The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-16

means OF law Again: AN indiviouA
cannot become man except by conformity
as the branch cannot bear fruit except IL
abide In tho vine as q member Con-
formity, then, must be accounted the neoes-
sary means of elf-developmsnt. The man
not less than tho child, and the race not less
than the individual man. are and always
must be under authorities which may or may
not be traced, according to ones religious
opinions, to the One Supreme personal
authority, whose service is perfect free-
dom.
Well worth careful perlsal Il DR.. StsrTetts
demonstration Of tho principle that AZ
education, properly so called, Ii ana must
be conducted In conformity to author1ty
-One 10 always somebody's child. IL
pronounced erroneous TO define -educsuon
as the development Of the theoretoal ana
practical IN the individual as II 1t were
only al educng or outdrawing Of what
already within, like the Smelling OF 90 many
peas from the pod. From our authors
point OF view Education Is not merely an
c1eoesia. II il rather an sNducaon-tno
conveyance Of fulness into an emptiness.
1t Is a Transformation, q conversion
regeneration OF the merely natural man OF
babyhood." Apart from heredity ana
idiosyncrasy. II there be anything peculiar
observed In an infant II needs extirpaaon
rather than education, for the GOOD OK Inc
individual and society. ohild's nIs'
nature needs to be transmitted into socono'
rational, ethical nature. Pedagogy, ID a
word, Is the art Of making man ethioaA.
It seeks to permeate him with tho sthos'
intellectual, moral and religious. Of his
people, ITO father seeking the best way
to bring up his son Pythagorean, OF some
other philosopher, replied: Make him q
citizen Of State which has good laws.
Our author goes on to point out that BY the
State Aristotle and Hegel mean The whole
social organism-family, school, churon
and society, as well as government. LOU
a boy conform to these institutional au-
thorities II he would become q good and
wise man. Let him conform his vooanza-
ton to the common language. bis reasoning
to the common laws OF thought his knowi-
edge to the common fund OF science, art.
literature and philosophy. his devotional
exercises to the common cult OF his church
and his conduct to the ethical codes, customs
and manners Of his people, that he may
attain to the stature OF manhood. Inns
was the Greek ideal OF education, and OF
course the realization OF It did not pre-
clucie a recipient from making splendid
and imperishable additions to mans Stock
Of science and art.
To the protest that q conformist cannot
be free, our author replies with question.
DO we mean he asks. that the good
father, son, citizen, churchmant the one
who conforms himself to the ideals OF these
relationships-is less FREQ than the one
who does not2 II is surely my duty and
right to realize my eoo but 1t must be my
summus ego But this sunmus ego exists
in no mere individual. 1t Is generic, and
l can only make it mine own by conformity
to the genus.' 1t will not do, continues Dr.
Sterrett. to take the merely subjective
standpoint. and say Il am not free unless
l can choose what l please. l must will
only myself" But which self My lower
self, or my higher self? SO, the liberty
OF caprice itself is, or should be, liberty
of confornity-the freedom to choose to
conform. to ones typdl self. Such choice,
no doubt. Is only possible for the relatively
good mantle man moralized by conform
ity to good custom. Our author recalls
Millions saying: None can love freedom
heartily but good men the rest love not free
dom, but license" Absolute freedom, in
the sense OF individual license, Is intoerable
in any rational form Of organized human
life. To choose nationally. one must first
be good And one becomes good by choos-
ing that which pleases the human society
of which he is a member: that Is to say.
by conforming to authority external to
oneself, not evolved from ones own inner
consciousness There Is no real freedom
In choosing to act like the devil
Elsewhere in the course Of the same dis
cussion we read THE truth Is that ds
7 am, 80 I choose. choose what Is con-
gruous with my formed self at the moment
OF choosing. Tho man Is the will. So it
makes much difference what sort OF man
it ia that chooses. may act like an angel
or like an ass. like Philip drunk or Philip
sober if let the empirical ego of the moment
be the man. This ! must do II I have not
character-a formed state Of the will. 1t is
only so far as our will is not thoroughly
habituated or coniormed TO good form that
we can say with Ovid. Video meliora pro-
booue deterioro sequor; or with st. Paul,
The good that would do not. but the
evil that would not that do Nor can
I ascribe it to myself II follow the netora,
As Aristotle taught, a man is equally re-
sponsible for both kinds Of action-even
where he has so characterized himself in
evil ways as to be incapable Of good action"
In chapter on -the historical method
our author examines the mechanical theory
of the universe as it Is expounded, for
instance by Haeckel in his Riddle Of the
Universe" Although himself not only a
convinced theist. but q devout Christian,
he states the position Of the agnostio in q
Just and dispassionate way. Not for
moment does he condesoend to the cheap
mode OF criticizing science by holding up
the mistakes that have been made by
scientists in the past, by arraying the ex-
ploded theories in physics, chemistry.
medicine, geology and biology, as II these
were 80 many proofs Of the futility Of these
sciences. On the contrary. he comedies
frankly that scientific men are justly
and logically agnostic on the basis Of