Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

Instructive.

 

 

 

That Which Constitutes History, Properly So Called, Is In Great Part

Omitted From Works On The   Subject. Only Of    Late Years Have Historians

Commenced Giving Us, In Any Considerable Quantity, The   Truly Valuable

Information. As In Past Ages The   King Was Everything And The   People

Nothing; So, In Past Histories The   Doings Of    The   King Fill The   Entire

Picture, To Which The   National Life Forms But An Obscure Background.

While Only Now, When The   Welfare Of    Nations Rather Than Of    Rulers Is

Becoming The   Dominant Idea, Are Historians Beginning To Occupy

Themselves With The   Phenomena Of    Social Progress. The   Thing It Really

Concerns Us To Know Is The   Natural History Of    Society. We Want All Facts

Which Help Us To Understand How A Nation Has Grown And Organised Itself.

Among These, Let Us Of    Course Have An Account Of    Its Government; With As

Little As May Be Of    Gossip About The   Men Who Officered It, And As Much

As Possible About The   Structure, Principles, Methods, Prejudices,

Corruptions, Etc., Which It Exhibited: And Let This Account Include Not

Only The   Nature And Actions Of    The   Central Government, But Also Those Of

Local Governments, Down To Their Minutest Ramifications. Let Us Of

Course Also Have A Parallel Description Of    The   Ecclesiastical

Government--Its Organisation, Its Conduct, Its Power, Its Relations To

The State; And Accompanying This, The   Ceremonial, Creed, And Religious

Ideas--Not Only Those Nominally Believed, But Those Really Believed And

Acted Upon. Let Us At The   Same Time Be Informed Of    The   Control Exercised

By Class Over Class, As Displayed In Social Observances--In Titles,

Salutations, And Forms Of    Address. Let Us Know, Too, What Were All The

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Other Customs Which Regulated The   Popular Life Out Of    Doors And

In-Doors: Including Those Concerning The   Relations Of    The   Sexes, And The

Relations Of    Parents To Children. The   Superstitions, Also, From The   More

Important Myths Down To The   Charms In Common Use, Should Be Indicated.

Next Should Come A Delineation Of    The   Industrial System: Showing To What

Extent The   Division Of    Labour Was Carried; How Trades Were Regulated,

Whether By Caste, Guilds, Or Otherwise; What Was The   Connection Between

Employers And Employed; What Were The   Agencies For Distributing

Commodities; What Were The   Means Of    Communication; What Was The

Circulating Medium. Accompanying All Which Should Be Given An Account Of

The Industrial Arts Technically Considered: Stating The   Processes In

Use, And The   Quality Of    The   Products. Further, The   Intellectual

Condition Of    The   Nation In Its Various Grades Should Be Depicted; Not

Only With Respect To The   Kind And Amount Of    Education, But With Respect

To The   Progress Made In Science, And The   Prevailing Manner Of    Thinking.

The Degree Of    Æsthetic Culture, As Displayed In Architecture, Sculpture,

Painting, Dress, Music, Poetry, And Fiction, Should Be Described. Nor

Should There Be Omitted A Sketch Of    The   Daily Lives Of    The

People--Their Food, Their Homes, And Their Amusements. And Lastly, To

Connect The   Whole, Should Be Exhibited The   Morals, Theoretical And

Practical, Of    All Classes: As Indicated In Their Laws, Habits, Proverbs,

Deeds. These Facts, Given With As Much Brevity As Consists With

Clearness And Accuracy, Should Be So Grouped And Arranged That They May

Be Comprehended In Their _Ensemble_, And Contemplated As

Mutually-Dependent Parts Of    One Great Whole. The   Aim Should Be So To

Present Them That Men May Readily Trace The   _Consensus_ Subsisting Among

Them; With The   View Of    Learning What Social Phenomena Co-Exist With What

Other. And Then The   Corresponding Delineations Of    Succeeding Ages Should

Be So Managed As To Show How Each Belief, Institution, Custom, And

Arrangement Was Modified; And How The   _Consensus_ Of    Preceding

Structures And Functions Was Developed Into The   _Consensus_ Of

Succeeding Ones. Such Alone Is The   Kind Of    Information Respecting Past

Times Which Can Be Of    Service To The   Citizen For The   Regulation Of    His

Conduct. The   Only History That Is Of    Practical Value Is What May Be

Called Descriptive Sociology. And The   Highest Office Which The   Historian

Can Discharge, Is That Of    So Narrating The   Lives Of    Nations, As To

Furnish Materials For A Comparative Sociology; And For The   Subsequent

Determination Of    The   Ultimate Laws To Which Social Phenomena Conform.

 

 

 

But Now Mark, That Even Supposing An Adequate Stock Of    This Truly

Valuable Historical Knowledge Has Been Acquired, It Is Of    Comparatively

Little Use Without The   Key. And The   Key Is To Be Found Only In Science.

In The   Absence Of    The   Generalisations Of    Biology And Psychology,

Rational Interpretation Of    Social Phenomena Is Impossible. Only In

Proportion As Men Draw Certain Rude, Empirical Inferences Respecting

Human Nature, Are They Enabled To Understand Even The   Simplest Facts Of

Social Life: As, For Instance, The   Relation Between Supply And Demand.

And If The   Most Elementary Truths Of    Sociology Cannot Be Reached Until

Some Knowledge Is Obtained Of    How Men Generally Think, Feel, And Act

Under Given Circumstances; Then It Is Manifest That There Can Be Nothing

Like A Wide Comprehension Of    Sociology, Unless Through A Competent

Acquaintance With Man In All His Faculties, Bodily, And Mental. Consider

The Matter In The   Abstract, And This Conclusion Is Self-Evident.

Thus:--Society Is Made Up Of    Individuals; All That Is Done In Society Is

Done By The   Combined Actions Of    Individuals; And Therefore, In

Individual Actions Only Can Be Found The   Solutions Of    Social Phenomena.

But The   Actions Of    Individuals Depend On The   Laws Of    Their Natures; And

Their Actions Cannot Be Understood Until These Laws Are Understood.

These Laws, However, When Reduced To Their Simplest Expressions, Prove

To Be Corollaries From The   Laws Of    Body And Mind In General. Hence It

Follows, That Biology And Psychology Are Indispensable As Interpreters

Of Sociology. Or, To State The   Conclusions Still More Simply:--All

Social Phenomena Are Phenomena Of    Life--Are The   Most Complex

Manifestations Of    Life--Must Conform To The   Laws Of    Life--And Can Be

Understood Only When The   Laws Of    Life Are Understood. Thus, Then, For

The Regulation Of    This Fourth Division Of    Human Activities, We Are, As

Before, Dependent On Science. Of    The   Knowledge Commonly Imparted In

Educational Courses, Very Little Is Of    Service For Guiding A Man In His

Conduct As A Citizen. Only A Small Part Of    The   History He Reads Is Of

Practical Value; And Of    This Small Part He Is Not Prepared To Make

Proper Use. He Lacks Not Only The   Materials For, But The   Very Conception

Of, Descriptive Sociology; And He Also Lacks Those Generalisations Of

The Organic Sciences, Without Which Even Descriptive Sociology Can Give

Him But Small Aid.

 

 

And Now We Come To That Remaining Division Of    Human Life Which Includes

The Relaxations And Amusements Filling Leisure Hours. After Considering

What Training Best Fits For Self-Preservation, For The   Obtainment Of

Sustenance, For The   Discharge Of    Parental Duties, And For The   Regulation

Of Social And Political Conduct; We Have Now To Consider What Training

Best Fits For The   Miscellaneous Ends Not Included In These--For The

Enjoyment Of    Nature, Of    Literature, And Of    The   Fine Arts, In All Their

Forms. Postponing Them As We Do To Things That Bear More Vitally Upon

Human Welfare; And Bringing Everything, As We Have, To The   Test Of

Actual Value; It Will Perhaps Be Inferred That We Are Inclined To Slight

These Less Essential Things. No Greater Mistake Could Be Made, However.

We Yield To None In The   Value We Attach To Aesthetic Culture And Its

Pleasures. Without Painting, Sculpture, Music, Poetry, And The   Emotions

Produced By Natural Beauty Of    Every Kind, Life Would Lose Half Its

Charm. So Far From Regarding The   Training And Gratification Of    The

Tastes As Unimportant, We Believe That In Time To Come They Will Occupy

A Much Larger Share Of    Human Life Than Now. When The   Forces Of    Nature

Have Been Fully Conquered To Man's Use--When The   Means Of    Production

Have Been Brought To Perfection--When Labour Has Been Economised To The

Highest Degree--When Education Has Been So Systematised That A

Preparation For The   More Essential Activities May Be Made With

Comparative Rapidity--And When, Consequently, There Is A Great Increase

Of Spare Time; Then Will The   Beautiful, Both In Art And Nature, Rightly

Fill A Large Space In The   Minds Of    All.

 

 

 

But It Is One Thing To Approve Of    Æsthetic Culture As Largely Conducive

To Human Happiness; And Another Thing To Admit That It Is A Fundamental

Requisite To Human Happiness. However Important It May Be, It Must Yield

Precedence To Those Kinds Of    Culture Which Bear Directly Upon Daily

Duties. As Before Hinted, Literature And The   Fine Arts Are Made Possible

By Those Activities Which Make Individual And Social Life Possible; And

Manifestly, That Which Is Made Possible, Must Be Postponed To That Which

Makes It Possible. A Florist Cultivates A Plant For The   Sake Of    Its

Flower; And Regards The   Roots And Leaves As Of    Value, Chiefly Because

They Are Instrumental In Producing The   Flower. But While, As An Ultimate

Product, The   Flower Is The   Thing To Which Everything Else Is

Subordinate, The   Florist Has Learnt That The   Root And Leaves Are

Intrinsically Of    Greater Importance; Because On Them The   Evolution Of

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The Flower Depends. He Bestows Every Care In Rearing A Healthy Plant;

And Knows It Would Be Folly If, In His Anxiety To Obtain The   Flower, He

Were To Neglect The   Plant. Similarly In The   Case Before Us.

Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, And Poetry, May Truly Be

Called The   Efflorescence Of    Civilised Life. But Even Supposing They Are

Of Such Transcendent Worth As To Subordinate The   Civilised Life Out Of

Which They Grow (Which Can Hardly Be Asserted), It Will Still Be

Admitted That The   Production Of    A Healthy Civilised Life Must Be The

First Consideration; And That Culture Subserving This Must Occupy The

Highest Place.

 

 

 

And Here We See Most Distinctly The   Vice Of    Our Educational System. It

Neglects The   Plant For The   Sake Of    The   Flower. In Anxiety For Elegance,

It Forgets Substance. While It Gives No Knowledge Conducive To

Self-Preservation--While Of    Knowledge That Facilitates Gaining A

Livelihood It Gives But The   Rudiments, And Leaves The   Greater Part To Be

Picked Up Any How In After Life--While For The   Discharge Of    Parental

Functions It Makes Not The   Slightest Provision--And While For The   Duties

Of Citizenship It Prepares By Imparting A Mass Of    Facts, Most Of    Which

Are Irrelevant, And The   Rest Without A Key; It Is Diligent In Teaching

Whatever Adds To Refinement, Polish, Éclat. Fully As We May Admit That

Extensive Acquaintance With Modern Languages Is A Valuable

Accomplishment, Which, Through Reading, Conversation, And Travel, Aids

In Giving A Certain Finish; It By No Means Follows That This Result Is

Rightly Purchased At The   Cost Of    The   Vitally Important Knowledge

Sacrificed To It. Supposing It True That Classical Education Conduces

To Elegance And Correctness Of    Style; It Cannot Be Said That Elegance

And Correctness Of    Style Are Comparable In Importance To A Familiarity

With The   Principles That Should Guide The   Rearing Of    Children. Grant

That The   Taste May Be Improved By Reading The   Poetry Written In Extinct

Languages; Yet It Is Not To Be Inferred That Such Improvement Of    Taste

Is Equivalent In Value To An Acquaintance With The   Laws Of    Health.

Accomplishments, The   Fine Arts, _Belles-Lettres_, And All Those Things

Which, As We Say, Constitute The   Efflorescence Of    Civilisation, Should

Be Wholly Subordinate To That Instruction And Discipline In Which

Civilisation Rests. _As They Occupy The   Leisure Part Of    Life, So Should

They Occupy The   Leisure Part Of    Education._

 

 

 

Recognising Thus