have

to fear.

should have pushed his indiscretion further. To find the purport of their conversations. I

catch him up. He isn't far, I think. need complete disclosure of the facts.

I'll

I

I tremble at my possible misfortunes; Often we seek more than we wish to find.

492

Moliere

Arnolphe: So, you have plotted together to betray me!

ACTII Enter arnolphe.

arnolphe:

Perhaps

it

was a good

thing after

all

and couldn't run him down. For I might well have given him a hint Of my obsessing agony of mind; I might not have contained 'my secret grief. It's best he should remain in ignorance. But I'm not one to take things lying down, And leave the way wide open to that gosling. I'll spoke his wheels! I'll find out right away I

lost his track

How much of an understanding he's obtained. I

my honor, my wife already.

take a notable interest in

And

I

regard her as

So any

fault of hers is

shame

to

And I am chargeable for what

alain:

arnolphe:

me.

she's done.

Curses! Why did I ever go away? {He knocks at gate. The door flies open. Enter ALAIN and GEORGETTE.) Ah, sir, this time Silence! Come here, you two. This way, this way. Come here, come here, I tell you.

georgette

{falling

arnolphe:

You frighten me, sir. Faith, you curdle my blood. So, this is how you obey me in my absence!

on her knees):

So, you have plotted together to betray me! georgette: Don't eat me alive, monsieur, I beg of you! {aside): I vow, a mad dog must have bitten him! ALAIN

arnolphe

{aside):

Ouf!

I

can't speak,

My blood's aboil; {Aloud)

And

so,

I

have such premonitions!

I'd like to pull

you

dirty dogs,

my clothes off. you have permitted

A man to come here! (ALAIN starts

to run

away)

Ha! You would escape! 493

:

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES {To georgette) You must immediately — Don't move! (To alain) I want To have you tell me — Uh! I want you both — (ALAIN and GEORGETTE nse and try to flee) If anyone moves, I swear to God I'll kill him! How did that fellow get into the house? Come on, speak up! Hurry! Quick! Right away! Without delay! ALAIN flAz J GEORGETTE {on their knee s)\ Oh! Oh! My heart has stopped! GEORGETTE: ALAIN:

I'm dead!

ARNOLPHE

{aside):

I'm sweating so, I must cool off. must calm down, and take a little walk. Could I have guessed, when he was just a boy, That he would grow — to this? God, how I suffer! I think it would be best if I could get I

From her own lips I

must attempt

Be

still,

the truth about the matter.

to hide

my heart;

my bitterness. my heart; go

softly,

softly.

{Aloud) Get up, and ask your mistress to descend. No. Stop. {Aside) I'd lose the advantage of surprise. They would inform her of my troubled state. I'll go and ask her to come down myself. {Aloud) Wait for me here. {Exit ARNOLPHE.) GEORGETTE: Oh, isn't he terrible He scared me with his looks, he scared me so! I never saw such a hideous Christian man! ALAIN: The other gentleman made him mad; I told you. georgette: But why does he make such an almighty fuss About our keeping the lady shut in the house? Why does he want to hide her from everyone,

And not let anybody at all come near her? Because such things arouse his jealousy. georgette: But how does it come that he has that idea? ALAIN That comes from the fact — from the fact that he alain:

is

jealous.

georgette: But why alain:

is he jealous? And why does he get so angry? Why, jealousy — now get this well, Georgette —

Jealousy's something which upsets a man,

And makes him chase all other men away. I'm going to give you a comparison

To help you understand the matter better. Isn't it true that when you've got your stew, If a hungry man should come and try to eat it, You would get mad, and poke him on the nose? georgette:

I

understand

that.

alain:

Well,

The woman

is

just the same. stew of man;

it's

in fact the

And sometimes when a man 494

sees other

men

Moliere

Trying to dip their fingers in his stew, Right away he displays a terrible anger. georgette: But why don't everybody act the same?

Why do some husbands look so very pleased ALAIN:

To have their wives out with fine gentlemen? It isn't every man who is so greedy

He wants it all for himself. georgette:

Unless I'm blind,

He's coming back.

Your eyes

ALAIN:

georgette:

Isn't

are good;

him.

it's

he sulky!

ALAIN:

Well, he has his troubles.

arnolphe.) {aside): A Greek once gave (EAz/er

arnolphe

to

Emperor Augustus

A piece of useful, sensible advice. He said that when we're overcome by anger.

We should at once recite the alphabet. To give our fury a chance to spend itself, And to prevent our doing something foolish. That's what I've done, with reference to Agnes. I've asked her to

Under the

come down and join me

here.

pretext of a promenade,

that the sick suspicions of my mind May bring her to the subject casually.

So

Thus

may probe her heart and learn the truth. Agnes, come out. {To alain and georgette)

I

(Calls)

Go in. {Exit

ALAIN

flAl

J GEORGETTE. E^^^r AGNES. The tWO

stroll in silence)

nice to walk.

It's

AGNES:

Very.

The day

arnolphe:

is fine.

AGNES:

Very.

What news?

arnolphe: AGNES:

The kitten's

dead.

Why,

arnolphe:

that's too bad.

But

still.

We are all mortal; we must take our chances. Didn't

AGNES:

it

rain while

I

was

in the

And were you

arnolphe:

bored?

AGNES:

arnolphe:

country?

Oh, no. I'm never bored.

What have you done

during the past ten days?

and half a dozen

AGNES:

Six shirts,

arnolphe:

{after a meditative pause):

I

think,

coifs.

The world, dear Agnes, For people

Some

talk,

is a funny place. and often slanderously.

neighbors say that while

I

was away

A strange young man has visited the house, And you I

received him, listening to his

talk.

put no credit in this ugly gossip,

And I would wager it's entirely false — 495

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES AGNES:

arnolphe: AGNES:

ARNOLPHE

You'd better not, for you would certainly lose. What! It is true that a manOh, absolutely! I vow, he hardly left the house at all! (aside): At least, the admission made with sincerity Indicates the simplicity of her mind.

(Aloud) But if my memory is good, I had forbidden you to see anyone.

AGNES:

arnolphe: AGNES:

arnolphe:

I

think

Yes, but although I saw him, you don't know why. You would have done the same thing in my place. Perhaps. But tell me the story anyway. It's really astonishing, and hard to believe. I'd taken my work to the cool of the balcony. And then I saw, under the nearby trees, A very fine young man. He caught my eye. And he saluted me with a humble bow. And since I didn't wish to be impolite, I made a proper bow in acknowledgment. All of a sudden he makes another bow. And so immediately I make one too. And then he makes another one, his third, So I return a third one of my own. He passes by, comes back; and every time He makes a new and lower reverence. I watched him closely, and to each salute I answered, bowing very civilly. In fact, if the dark of night had not come down, I think I would have been right there forever. I didn't want to yield, and let him think That I could be less courteous than he.

Why, fine. Next day, when

AGNES:

I

was

at the door.

There came an elderly woman, and she said: "My dear, God bless you most abundantly. And keep you ever beautiful and blooming! He did not make you such a pretty person In order to

ill

use his kindly

gifts;

And you must know you have

severely

wounded

A heart which must protest its suffering!" ARNOLPHE AGNES:

496

Oh, cursed agent of the devil himself! "What, I have wounded someone?" I exclaimed. "Yes," she said. "Wounded! Wounded grievously The man you saw from your balcony yesterday." "Now what," I said, "could be the cause of that? Did I let something drop on him carelessly?" "No, it's your eyes," she said, "that did the deed. It's from their glance that all his trouble comes." "Why, I'm amazed!" I answered. "Do my eyes Have some contagious trouble which he's caught?" "Yes, yes," she said; "your eyes have deadly power; They're filled with poison which you're not aware of. (aside):

Moliere In short, he's languishing, the poor dear boy.

And if— "

the charitable lady said,

"If you're so cruel as to refuse He'll certainly be buried in

all

aid,

two days."

"Good heavens!"

I cried. "I should be very sorry! But what assistance can I give to him?" "My child," she said, "he only wants to gain The privilege of seeing and speaking to you. Your eyes alone can save him from destruction; They have the medicine for the hurt they've done."

"Why,

gladly!"

I

replied. "If that's the case,

He can come here as often as ARNOLPHE AGNEs:

he likes."

Oh, cursed witch and poisoner of souls May hell reward your charitable plots! That's how he came to see me, and was cured. Don't you agree I did the proper thing? Could I have had the weight upon my conscience Of letting him die for lack of a little aid, I who can't bear to see poor people suffer. {aside):

And can't help crying, to ARNOLPHE

see a chicken die? This proceeds only from an innocent soul. And I must blame my absence, so imprudent. Which left, without a guide, her natural goodness {aside):

Exposed to the wiles of cunning reprobates. But I'm afraid the enterprising rogue AGNES:

Has carried matters past the joking stage. What is the matter? You seem to be displeased.

Was there anything wrong in what ARNOLPHE: AGNES:

I

told

you about?

Why, no, indeed. But tell what happened then. And how the young man occupied his visits. Oh, dear, if you could see how happy he was,

How he immediately lost his affliction. And the beautiful jewel box he presented me. And the money he gave to Alain and Georgette, ARNOLPHE: AGNES:

ARNOLPHE

You'd love him too, you'd join with us in saying Yes, yes. But what did he do, alone with you? He swore he loved me, with unparalleled love, And said the sweetest things you can imagine, Things like things no one ever heard before. They kind of tickled me inside, and stirred Something which makes me sort of excited still. {aside): Oh, cruel probing of a mysterious evil, Wherein the surgeon suffers all the pain! {Aloud)

AGNES:

Now,

in addition to all these lovely

words.

Didn't he also give you some — caresses? Oh, lots! He took my hands, he took my arms;

He never seemed to tire of kissing them. ARNOLPHE:

And, Agnes, didn't he take something else? (AGNES seems taken aback) Ouf!

AGNEs:

Well, he

497

-

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES What?

arnolphe:

Took —

AGNES:

Uh!

arnolphe:

My

AGNES:

Well?

arnolphe: AGNES:

I I

arnolphe:

No. Yes, you

AGNES:

will!

No, no!

arnolphe:

Then give me your word.

AGNES:

arnolphe:

All right, then.

Well, he took

AGNES:

arnolphe:

daren't!

am afraid you may be angry with me.

my — you'll be mad

!

No.

AGNES:

Yes.

No, no What's

arnolphe:

!

What did he AGNES:

the mystery?

all

take? Well, he

God, how

arnolphe

(aside):

AGNES:

He took my ribbon, the ribbon that you gave me. To tell you

ARNOLPHE

I

suffer!

couldn't stop him.

(subsiding):

We'll If

AGNES:

the actual truth,

I

let

the ribbon go.

I

wanted

to

know

he did anything else than kiss your arms.

Why,

are there other things to do?

ARNOLPHE:

No;

no.

But to cure the pains afflicting him — he says — Didn't he ask some other remedy? No. But you can be sure, if he had asked it, I would have granted everything, to cure him. (aside): Thanks be to heaven, I have got off cheap; And I'll deserve the worst, if I slip again. Enough! (Aloud) Your innocence, Agnes, is at fault. I don't reprove you, and what's done is done. !

AGNES:

ARNOLPHE

I

know that by his flatteries

Wants AGNES:

arnolphe:

AGNES:

arnolphe: AGNES:

arnolphe: 498

to deceive you,

and

the gallant

after,

laugh at you.

Oh, not at all! He's told me a dozen times. Ah, you don't know how little you can trust him! But learn this: that to accept a jewel box. To listen to the wheedling of young dandies. And out of mere passivity, to let them Thus kiss your hands and tickle your insides Is a mortal sin, and one of the very biggest! A sin, you say! And what's the reason, please? The reason? It's the sanctified pronouncement That by such actions heaven is offended. Offended? Why should heaven be offended? Oh, dear! It was all so pleasant and so nice! It's wonderful how one enjoys all that! I didn't know about those things at all. Yes, they're enjoyable, all those endearments,

Moliere

AGNEs:

Those melting words, those softening caresses; But they must be enjoyed in righteousness; Their wickedness must be removed by marriage. And when you're married, it's a sin no more?

arnolphe:

Quite

so.

Then let me

AGNEs:

arnolphe: AGNES:

what you have come back

get married right away.

If that's

desire,

I

to see

Can

it

why,

I

do

too.

about your marriage.

be possible

arnolphe:

Yes.

How happy you'll make me

AGNEs:

don't doubt that you'll be happy in marriage.

arnolphe:

Yes,

AGNEs:

You want to have the two of us —

I

arnolphe:

Exactly.

how

love and kiss you

AGNEs:

If that takes place,

arnolphe:

Aha! And

AGNEs:

never can tell when people are making jokes. You're speaking seriously?

I,

my dear,

I

will

shall reciprocate.

I

Oh, yes;

arnolphe: agnes:

you'll see.

We shall be married?

arnolphe:

Yes.

But when?

agnes:

This evening.

arnolphe: AGNES arnolphe:

(laughing): This evening?

agnes:

Oh,

This evening. So

it

makes you laugh?

yes.

My one desire is to see you happy.

arnolphe:

am so mightily indebted to you How happy I am going to be with him! arnolphe: With whom?

agnes:

I

Why, him.

agnes:

Not

arnolphe:

him.

No,

that's a mistake.

You are a little hasty in picking a husband. No,

it's

another

I

have

in

mind

for you.

And as for that fellow -him- it's my

idea

That though his famous illness should carry him off. You must break off all dealings with him, now. And if he comes to the house, you will salute him By slamming the door politely in his face. And if he knocks, you'll drop a brick from the window,

And thus oblige him to forgo his You understand me, Agnes? I'll agnes:

arnolphe: agnes:

arnolphe:

visits.

be hidden

In a corner, where I'll watch all that you do. Oh, dear! He's so good-looking! No more talk — I shall not have the heart And no more noise

Now go upstairs. But what

agnes:

!

You want Enough.

arnolphe: I'm master here.

I

order; you obey.

499

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES

ACTIII ARNOLPHE, AGNES, With some sewing or other work in hand, alain, georgette. ARNOLPHE:

Yes, everything went well, and I'm delighted. You have obeyed my orders most exactly,

And

put to rout the villainous seducer.

That shows the importance of good management. Your innocence, dear Agnes, was abused. Just see how you were thoughtlessly involved! Had I not intervened, you would have taken The highroad leading to hell and to perdition. We know too well the ways of those young dandies, Their ribbons, plumes, and ruffles at the knee. They have long hair, fine teeth, and ready speech; But as I tell you, the claws are sheathed beneath. They are real Satans, whose insatiable jaws Seek ever to devour the honor of women. But after all, thanks to my care and foresight. You have escaped their hellish wiles unscathed. Your attitude, in throwing the brick at him

And thus demolishing his hopeful projects, Convinces me that we should not defer The wedding I have had But

in

mind for you.

proper I should give you A little serious talk, for your improvement. {To ALAIN) A chair, out here in the cool. {To first, I

think

it

georgette) And you, if ever— georgette: Oh, we'll remember all your lessons well. That other gentleman, he took us in;

Butalain:

arnolphe:

If he gets in, I'll never drink again. He's a fool anyhow; the other time He gave us two gold crowns — light weight; no good. Get what I ordered, then, for supper tonight.

And as

I

told you,

when you're coming back, who lives

You'll bring along the notary

At the comer, to draw up the marriage contract. ALAIN and georgette; arnolphe sits) Agnes, let your work go and hsten to me. Lift up your head a httle. Turn your face. {He puts his finger on his forehead) {Exit

There; look at

And fix well

me there,

while

I

am talking to you.

your mind my slightest word. Agnes, I'm wedding you. And every moment You ought to bless your happy destiny. Reflect upon your original low estate, And realize my own benevolence In raising you from the humble rank of peasant To that of the honorable bourgeoisie,

500

in

Moliere

To

share the bed, to enjoy the love of one

Who has always fled the yoke and bonds of marriage, Who has refused, to eligible partners, The honor which he now confers on

You

should,

I

say,

you.

keep ever before your eyes

Your insignificance without this union, So that this thought may ever the more inspire you To merit the state of life to which I call you, And know yourself, and so act that I may Congratulate myself on my decision. my dear, is not a laughing matter.

Marriage,

The

status of wife binds

And you will not ascend

one

to

solemn duties.

to that position

In order to live a free and easy life. Agnes, your sex is made to be dependent; The beard is the symbol of authority. Although mankind's divided in two halves. Nevertheless these halves are far from equal. One is the major half, the other minor; One is the governing half, the other subject. And what obedience the well-instructed Soldier displays to his appointed captain.

The servant to his lord, the child to his father, The least lay brother to his Superior, Is

Arnolphe: There; look at while I

am

me there,

talking to

you

nothing at

all,

to the docility.

And the obedience, and the humility, And the profound respect that a wife should show To her husband, who is her master, chief, and king. When he confers on her a serious glance. Her duty

is

forthwith to lower her eyes.

And never to dare to look him in the face Till

he vouchsafes to her a pleasant look.

The women today don't understand this

well,

But don't be led astray by others' example. Don't imitate those horrible coquettes Whose escapades the entire city rings with. And don't be caught by the wiles of the Evil One — That is, by listening to some young dandy. Reflect that when I make you half of me. It is

my honor I

entrust to you.

This honor is tender; it is easily hurt. On such a subject there can be no trifling. And down in hell there are some boiling caldrons In which are plunged

women of evil

life.

What I am saying is not just idle talk; You should lay up these lessons in your heart. If

you regard them,

Your But

if

Your

fleeing coquettishness,

lily, white and pure. you take a step away from honor,

soul will be like a

soul will turn a dreadful black, like coal;

You will look horrible

to

everyone.

501

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES And one day you

will

You'll roast in hell to

be the devil's prey; eternity.

all

may God's mercy guard you from that fate! Drop me a curtsy. Now, as in a convent A novice ought to know by heart her office, But

A bride, entering marriage, should do the same. I

have

Which will The writer

AGNES

my

pocket a valuable book you in the office of wife. I don't know; he's some good soul. I want this booklet to be all your study. Here it is. Let me see how well you read it. {reading): "Marriage Maxims; or, The Duties of the Married Woman; with daily exercises. First {Rising)

in

instruct

Maxim;

A woman who's admitted To a matrimonial bed Will be much benefited To get it in her head That when a husband takes her for his own, He does arnolphe:

I

so for his interest alone."

will explain the

meaning of all

that.

But for the present, simply read the

AGNES:

text.

"Second Maxim: She should adorn her face.

And

seek for personal grace

Only as much as her master may decree:

Is

He judges if she's comely; That others find her homely a matter of complete irrelevancy.

Third Maxim:

Let her eschew the ogling glance magnetic, every face cream, powder, and cosmetic Designed the casual passer-by to strike. Such vanities are foes to honor and duty. Let her refrain from worrying about beauty; Good husbands do not care what their wives look

And

like.

Fourth Maxim:

Under her coif, whenever she leaves She must suppress

that look

the house,

which lures and

melts. If

she would give

full

pleasure to a spouse.

She must give none Fifth

to

anybody

else.

Maxim:

Except for those who pay a business She should receive no visitors at all. They'll try

With

all artifices.

offers to assist her;

But what's good for the missis Is no good for the mister. Sixth

502

Maxim:

call,

Moliere gifts she will always refuse, Unless she would pass for a dumb thing; According to present-day views, Men always want something for something. Seventh Maxim: She'll have no paper, pencil, pen, or ink. But have no incommodities, despite it.

Men's

Her husband's If

obligation

is

to think;

anything needs writing, he

will write

it.

Eighth Maxim:

The

gatherings one calls Dances, parties, balls. Often of all corruptions are the den. They ought to be suppressed. For all too many a guest Is plotting there against poor married men. Ninth Maxim:

A woman who is virtuous regards Nothing more evil than to play at cards; For runs of ill luck often make Her lose more than she counted on.

And

she

is

then inclined to stake

What's left when all her money's gone. Tenth Maxim: When one receives a tempting invitation To an entertainment in some fine resort,

Or to a lavish country celebration. One always should decline to join the sport: For in the end, come what come may, The husbands are the ones who pay." arnolphe:

You'll finish them alone, and I'll explain These matters properly and in detail. I have a little business to attend to. It isn't

serious;

won't be long.

I

Go in now; guard the booklet preciously. And

if

{Exit

The

the notary

comes,

tell

him

to wait.

AGNLSj

best thing

I

can do

is

to

marry

her.

my will. She's like a piece of wax I hold in my hand, And I can give her whatever form wish. During my absence I was nearly caught. I'll

mold her

spirit

according to

I

It's true,

And

yet

by her excessive innocence; it's

better that a wife should err

In that direction,

if

she errs at

all.

For such mistakes the remedy's

The simple

And

A

if

soul

is

at hand.

readily teachable;

she leaves the straight and narrow path,

word of censure brings her back

to

it.

But the shrewd woman is quite different; Our lot in life depends upon her whim.

503

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Nothing can turn her from her purposes; Our admonitions get lip service only. She uses her wits to mock our principles, And, often, she makes virtues of her crimes, And, to attain her culpable purposes. She finds devices to trick the cleverest man; There is no way to block her enterprises. There's no intriguer like an intelligent woman. If she makes up her mind to repudiate A husband's honor, he might as well surrender. Plenty of worthy men can tell you that. But that young fool will have no cause to boast; He has undone himself by talking too much — And that's the Frenchmen's ordinary fault.

When they are lucky in a love affair. They can do everything but keep it silly vanity has such a power

secret.

Their

They'd rather be hung than not tell anyone. A woman must be tempted by the devil.

When she puts confidence in these scatterbrains. — But here he is. I must conceal my thoughts, And find out how he's taking his defeat. {Enter Horace.)

HORACE!

arnolphe:

I've just come from your house. It's clearly fated That I should never find you when I call. But I'll continue to pay my formal visits — Now, now, you needn't be punctilious. Our social ceremonies are a bore; I should be glad to see them done away with. Most of us waste three quarters of our time

In these nonsensical formalities.

Now, your love affairs — how they're progressing? was sulky when I left you;

Put on your hat, please.

Good Horace, may I'm sorry I

was

I

distracted.

I

learn

Now my mind is clear.

You took the first steps with amazing speed; I'd like to know how you are getting on. HORACE:

The fact is,

since

I

made you my report,

There's been a setback to

arnolphe: HORACE:

Oho! And how

arnolphe: HORACE:

my enterprise.

that?

A cruel fate Brought back

arnolphe: HORACE:

is

Bad

my lady's master from the country.

luck!

Besides, to my very great regret. He's learned about our secret interviews. And how the devil did he find that out? I couldn't say; but anyway, it's certain. I

thought that

I

would pay,

at the usual time,

A little visit to my charming lady; And all of a sudden, changing their attitude, pair of servants wouldn't let me in;

The 504

Moliere

And arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE:

saying:

"Go away, you troublemaker!" in my face.

They very rudely shut the door The door in your face In

my face. That's going

tried to argue with

I

them,

in the

To all I said they only had one answer: "You won't come in; the master has forbid arnolphe: HORACE:

arnolphe: HORACE:

So they

didn't

far.

doorway; it."

open?

No. And from the window Agnes confirmed that her master had returned By driving me off", with a very haughty tone, Accompanied by a brick she threw at me. A brick, you say?

A brick of the larger size, A most discouraging present for a caller.

arnolphe:

The devil! That's hardly much ado about nothing! The situation's bad, it seems to me.

HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe:

It's true, It

the fellow's return has thrown

makes me sorry

I

me off.

protest.

He upsets everything. You'll find

HORACE:

for you,

must get

I

Why, never mind. come back into favor. information somehow

some way inside

to

To trick the vigilance of the jealous man. arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe:

That should by easy. After all, the girl Loves you? Oh, yes. Well then, you'll find a way. I hope so. You were routed by the brick;

You

shouldn't

let that

stun you.

HORACE:

Certainly not. I

understood the goodman was

at

home.

Secretly organizing the defense.

But what surprised

me — it'll

surprise you, too

—

Was

A

another incident I'll tell you about. bold contrivance of my little beauty.

You wouldn't expect it, from her simple air. You have to admit, love is a splendid teacher. Telling us how to be what we never were. Love

often gives us accurate instructions

How we can change our character in a jiff"y. It

breaks

Its

down all

the obstacles of nature;

transformations seem like miracles.

In a

moment

it

makes a miser generous,

A coward valiant, and a boor polite. It

makes

And

the dullest sluggard enterprising.

gives sagacity to the innocent

girl.

That miracle has taken place in Agnes. She broke off with me outwardly, by saying:

505

.

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES "Sir,

go away.

I

do not want your

visits.

know all you will say, and here's my answer!" And then this brickbat, which surprised you so. I

Fell at

And

my feet, together with a letter. how the letter fits

I'm amazed to see

With her uttered words, and the symbolic brick. Now don't you find this action very surprising? Isn't love

wonderful

in

sharpening wits?

Can you deny love's power to inspire The most amazing things in human hearts? What do you think of the trick and the little

letter?

Don't you admire her readiness of wit? And don't you find it comic to think of the role

Our jealous fellow

plays in the

comedy?

Tell me.

Oh, very comic.

arnolphe: HORACE:

Well, then, laugh.

(arnolphe laughs painfully) That man, the enemy of my amour. Entrenches himself, with bricks for ammunition.

As if I threatened to scale the walls of his house! And then, in his fantastic fear, he rouses All of his household troops, to repel the assailant!

And the girl he tries to keep in ignorance Befools him, in plain sight, with his own contrivance! Why, I admit, although his coming back Has put a nasty obstacle in my path. one of the funniest things I've ever heard cannot even think of it without laughing

It's I

It

arnolphe: HORACE:

.

doesn't

seem

to

of!

.

me you're laughing much.

Forgive me, I'm laughing at it as much as I can. For friendship's sake, I'll have to show you the letter. She's found the way to express what her heart feels In touching terms, displaying

all

her virtue,

Her artless, frank, and innocent affection, In short, in such a way as nature itself Reveals the earliest troubling sting of love.

ARNOLPHE

HORACE

(aside):

So that's what comes of knowing how to write! It was against my orders that she learned to. (reading): "I want to write to you, but I have a lot of trouble knowing how to start. I have some thoughts that I wish you could know about; but I don't know exactly how to tell them to you, and I don't really trust my own words. As I'm beginning to realize that I've always been kept in a

state of ignorance, I'm afraid of putting

down

something wrong, and of saying more than I ought to. To tell the truth, I don't know what is the terrible thing you've done to me, but I feel dreadfully unhappy about what they are making

506

Moliere

me do

to you,

and

it

will

cause

me great distress

would be very glad to be yours. Perhaps there is something wrong in saying that; but anyway I can't help saying it, and I wish not to see you, and

I

could be yours without doing anything wrong. People tell me all the time that young men are deceivers, and that one mustn't listen to them, and that everything you tell me is only to trick me; but I assure you that I haven't yet been able to I

conceive that of you; and I am so touched by your words that I can hardly believe they are lies. Tell me frankly the truth about it; for after all, as I have no evil intentions, you would act very in deceiving me, and of sorrow."

wrongly

ARNOLPHE

I

think

I

would die

(aside):

The snake! HORACE! ARNOLPHE! HORACE!

What's wrong?

What? Nothing.

Have you ever heard

I

was just coughing.

a sweeter utterance?

In spite of all that tyranny could do.

Can a lovelier nature Isn't

it

thus reveal itself?

surely a punishable crime

To corrupt the innate quality of that soul, To try to stifle her natural endowments

ARNOLPHE! HORACE! ARNOLPHE! HORACE!

With a cloak of ignorance and stupidity? Love has begun to tear away the veil. And if, by the aid of favorable fate, I may, as I hope, repay that animal. That traitor, hangman, scoundrel, villainous brute — Good-by. What? Leaving so soon? I've just remembered I must attend to a very urgent matter. Wait! Since they keep her shut in, wouldn't you

know Someone who might have access

to the

Maybe it's an unreasonable request, But friends may be asked to give such

house?

services.

The occupants of the house are hostile to me, And the two servants, when I run across them, Will not

abandon

their mistrustful

manner,

No matter what the blandishments I

Whose

genius, in

In the beginning she served

ARNOLPHE! HORACE!

I

try.

woman. some ways, was superhuman.

did have a useful agent, an old

me

very well.

But just four days ago the poor thing died. Wouldn't you know some intermediary? No, really. You will do all right without me.

Good-by, then.

I

give you

all

my

confidence.

{Exit HORACE.)

507

.

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES arnolphe:

How am forced to suffer in his presence! How must struggle to conceal my pain! How can an innocent girl conceive such tricks? I

I

Either her innocence

Or the

is all

pretended,

devil whispers cunning in her soul.

I thought that fatal letter was going to kill me! That scoundrel has taken possession of her mind, He's forced his way in, and supplanted me. It's anguish to me; it drives me to despair. The theft of her heart inflicts a double wound, For my love suffers, and my honor too. I'm furious to be ousted from my place, And furious that my pains have gone for nothing. I know that I can punish her guilty love

By

letting her evil destiny take its course,

That I'll be avenged on her by her own actions; But it's distressing to lose the one we love. Good God! I picked a wife on policy; Why must I now be so obsessed by her? She has no parents, protectors, property. And she betrays my kindness, pains — and love! love her

I

So

still,

after this evil trick.

cannot do without her love! Have you no shame, fool? Oh, it drives me mad! Oh, I could cudgel myself a thousand times! I will go in a while, but only to see The face she shows, after her foul behavior. God grant my honor may remain unsullied. that

I

.

Or if it's

written that that

is

.

not to be.

Grant that in my misfortune I may show The constancy I see in some about me.

ACT

IV

Enter ARNOLPHE/rom the house.

arnolphe:

I

find

it

very hard to stay

in place.

My mind is troubled by necessary cares. Planning defenses, in the house and out. the purposes of that young coxcomb.

To cross

How unconcernedly she welcomed me! She's not disturbed by

all

her evil acts!

And though It

she brings me to the edge of death, seems to be no business of hers!

The more The more

I

watched her

I

felt

sitting,

cool and calm,

a fury rise in me;

And the upsurging transports of my heart Seemed to redouble all my amorous ardor. I

was embittered, angry, desperate;

And 508

yet she never looked so beautiful.

Moliere

Her eyes had never seemed

so bright and searching, never they roused such sharp desire in me. I feel in my heart that I must burst asunder If the calamity should fall on me. So! I have supervised her education With such precaution and with such affection, I've had her in my house from babyhood,

And

On her

I've built

my tenderest hopes and dreams,

watched her grow

I've fondly

to

be a woman.

For thirteen years I've trained her character, So that a silly youth may catch her fancy.

And carry her off, under my very eyes. When she's already almost married to me! No, no! Good God, no, no! My dear young fool.

notary:

arnolphe

your

games, but I'll be bound, your happy hopes. And you will find you cannot laugh at me! {Enter ^OT\K\.) Why, there you are! I was on my way to see you To draw the contract which you want to make. (oblivious): How shall I do it? Play

I

all

little

will annihilate

notary:

arnolphe notary:

arnolphe notary:

In the regular form.

must take every vigilant precaution. I shall write nothing against your interests. (oblivious): I must protect myself against surprise. If things are in my hands, you needn't worry. (oblivious):

You'll just

The

arnolphe

arnolphe

remember never to endorse till the money has been paid.

contract

But if I act too openly, I fear be cause for gossip in the town. It's easy to prevent publicity; The contract can be kept entirely secret. (oblivious): But how I shall stand with her, that

(oblivious):

There

notary:

I

will

is

the question.

notary:

Her dowry

arnolphe

(oblivious): I

love her;

is

proportionate to yours.

it's

my love that makes the

trouble.

notary:

In that case, she'll expect a

arnolphe

(oblivious):

notary:

The husband pays a sum equivalent to One third of the dowry; but the rule's not

How shall

treat her, in the

I

He can go further, arnolphe

if

little

more.

circumstances?

he wishes

fixed.

to.

(oblivious):

If— (He catches sight 6»/notary.)

notary:

One may

provide for a surviving spouse. husband can endow the wife

In short, the

Just as he pleases.

Eh?

arnolphe: notary:

He can well If

he loves her

much and wishes

serve her,

to benefit her.

509

— !

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Either by jointure, or a settlement is annulled on occasion of her death,

Which

to named heirs; Or according to common law, as specified, Or deed of gift, as stated in the contract, Which may be unilateral or mutual. Why do you make a face? I don't make sense? You think I don't know how a contract's drawn? Then who is going to teach me? No one alive! Don't I know well that consorts hold in common

With or without reversion

Property, chattels, goods, appurtenances.

Unless

this right is formally

renounced?

And don't I know that a third of the bride's possessions

Enter the joint estate-

arnolphe:

Yes, yes, of course

notary:

You know all that. Who said a word about it? You did; you're trying to make me pass for a fool,

arnolphe:

The

notary: arnolphe:

Why,

Shrugging your shoulders, making faces at me. devil take the man and his ugly face Good-by, good-by; we'll have no more of this.

me to draw a contract?

But didn't you send for yes,

I

did; but the matter has

been postponed.

You will be summoned when the time is fixed. You make me sick with your gabble-gabble-gabble. {Exit arnolphe.)

notary:

I

think he's mad;

I

think I'm right to think so.

{Enter alain and georgette)

You've come ALAIN:

Yes,

to fetch

me

at

your master's order?

sir.

notary:

I don't know what you think of him. But kindly give him this important message: That he's a blockhead. georgette: We won't fail to do so. {Exit notary. EAi/^r arnolphe.) ALAIN: Monsieur —

Come here. You are my faithful

arnolphe:

My good, true friends. ALAIN:

I've

servants.

had a report of you.

The notary —

arnolphe:

Don't bother with him now.

Some enemies are plotting against my honor. And what an outrage it would be to you.

My friends, to have your master lose his honor! You'd never dare to appear again in public. For everyone would point at you and jeer!

Notary: I I

think he's

Since

mad;

to think so

it is

your

You must be

think I'm right

affair as

much as mine.

sure to keep such careful guard

That that young gallant can't in any way georgette: We have already learned our lesson well. arnolphe: You mustn't let his fine words take you in. ALAIN:

510

Really, sir—

Moliere

We know how to protect ourselves.

georgette:

arnolphe

{to

ALAIN):

Supposing he says, "Alain, my excellent fellow. " Help me a little to assuage my grief— ALAIN:

"You

are a fool!"

Splendid! {To georgette) "My sweet Georgette, You are so darling and so good by nature — " georgette: "You are a booby!" Good! {To ALAIN) "What harm arnolphe:

ARNOLPHE:

is

In

ALAIN:

there

my honest, upright, virtuous

"You

purposes?"

are a rascal!"

Good! {To georgette) "My

ARNOLPHE: death

is

certain

Unless you pity the agony I endure!" georgette: "You are an impudent lummox!" Excellent! arnolphe:

"Of course,

When

I

don't expect something for nothing:

people serve

So, Alain, here's a

me well,

little

I

don't forget

it.

present for you;

And

Georgette, go and buy yourself a dress. {He holds out money, which the servants take) That's just a sample of my liberal nature.

The only favor that Is

I

ask of you

a moment's conversation with your lady."

georgette {pushing

"You

him):

think I'm crazy?"

Good! arnolphe: "Get out!" {pushing him)'. ALAIN Good!. arnolphe: "Now!' georgette {pushing him): arnolphe: Good — but that's plenty. Didn't I do it right? georgette: ALAIN: That is the way you mean it, isn't it? arnolphe: Except for the money, which you shouldn't have taken.

we didn't remember that part right.

georgette:

I

ALAIN:

Do you want to have us do

guess

it

over?

No.

ARNOLPHE: Enough.

Go back

in

the house.

You've only

ALAIN:

ARNOLPHE:

No, no; go back

in the

house, those are

You can keep the money.

I'll

to say so.

my orders.

join you presently.

Keep your eyes peeled, and lend {Exit ALAIN and georgette)

a hand at need.

think that I'll engage the worthy cobbler At the corner of our street to be my spy. And Agnes will be well shut up in the house. I'll keep good guard. Especially I'll banish All ribbon sellers, and female notion dealers. I

511

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Hairdressers, glovers, peddlers of handkerchiefs. All those who make a business on the side Of encouraging the mysteries of love. I've been around, know their little tricks. My man will have to be extremely clever To get a note or message past my guard. I

(Enter HORACE.)

HORACE:

have great luck

I

in

meeting you

in this quarter.

Well, I've just had a very narrow escape! Just now,

when

I

left

you, what should

I

happen

to

see

But Agnes, appearing alone on her balcony. Enjoying the cool of the overhanging trees! She made me a signal; then she was bright enough To come downstairs and open the garden gate. We went up to her room; but a moment after She heard her jealous guardian mount the stairs. In the face of danger she found the expedient Of shutting me up in a wardrobe, with her dresses. He entered right away. I couldn't see him. But I heard him striding to and fro, unspeaking, But uttering pitiful sighs from time to time, And sometimes smiting the table with his fist,

And kicking a little dog who was sorry for him, And throwing Agnes' garments on the floor. He even broke, with a furious hand, some vases With which my lady adorned her mantelpiece. So

certainly this

man,

this

horned goat.

Must have some inkling of his situation. After a time, when he had thus discharged His anger on these uncomplaining objects, In agitation, but without a word. He left the room, and I my hiding place. Naturally, in fear of the gentleman. We couldn't hazard staying together longer. It

was too dangerous. However,

Late, I

I

shall

am due to

slip into

tonight.

her room.

announce myself by coughing

thrice,

And

she will open her window at the signal. Then, with a ladder and with Agnes' aid. will attempt to wing me to her side. I'm glad to tell it to you, my only friend.

Love

The

heart's delight increases with the telling;

No matter how perfect a person's bliss may be, He's hardly

satisfied if nobody

knows

it.

You will be happy to learn how things are going. Good-by.

I

have

to attend to

my preparations.

(Exit HORACE.)

arnolphe:

And

so the hostile fate which has decreed

My agony, gives me hardly time to breathe! I

512

am to see my prudent vigilance

Moliere

Forever undone by I,

in

their conspiracies!

my ripeness, am to be the dupe

Of a simple girl and

a rattleheaded youth!

For twenty years, a sage philosopher, I've watched the unhappy destiny of husbands, I've counted up the various accidents Which bring the most sagacious to their doom; I've profited by their calamities, And when I chose a wife, I sought for ways

To guard myself against all interlopers. And guarantee that I would be no cuckold. And,

The

to

my ends,

ultimate in

I

thought

human

I

had employed

artfulness!

But fate no doubt has issued a decree That never a husband is to be exempt; For after all my study, after all The experience I've gained upon the matter. After some twenty years of meditation On the precautions I proposed to take

To distinguish myself from all I'm caught with them

No, no! That cursed I

the other husbands,

in the universal trap!

fate shall not

be mine!

secure in my possession. the young fop has robbed me of her heart,

hold her

still

Though I shall make sure that that is all he'll win. The night appointed for their tender triumph Will not pass so delightfully as they think.

And,

in

my griefs, it is some

satisfaction

To be It's

informed of the snare that's nice that this ambitious idiot

Should take

laid for

me.

his rival for his confidant.

{Enter chrysalde.)

chrysalde: arnolphe: chrysalde: arnolphe: chrysalde: arnolphe: chrysalde:

arnolphe:

Good evening. No, not

Shall

we dine, as we agreed?

this evening.

What

is this,

a joke?

Excuse me, please. Some troubles have arisen. Something has happened to your marriage plans? You needn't be concerned with my affairs. My, what a temper! You're in trouble, then? Has some mischance occurred, to interrupt The happy progress of your love addresses? Indeed, from your appearance, I would guess it. Whatever happens, at least I'll have the advantage Of not resembling certain friends of mine

Who calmly admit supplanters to their homes. chrysalde:

It's strange that you, with all your understanding. Should be so sensitive upon this subject. Equating happiness with security. And making honor lie in one point only! Cruelty, greed, baseness and double-dealing Are unimportant, in comparison;

513

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Regardless of one's life and character, Honor consists in dodging cuckoldry

Why, in all logic, should a man's good name Depend upon this casual circumstance? Why should a sensible man reproach himself For a misfortune which he

Why

can't prevent?

should the actions of a wife determine

If a man is worthy of honor or of blame? And if she's false to her trust, why should we make

A frightful monster of her falsity? A gentleman should properly regard Cuckoldry in a reasonable way. Since no one can ward off the blows of chance, This accident should not be taken to heart. For after all, the trouble comes entirely From the way in which you choose to treat the matter.

To guide oneself among such difficulties One should avoid excess in everything. Don't imitate those too broad-minded people seem complacent with their situation. And proudly name the lovers of their wives. Extolling their talents and their excellence,

Who

Avowing a warm affection for the Attending

all

gallants.

their little dinner parties,

So that society most justly finds That tolerance can turn to effrontery. Such conduct, certainly, we ought to blame, But the other extreme is equally indecent. If I

I

decry the lovers of wives' lovers,

likewise disapprove the turbulent husbands

Whose noisy and imprudent lamentations Arouse the general

curiosity.

Their outbursts are apparently intended

To leave no man in ignorance of their state. Between these courses is a middle way Which

the prudent man, if need be, should adopt. Taking this course, he will not have to blush At the worst a faithless wife can do to him. And thus, in short, the state of cuckoldry

Need not be so appalling, after all. The thing to do is to make the best of it;

And the best, as arnolphe:

I

insist, is

not so bad.

After this speech, the fellowship of cuckolds

Should give a vote of thanks to your noble worship; listens to your discourse Would be delighted to join the fraternity.

And anyone who chrysalde:

I

don't say that, for that's what

But since

One

I

condemn.

our wives. should take marriage as a game of dice; it's

fate that designates

When you don't get the numbers that you want, 514

Moliere Play with the utmost caution, take no chances,

And change your luck by prudence and delay. arnolphe:

In other words, sleep sound and eat your

fill,

And say unfaithfulness is no great matter. chrysalde: You are sarcastic; but quite seriously, I

can see many things more

More

terrifying.

potent of calamity, than this

you so. were given a choice of alternatives, I'd so much rather be - what you're talking of Than spouse of one of those immaculate wives Particular accident which scares

If

I

Whose

spleen makes life a constant inquisition. Dragons of virtue, spotless female devils, Entrenched behind their bulwarks of decorum, Who, on the strength of one fault uncommitted,

Assume the right to vilify the world. And who, on the grounds that they are always

faith-

ful,

Make us endure unnumbered miseries! No, no, my excellent friend; in actual fact The state of cuckoldry is what we make it. It may be welcomed, in some circumstances; It

arnolphe:

has

its

compensations,

like the rest.

You may well choose to make the best of it. But I am in no mood to try it out. And rather than accept that lot, I swear

chrysalde: Don't swear; an oath might lead to perjury. If fate has willed it, you will struggle in vain. You will not be consulted on the subject. arnolphe: I'd be a cuckold, then? Don't take it to heart, chrysalde:

Or be offended.

Plenty of people are,

Who have much less than your advantages Of person, character, and

property.

Don't compare me to such contemptible persons. But anyway, I'm sick of your mockeries. We'll have no more of this, if you please. You're angry. chrysalde: I can't imagine why. Good-by. Remember, Whatever your touchy honor may suggest. That when you swear you'll never do a thing. You've come already halfway toward the goal. (EjC/7 CHRYSALDE.) arnolphe: 1 swear it once again. Immediately I'll take my measures against that accident. {Enter alain and georgette ) My friends, want to beg your kind assistance. I am most happy to know of your affection. And now it must be clearly demonstrated. And if you properly repay my trust. You can be certain of a good reward.

arnolphe:

I

515

!

!

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES The man you know about — but keep this Expects

quiet —

to try his enterprise tonight,

And scale the wall, to force Miss Agnes' room. But we will ambush him, the three of us! have you each take a good stick, he reaches the top rung of his ladder — I will take care to open the window shutters — Both of you land your best blows on this traitor, And leave his back well marked for a souvenir. And teach him not to try such tricks again. However, be sure you do not utter my name. Or indicate that I am standing behind you. You think you'll have the wits to pay him oif? When it comes to beating, sir, we're really good I hit, when I hit, with a very noble hit. I

want

to

And when

ALAIN:

georgette:

My hit, perhaps, doesn't look quite so hard,

arnolphe:

Go in, then. Not a word to anyone.

But everybody says

it

hurts like fury.

ALAIN and georgette ) The young man will receive a useful {Exit

If all the

husbands of our

little

lesson.

city

Should welcome thus the gallants of their wives, list of cuckolds would be much reduced.

The

ACT V Early morning; the stage aA2^

is

nearly dark. Enter alain

georgette; then arnolphe.

arnolphe: alain:

arnolphe:

You rogues, what made you act so violently? sir, we were only doing what you said. There's no use trying to give me that excuse. Why,

My order was to beat him, not to kill him; And on the back, I said, not on the head. You were to land the blows which I commanded. Good God! What accident has fate contrived

How can I bear to go and find him dead Go back into the house.

Don't breathe a word

Of a certain innocent order I may have ALAIN and georgette) nearly dawn. I'll have to lay

given.

{Exit It's

How I

shall act, in the face

Oh, what

will

What will he

my plans

of this disaster.

become of me? And the boy's father. when he learns of this affair?

say,

{Enter Horace.)

HORACE: ARNOLPHE:

I'd better find out

who this fellow is.

No one could have predicted — {Recognizes presence o/horace) What! Who's there?

HORACE: arnolphe: 516

Seigneur Arnolphe,

it's

you? Yes; you —

Moliere

HORACE:

It's

was just going to ask You get up early. I

ARNOLPHE

{aside): Is

HORACE:

I

In fact,

was

I

illusion?

predicament,

in quite a

And I am grateful for heaven's In placing

you

I'm glad to

tell

Horace.

you

don't understand!

An optical

a ghost?

it

a favor of

kindly act

when

I need you. you everything turned out well, Better indeed than I had dared to hope. And by an incident that threatened ruin. Suspicion was aroused, I don't know how, About the meeting which had been arranged. When I had climbed up almost to the window, All of a sudden I saw some people appear. Well armed, and raising clubs to smite me down. They made me lose my footing and fall to the

right here, just

ground;

And though

suffered

I

some bumps and

scratches,

still

My tumble saved me from a mighty clubbing. These people— I think my jealous friend was with them — Supposed my fall resulted from their blows. As I was stunned and startled, and my pains Made me lie

motionless for quite a time.

They thought

And I

that they

the idea filled

had actually

killed

me,

them with alarm.

lay in silence, listening to their noise;

They were accusing each other of violence; They cursed their fate; and then, without a light, They came and felt me, to find if I were dead.

You can imagine that, in the night's darkness, I did my best to imitate a corpse. Then they retreated, frightened out of their I was considering retreating too, When little Agnes, moved by the tragedy.

Came For

running to

all

the talk

my

side, in desperation.

among them,

Was overheard by

wits.

naturally.

her attentive ear;

And, unobserved in the midst of all the tumult. She had escaped quite easily from the house. And when she found that I was safe and sound. She fell into an ecstasy of joy.

To

put

it

briefly, that delightful creature

Is yielding to the dictates

of her love.

She has rebelled against returning home.

And

she's entrusted

Strange

how

all

her fate to me.

her idiot keeper's tyranny

Has forced her innocence to desperate courses! What are the perils which she would encounter. 517

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES If

I

I do Agnes honorably and

did not adore her as

But

I

love

I'd rather die

purely:

than cheat her confidence.

She is the one girl in the world for me; Nothing but death will ever separate us. I can foresee my father will make trouble, But we'll be cautious, and appease his anger. She has completely carried me away, And a man must try to get what he wants in life. Now what I ask of you — you'll be discreet — Is to let me put my lady in your hands; Favor my love by giving her retreat In your own house, at least for a day or two. I have to hide the fact of her escape; No doubt there'll be a terrible hue and cry;

And

naturally a girl of her appearance.

With a young man, arouses dark suspicions. And so, sure as I am of your good will, I've given to you my total confidence. Also to you alone, my generous friend.

arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe:

Can I entrust the partner of my love. Of course, I'm at your service. Yes, of course. You're willing to do me this momentous favor? Why, very gladly, I say. I am delighted By the opportunity to help you out. Oh,

I

thank heaven for

its

gracious

gift!

been so glad to do anything! I'm very grateful to you for your kindness. I was afraid you might make difficulties. But you're a man of the world; you understand And sympathize with the ardor of the young. I have a man who's guarding her at the corner. I've never

HORACE:

arnolphe:

How shall we manage it? It's getting light. meet her here, I may perhaps be seen. if you two should turn up at my house, We'll have the servants talking. The best thing If

I

And

HORACE:

To bring her to me in a

secluded place.

That garden's handy.

shall wait for her there.

So

arnolphe:

HORACE

518

I

All these precautions are

most

is

sensible.

merely hand her over to you. And then I'll go back quietly to my lodgings. (EjC/7 HORACE.) Ah, fortune! Here's a favorable shift To make up for the evils you have done me! {He muffles his face in his cloak, and retreats to the garden entrance. Enter Horace and agi^es .) (/6» AGNES): Don't worry about the place I'm taking you to. I've found a refuge where you'll be secure. You wouldn't be safe a moment in my lodgings. Just go in there, and you'll be taken care of. I

shall

Moliere

AGNES HORACE: AGNES: HORACE: AGNES: HORACE: AGNES: HORACE: AGNES:

(arnolphe, in the garden entrance, takes her hand.) {to HORACE): Why are you leaving me? My dear, I have to. Well, then, come back as soon as possible. That is exactly what my love suggests.

Whenever I don't see you, I'm not happy. And when you're absent, I'm unhappy too. If that

You You

were

true,

you would stay here with me.

my love's not genuine? me as much as love you.

don't suspect don't love

I

(ARNOLPHE tugs at her hand) Someone is pulling me. HORACE:

It's

For us

The man beside you

And AGNES: HORACE: AGNES:

But

HORACE

is

my trusty friend,

he's entirely in our interest. I

know

don't

him, and

—

Don't be afraid. Nothing can happen when you're in his hands. But I would rather be in the hands of Horace And I'd — (To arnolphe, who is pulling her)

You HORACE: AGNES: HORACE: AGNES:

dangerous

to be seen together in this place.

wait!

Good-by.

When will

I

But

be

It's

getting light.

see you?

Certainly very soon. I

shall

in torture until then!

{departing):

Thank heaven,

there's

now no

obstacle to

my

bliss;

4

Agnes:

Why are you leaving

me?

519

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES I

can repose in full security! HORACE.)

{Exit

ARNOLPHE

{disguising his voice):

Come with me. This is not your lodging place. I have prepared a refuge for you elsewhere. There you will be secure — and solitary. {He throws back his cape, and resumes his normal

voice)

You recognize me? Oh!

AGNEs:

My face, you rogue,

ARNOLPHE: Startles

and

terrifies

you, obviously.

You are distressed and pained to I'm the impediment to your love (AGNES looks wildly about)

see

me here;

affair.

You needn't look for help from your paramour; He's now too far away to bring you aid. Aha! So young! Already a double-dealer! In your apparent innocence, you ask If children are

begotten through the ear,

And you appoint a midnight assignation. And plan elopement with your cavalier! 'Odsbody

!

How your tongue runs on with him!

Where did you get your schooling? Who

the devil

Taught you so much, and in so short a time? Haven't you any fear of ghosts and goblins? The visitor in the night has given you courage? Oh, wicked girl, to plot such perfidy! What a reward for all my kindnesses! Serpent, whom I have cherished in my bosom.

AGNES:

Who came to consciousness, only to try To poison me in pay for my caresses! Why are you shouting at me? And why not?

ARNOLPHE: AGNES:

I

wrong in what I've done. follow a paramour?

don't see anything

ARNOLPHE:

Isn't

AGNES:

He tells me that he wants me for his wife. I learned your lessons. You had preached to me

ARNOLPHE: AGNks:

it

wrong to

That one must marry to remove the sin. But I expected to take you for my wife. I thought that I had made that perfectly clear. Yes, but to tell you frankly how I think. He somehow seems to suit me better than you. With you, marriage is very grim and tiresome. And you describe it as a terrible thing. But he — oh, dear! — he makes it so delightful.

He really makes me anxious to get married. ARNOLPHE:

You lovc him, then, you traitor?

AGNEs:

Yes,

I

love him.

ARNOLPHE:

And you're

AGNEs:

Why shouldn't I tell it to you, if it's true?

520

so brazen as to

tell

me that!

Moliere

arnolphe:

You had

AGNES:

arnolphe:

Oh, dear! He's responsible! I didn't really intend to, when it happened. You ought to have suppressed that amorous impulse. But how can one suppress something so nice? Didn't you know that I would disapprove? Oh, not at all! How could it injure you? Why, certainly, I ought to be delighted. So you don't love me, then? Love you? Yes, me.

agnes:

Oh,

couldn't help

I

arnolphe: AGNES:

arnolphe: AGNES:

arnolphe: AGNES:

the right to love him,

it!

no.

What, no?

arnolphe:

You

agnes:

arnolphe: agnes:

minx?

And why

wouldn't have

me

lie?

not love me, impudent, saucy girl?

Oh, dear!

It isn't

me you ought to blame.

Why didn't you make me love you, as he did? I

arnolphe: agnes:

arnolphe:

don't think

I

prevented you at

all.

my best; I tried to do my best. But all my efforts clearly came to nothing. He just knows how, assuredly, better than He had no trouble at all in making me love I

did

Look how

this

One of the

lady wits could do no better!

Oh,

I

you. him.

peasant argues and replies!

misjudged her;

or,

upon

this

theme,

A silly girl knows more than a clever man. Since you've become so keen Tell me,

Have

for

is it

him

that

Oh,

arnolphe

{aside):

no. He'll

Ouch!

pay you back with

me back

in full,

you jade,

The obligations that you owe to me? Maybe the obligations aren't so great.

arnolphe:

It's

agnes:

You certainly did It

nothing, then, to rear you from a child?

was a

You I

I

it

in

a funny way;

pretty kind of education!

think

That

am

I

like it?

I

don't realize

trained to be a simpleton?

am ashamed, myself; and at my age

I've

had enough of passing for a

fool.

So, to escape from ignorance, you want

To have

this

dandy's lessons?

agnes:

Certainly.

He arnolphe:

interest.

How she hits on painful turns of phrase!

{Aloud) But will he pay

arnolphe:

in disputation,

so long

fed and lodged and educated you?

agnes:

agnes:

I

has revealed that

I

think

I

don't

I

could

know

so

much!

owe him more than do you. know what restrains me from rewarding I

I

This insolent speech with a good dressing-down! I'm driven wild by her offensive calm

521

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES It

would do me good

AGNES:

Why, you can

arnolphe:

(aside):

to give her a slap in the face.

slap me,

if it

gives you pleasure.

Somehow she makes my anger disappear. my old affection surges back

And all To obliterate the thought of her wickedness. What a strange thing it is to love! How weak A man can be, knowing he is betrayed! 'Well we know women's faults and imperfections, Their skittish humors and their lack of logic. Their minds are

evil,

and

their souls are frail;

There's nothing weaker, nothing

sillier,

Nothing more faithless; and in spite of all, Man will do everything for those animals. (Aloud) Well,

let's

make

peace.

And

so,

my little traitor,

pardon you everything, and love you again. Thus you can realize how much I love you; Repay my charity by loving me. I'd most devoutly like to give you pleasure. But if I could, it would be terribly hard. I'll

AGNES:

arnolphe:

You can, my dainty darling, if you wish. Why, I am sighing! That was a lover's

(Sighs)

Look at me;

see the torture in

sigh.

my face;

Give up that puppy and his puppy love. He must h^ve cast some evil spell upon you.

You will be so much happier with me You have a passion for fine clothes and gear; You'll have

them always,

And night and day

I'll

Cuddle and coddle you;

And you can do ... I

promise you.

I

I'll

eat

you up!

exactly what you please.

won't explain

(Aside)

that

pet you and caress you.

my meaning.

That's enough.

To what extremities can passion drive us!

(Aloud) In short, no love can match the love

I offer.

what is the proof you ask of me? You want to see me weep? And beat my breast? You want to have me tear out half my hair? Or shall I kill myself? Is that what you want? Oh, cruel girl, I'm ready to prove it so. Ingrate,

iaHvt^

.

Arnolphe: Look at me; see the torture in my face

AGNES:

arnolphe:

Why,

all

your speeches don't engage

my feelings.

Horace could do much more with a couple of words. You've flouted and provoked me long enough! I have my plans for you, you saucy minx. You scorn my wooing, and you drive me mad;

A convent cell will serve for my revenge. (Enter ALAIN.)

ALAIN:

arnolphe:

Excuse me, sir. It's funny, but I think Miss Agnes must have gone off with the corpse. No, here she is. Go put her in my room.

He certainly won't go looking for her there. It's

522

only for a half-hour, anyway.

Moliere I'm off to fetch a carriage, to convey her a securer place. Go, lock up well;

To

let her out of your sight for a single moment. ALAIN and AGNES) Perhaps the change of circumstances may Shake her out of her mad infatuation. (Enter HORACE.)

Don't

(Exit

HORACE:

Arnolphe You see a man in agony Heaven has put the crown on my misfortune! There is a project, cruel and unjust, To separate me from the one I love My father's chosen this morning to arrive. I met him, just descending from the coach. And no one could be more surprised than I was. !

The reason for his visit is that he Has made a marriage for me, without warning, And he's come here to put it in effect! Imagine — you will sympathize, I know — Whether a worse disaster could occur! I told you yesterday about Enrique; He is the one who causes my misfortune. He has arrived with father to destroy me; His only daughter is the bride in question! Hearing them talk, I thought that I would faint. When father spoke of paying you a call, I took no further heed, I hurried here In panic fear, to be the first to warn you. So please, for heaven's sake, don't breathe a word

Of my attachment; it would madden him. And since he has such great regard for you, Try

arnolphe: HORACE:

to dissuade

Why,

Tell

Render this

arnolphe: HORACE: arnolphe: HORACE:

him from

that other match.

yes, indeed.

him

to put things off;

friendly service to

my love.

Certainly.

my hope resides

All

in

you.

Splendid!

You Tell

him

are the truest father to me.

that at

my age—

I

see him coming.

some arguments to use. (HORACE pulls ARNOLPHE to comer of the stage, where they speak confidentially. En/^rCHRYSALDE, ORONTE, and enrique.) Listen; here are

11

ENRIQUE

{to

CHRYSALDE):

that I laid my eyes on you. Without a word 1 would have recognized you. You have the features of your lovely sister,

The moment

Whom was privileged to call my wife. How happy would be, if the cruel fates I

I

Had granted To see again

that she might return with

her

home and

me

relatives

523

!

THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES After our sufferings

in a foreign land.

But since the fatal power of destiny Has robbed us of her presence, and forever, We must resign ourselves, and give our thought To the one surviving evidence of our love. You are concerned; I should not venture to Settle her fate without your warm approval. The son of Oronte's an honorable choice. But it must please you as it pleases me. chrysalde: You have a poor opinion of my judgment If you can doubt that I approve of Horace. ARNOLPHE {to HORACE): Yes, I will properly defend your cause.

HORACE

{to

ARNOLPHE):

And keep my ARNOLPHE

secret —

Oh, depend on that! (ARNOLPHE leaves HORACE, joins the others, and em(r