Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29

that science should seriously consider
the phenomena of spiritualism.
DR.. John M. Cooper, professor of
anthropology at Catholic University, in
sisted that the only persons properly
equipped to consider Spiritualistic phe-
nomena are slight-of- hand artists, and
that scientists run the risk of being
helpleSsly imposed upon. DR.. Cooper de-
MED that mana" was a universal phe-
nomenon among primitive peoples. Ger
tain groups of Hudson Bay Indians with
whom he has worked and who are very
primitive, he said, have no idea that
would correspond to mana" although
200 miles south, among more settled
Indians, there is belief in Manitu, close
ly corresponding with mana"
Three Religious Forms.
The day has passed, DR.. Cooper in
sisted, when any substantial anthropol-
ogist claims to trace the origin of re.
ligion, although this may be possible
some day when more data Is at hand
At present, he said, there are three
forms of religious belief which seem to
exist Side-by-side among primitive peo-
pies, so 1t is impossible to trace one
from the other. These are Manism, or
ancestor worship; animism, or belief in
great numbers Of lesser spirits, and the
ism, or belief In one or comparatively
few very powerful spirits. And magic
is found f1ouriShing beside these re-
ligions. ManiSm and animism, he said,
are almost, but not quite, universal.
TheiSm, while pot universal, is very
widespread.
Prof. Ellsworth Faris of the Univer-
sity Of Chicago said that psychologists
and anthropologists have drawn I'M
mas fa1 an1,T a. ~
processes of primitive peoples, simply
reading into their minds what they
themselves would think in like circum-
stances. Magic, he said, probably de-
veloped into science and not religion.
There are many proofs of God" he
said, but never knew one which was
convincing to anybody who didn't first
believe in it,
Discuss Character Education.
The implications Of character educa-
ton, now proposed for Washington
schools, were discussed by DR.. Hugh
HartShorne of Yale University. Prof.
Hartshorne has been engaged in formu-
latlng, applying and interpreting a
series of test situations to be applied to
school children to discover such traits
OF character as honesty, cooperation
and perseverance.
These traits, he declared, represent
nothing biological in the individual, but
appear from the tests to be entirely
the result of education in some form
or other. Thus the same individual
does not respond in the same way to
different situations and the response
seems generally to depend on the
morale of the group.
While DIR. HartShorne was convinced
OF the practicability of character edu-
cation through group Indignation to a
certain standard, he pointed out that
this had serious implication. for the
individual whose character Is developed
as q member of a group does not have
an opportunity to develop as an In
dividual.
Prof. Gordon Airport of Dartmouth
College insisted that 1t is to the in
terestS of society to mold character,
but that character is an entirely diff
ferent thing from personality, which
should be allowed to develop in
dividually.
Individual Versus Group.
Prof. Hartshorne held, however, that
II the individual rather than the group
is taken as the unit Of character the
fundamental group will become hui
Logically" he said, I'VE must be
content either with better integrated
groups and less integrated individuals
or less integrated groups with greater
differentiation among individuals, or
else discover some compromise, or NOV
ing balance, between the two. We are
not yet on the track of a technique
for producing at the same time both
social and self Indignation"