Evening star., 1947-03-24


rapid that our minds can scarcely keep
up with it. But there are other things
that cannot keep up with it, either
notably our social ideas, our habits OF life
and our political and economic institu-
tions Our political institutions, for ex-
ample, are mainly rooted in the eight
eenth century, but our swiftly evolving
technology is largely twentieth century
phenomenon. We have one foot in civ
ilization that is dying and another foot
in civilization that is struggling to be
born. Consequently we live kind OF
bifurcated existence, and the gap between
what we know and what we need to know
becomes wider and deeper.
AS a result there Is developing dam
gerously tilted situation in our society, an
intellectual imbalance, which can no
longer be ignored. Our knowledge OF
human behavior and social relations is
not adequate to give us the guidance we
need; and the fundamental issue Of our
time Is whether we can develop under
standing and wisdom reliable enough to
serve as chart in working out the prob
lens of human relations; or whether we
shall allow our present lopsided progress
to develop to point that capsizes our
civilization in catastrophe of immeas-
urable proportions.
Society Is Interdependent.
What Is needed is broader basis of
reasearch, more vigorous backing OF
objective and competent efforts to de-
fine and analyze the intricacies OF
human relationship. We need to know
what our social organization Is how it
operates, how it will react to alterations
and changes. We have created a society
so interdependent that issues are no
longer simple, individual and local; they
are complex, social and worldwide.
And they are beyond the experience
of most Of us. international trade and
finance, national income and its dis
tribution, wages, profits, prices, pur-
chasing power, employment and unem-
ployment, collective bargaining, housing,
crime, population, agriculture, transpor-
tation, and the social, economic and
political organizations that deal with
these matters-these are few topics.
selected at random, about which we
must have deeper and more adequate
knowledge If our society is to be kept
in equilibrium. Russia has an economy
of scarcity; the United States has an
economy OF abundance. What does this
mean in terms of world unity? What
are its implications? How can the two
economies be reconciled so that they
can live in peace together on the same
planet?
Emphasis on Social Sciences.
. A prominent figure in Washington
recently remarked that we must have
"a sufficient mastery Of nature 50 that
permanent world peace will be a reality
and not q mere hopeful expression of
faith" With all due respect, 1t Is this
mastery OF nature which threatens to
blow our civilization into drifting dust
What we really need is a mastery of
mans social nature-knowledge and
more knowledge of the on-rushing So
cial consequences of our machines, con-
sequences which, because they are too
intricate to be easily understood, are
shaping our lives to ends we do not
want but cannot escape.
Certainly in our search for the means
to control our own fate we must not
overlook the possibility that the unity
of mankind may be achieved by art or
music, poem or q song, perhaps more
effectively and more lastingly than by
engineering or medicine or economics.
1t Is not a segment Of the truth that
will make us free. Not alone by tele-
scopes and test tubes can man survive.
In world that threatens to brush aside
everything that intelligence stands for,
the social sciences and the humanistic
studies must be pushed with daring and
fjafarn1i in tiop