LECTURE II.1 PHILOSOPHY-ITS ABSOLUTE UTILITY. (B.) OBJECTIVE. IN the perverse estimate which is often made of the end and objects of education, it is impossible that the The value of a study. Science of Mind,- Philosophy Proper,-the Queen of Sciences, as it was denominated of old, should not be degraded in common opinion from its preeminence, as the highest branch of general education; and, therefore, before attempting to point out to you what constitutes the value of Philosophy, it becomes necessary to clear the way by establishing a correct notion of what the value of a study is. Ends and means. Some things are valuable, finally, or for themselves, these are ends; other things are valuable, not on their own account, but as conducive towards certain ulterior ends, - these are means. The value of ends is absolute, -the value of means is relative. Absolute value is properly called a good, relative value is properly called a utility? Of goods, or absolute ends, there are for man but two, perfection and happiness. By perfection is meant the full and harmonious. development of all our faculties, corporeal and mental, intellectual and moral; by happiness, the complement of all the pleasures of which we are susceptible. Now, I may state, though I cannot at present attempt to prove, and I am afraid many will not even understand the statement, that human perfection and human happiness coincide, and thus constitute, in reality, but a single end. For as, on the one hand, the perfection or full development of a power is in proportion to its capacity of free, vigorous, and continued action, so, on Human perfection and happiness coincide. 1 It is to be observed, that the Lectures here printed as First and Second, were not uniformly delivered by the Author in that order. The one or other was, however, usually given as the Introductory Lecture of the Course. This circumstance accounts for the repetition of the principal doctrines of Lecture I. in the opening of Lecture II.— ED. 2 [Cf. Aristotle, Eth. Nic., lib. i., c. 7, § 1.] the other, all pleasure is the concomitant of activity; its degree being in proportion as that activity is spontaneously intense, its prolongation in proportion as that activity is spontaneously continued; whereas, pain arises either from a faculty being restrained in its spontaneous tendency to action, or from being urged to a degree, or to a continuance, of energy beyond the limit to which it of itself freely tends. Criterion of the utility of a study. To promote our perfection is thus to promote our happiness; for to cultivate fully and harmoniously our various faculties, is simply to enable them by exercise, to energize longer and stronger without painful effort; that is, to afford us a larger amount of a higher quality of enjoyment. Perfection (comprising happiness) being thus the one end of our existence, in so far as man is considered either as an end unto himself, or as a mean to the glory of his Creator; it is evident that, absolutely speaking, that is, without reference to special circumstances and relations, studies and sciences must, in common with all other pursuits, be judged useful as they contribute, and only as they contribute, to the perfection of our humanity, - that is, to our perfection simply as men. It is manifest that in this relation alone can anything distinctively, emphatically, and without qualification, be denominated useful; for as our perfection as men is the paramount and universal end proposed to the species, whatever we may style useful in any other relation, ought, as conducive only to a subordinate and special end, to be so called, not simply, but with qualifying limitation. Propriety has, however, in this case, been reversed in common usage. For the term Useful has been exclusively bestowed, in ordinary language, on those branches of instruction which, without reference to his general cultivation as a man or a gentleman, qualify an individual to earn his livelihood by a special knowledge or dexterity in some lucrative calling or profession; and it is easy to see how, after the word had been thus appropriated to what, following the Germans, we may call the Bread and Butter sciences, those which more proximately and obtrusively contribute to the intellectual and moral dignity of man, should, as not having been styled the useful, come, in popular opinion, to be regarded as the useless branches of instruction. General and Particular Utility. As it is proper to have different names for different things, we may call the higher utility, or that conducive to the perfection of a man viewed as an end in himself, by the name of Absolute or Gen eral; the inferior utility, or that conducive to the skill of an individual viewed as an instrument for some end out of himself, by the name of Special or Particular. Now, it is evident, that in estimating the utility of any branch of education, we ought to measure it both by the one kind of utility and by the other; but it is also evident, that a neglect of the former standard will lead us further wrong in appreciating the value of any branch of common or general instruction, than a neglect of the latter. It has been the tendency of different ages, of different countries, of different ranks and conditions of society, to measure the utility of studies rather by one of these standards, than by both. Thus it was the bias of antiquity, when the moral and intellectual cultivation of the citizen was viewed as the great end of all political institutions, to appreciate all knowledge principally by the higher standard; on the contrary, it is unfortunately the bias of our modern civilization, since the accumulation, (and not too the distribution), of riches in a country, has become the grand problem of the statesman, to appreciate it rather by the lower. In considering, therefore, the utility of philosophy, we have, first, to determine its Absolute, and, in the second place, its Special utility-I say its special utility, for, though not itself one of the professional studies, it is mediately more or less conducive to them all. Philosophy: its Absolute utility. In the present Lecture I must, of course, limit myself to one branch of this division; and even a part of the first or Absolute utility will more than occupy our hour. Limiting myself, therefore, to the utility of philosophy as estimated by the higher standard alone, it is further to be observed, that, on this standard, a science or study is useful in two different ways, and, as these are not identical,- this pursuit being more useful in the one way, that pursuit more useful in the other, these in reality constitute two several standards of utility, by which each branch of knowledge ought to be separately measured. The cultivation, the intellectual perfection, of a man, may be estimated by the amount of two different elements; it may be estimated by the mere sum of truths which he has learned, or it may be estimated by the greater development of his faculties, as determined by their greater exercise in the pursuit and contemplation of truth. For, though this may appear a paradox, these elements are not merely not Absolute utility of a science of two kindsObjective and Subjective. convertible, but are, in fact, very loosely connected with each other; and as an individual may possess an ample magazine of knowledge, and still be little better than an intellectual barbarian, so the utility of one science may be principally seen in affording a greater number of higher and more indisputable truths, -the utility of another in determining the faculties to a higher energy, and consequently to a higher cultivation. The former of these utilities we may call the Objective, as it regards the objectmatter about which our cognitive faculties are occupied; the other Subjective, inasmuch as it regards our cognitive faculties themselves as the subject in which knowledge is inherent. Philosophy: its Objective utility. I shall not at present enter on the discussion which of these utilities is the higher. In the opening lecture of last year, I endeavored to show that all knowledge is only for the sake of energy, and that even merely speculative truth is valuable only as it determines a greater quantity of higher power into activity. In that lecture, I also endeavored to show that, on the standard of subjective utility, philosophy is of all our studies the most useful; inasmuch as more than any other it exercises, and consequently develops to a higher degree, and in a more varied manner, our noblest faculties. At present, on the contrary, I shall confine myself to certain views of the importance of philosophy, estimated by the standard of its Objective utility. The discussion, I am aware, will be found somewhat disproportioned to the age and average capacity of my hearers; but, on this occasion, and before this audience, I hope to be excused if I venture for once on matters which, to be adequately understood, require development and illustration from the matured intelligence of those to whom they are presented. The human mind the noblest object of speculation. Considered in itself, a knowledge of the human mind, whether we regard its speculative or its practical importance, is confessedly of all studies the highest and the most interesting. "On earth," says an ancient philosopher, "there is nothing great but man; in man, there is nothing great but mind." No other study fills and satisfies the soul like the study of itself. No other science presents an object to be compared in dignity, in absolute or in relative value, to that which human consciousness furnishes to its own contemplation. What is of all things the best, asked 1 [Phavorinus, quoted by Joannes Picus Mirandulanus, In Astrologiam, lib. iii. p. 351, Basil. Ed] For notice of Phavorinus, see Chilon of the Oracle. "To know thyself," was the response. This is, in fact, the only science in which all are always interested; for, while each individual may have his favorite occupation, it still remains true of the species, that "The proper study of mankind is man." 1 "Now for my life," says Sir Thomas Browne, "it is a miracle of thirty years, which to relate were not a history, but a piece of poetry, and would sound to common ears like a fable. Sir Thomas Browne quoted. "For the world, I count it not an inn, but an hospital; and a place not to live, but to die in. The world that I regard is myself; it is the microcosm of my own frame that I cast mine eye on; for the other, I use it but like my globe, and turn it round sometimes, for my recreation. Men that look upon my outside, perusing only my condition and fortunes, do err in my altitude; for I am above Atlas his shoulders. The earth is a point not only in respect of the heavens above us, but of that heavenly and celestial part within us. That mass of flesh that circumscribes me, limits not my mind. That surface that tells the heavens it hath an end, cannot persuade me I have any. I take my circle to be above three hundred and sixty. Though the number of the ark do measure my body, it comprehendeth not my mind. Whilst I study to find how I am a microcosm, or little world, I find myself something more than the great. There is surely a piece of divinity in us; something that was before the elements, and owes no homage unto the sun. Nature tells me, I am the image of God, as well as Scripture. He that understands not thus much hath not his introduction or first lesson, and is yet to begin the alphabet of man." 2 Relation of Psychology to Theology. But, though mind, considered in itself, be the noblest object of speculation which the created universe presents to the curiosity of man, it is under a certain relation that I would now attempt to illustrate its utility; for mind rises to its highest dignity when viewed as the object through which, and through which alone, our unassisted reason can ascend to the knowledge of a God. The Deity is not an object of immediate contemplation; as existing and in himself, he is beyond our reach; we can know him only mediately through his works, and are only warranted in assuming his ex 1 Pope, Essay on Man, ii. 2.- ED. 2 Browne's Religio Medici, part ii. § 11. Discussions, p. 311.—ED. |