按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
sublimated； expression of the same barbarian frame of mind。 The
barbarian culture is pragmatic； utilitarian； worldly wise； and
its learning partakes of the same complexion。 The barbarian； late
or early； is typically an unmitigated pragmatist； that is the
spiritual trait that most profoundly marks him off from the
savage on the one hand and from the civilized man on the other
hand。 〃He turns a keen； untroubled face home to the instant need
of things。〃
The high era of barbarism in Europe； the Dark and Middle
Ages； is marked off from what went before and from what has
followed in the cultural sequence； by a hard and fast utilitarian
animus。 The all…dominating spiritual trait of those times is that
men then made the means of life its end。 It is perhaps needless
to call to mind that much of this animus still survives in later
civilized life； especially in so far as the scheme of civilized
life is embodied in the competitive system。 In that earlier time；
practical sagacity and the serviceability of any knowledge
acquired； its bearing on individual advantage； spiritual or
temporal； was the ruling consideration； as never before or since。
The best of men in that world were not ashamed to avow that a
boundless solicitude for their own salvation was their worthiest
motive of conduct； and it is plain in all their speculations that
they were unable to accept any other motive or sanction as final
in any bearing。 Saint and sinner alike knew no higher rule than
expediency； for this world and the next。 And； for that matter； so
it still stands with the saint and the sinner； who make up
much of the commonplace human material in the modern community；
although both the saint and the sinner in the modern community
carry； largely by shamefaced subreption； an ever increasing
side…line of other and more genial interests that have no merit
in point of expediency whether for this world or the next。
Under the rule of such a cultural ideal the corporation of
learning could not well take any avowed stand except as an
establishment for utilitarian instruction； the practical
expediency of whose work was the sole overt test of its
competency。 And such it still should continue to be according to
the avowed aspirations of the staler commonplace elements in the
community today。 By subreption； and by a sophisticated
subsumption under some ostensibly practical line of interest and
inquiry； it is true； the university men of the earlier time spent
much of their best endeavour on matters of disinterested
scholarship that had no bearing on any human want more to the
point than an idle curiosity； and by a similar turn of subreption
and sophistication the later spokesmen of the barbarian ideal
take much complacent credit for the 〃triumphs of modern science〃
that have nothing but an ostensible bearing on any matter of
practical expediency； and they look to the universities to
continue this work of the idle curiosity under some plausible
pretext of practicality。
So the university of that era unavoidably came to be
organized as a more or less comprehensive federation of
professional schools or faculties devoted to such branches of
practical knowledge as the ruling utilitarian interests of the
time demanded。 Under this overshadowing barbarian tradition the
universities of early modern times started out as an avowed
contrivance for indoctrination in the ways and means of
salvation； spiritual and temporal； individual and collective；
in some sort a school of engineering； primarily in divinity；
secondarily in law and politics； and presently in medicine and
also in the other professions that serve a recognized utilitarian
interest。 After that fashion of a university that answered to
this manner of ideals and aspirations had once been installed and
gained a secure footing； its pattern acquired a degree of
authenticity and prescription； so that later seminaries of
learning came unquestioningly to be organized on the same lines；
and further changes of academic policy and practice； such as are
demanded by the later growth of cultural interests and ideals；
have been made only reluctantly and with a suspicious reserve；
gradually and by a circuitous sophistication； so that much of the
non…utilitarian scientific and scholarly work indispensable to
the university's survival under modern conditions is still
scheduled under the faculties of law or medicine； or even of
divinity。
But the human propensity for inquiry into things；
irrespective of use or expediency； insinuated itself among the
expositors of worldly wisdom from the outset； and from the first
this quest of idle learning has sought shelter in the university
as the only establishment in which it could find a domicile； even
on sufferance； and so could achieve that footing of consecutive
intellectual enterprise running through successive generations of
scholars which is above all else indispensable to the advancement
of knowledge。 Under the r間ime of unmitigated pragmatic aims that
ruled the earlier days of the European universities； this pursuit
of knowledge for its own sake was carried on as a work of
scholarly supererogation by men whose ostensibly sole occupation
was the promulgation of some accredited line of salutary
information。 Frequently it had to be carried on under some
colourable masquerade of practicality。 And yet so persistent has
the spirit of idle curiosity proved to be； and so consonant with
the long…term demands even of the laity； that the dissimulation
and smuggling…in of disinterested learning has gone on ever more
openly and at an ever increasing rate of gain； until in the end；
the attention given to scholarship and the non…utilitarian
sciences in these establishments has come far to exceed that
given to the practical disciplines for which the several
faculties were originally installed。 As time has passed and as
successive cultural mutations have passed over the community；
shifting the centre of interest and bringing new ideals of
scholarship； and bringing the whole cultural fabric nearer to its
modern complexion； those purposes of crass expediency that were
of such great moment and were so much a matter of course in
earlier academic policy； have insensibly fallen to the rank of
incidentals。 And what had once been incidental； or even an object
of surreptitious tolerance in the university； remains today as
the only unequivocal duty of the corporation of learning； and
stands out as the one characteristic trait without which no
establishment can claim rank as a university。
Philosophy the avowed body of theoretical science in the
late medieval time had grown out of the schoolmen's
speculations in theology； being in point of derivation a body of
refinements on the divine scheme of salvation； and with a view to
quiet title； and to make manifest their devotion to the greater
good of eschatological expediency； those ingenious speculators
were content to proclaim that their philosophy is the handmaid of
theology Philosophia theologiae ancillans。 But their
philosophy has fallen into the alembic of the idle curiosity and
has given rise to a body of modern science； godless and
unpractical； that has no intended or even ostensible bearing on
the religious fortunes of mankind； and their sanctimonious maxim
would today be better accepted as the subject of a limerick than
of a homily。 Except in degree； the fortunes of the temporal
pragmatic disciplines； in Law and Medicine； have been much the
same as that of their elder sister； Theology。 Professionalism and
practical serviceability have been gradually crowded into the
background of academic interests and overlaid with
quasi…utilitarian research such as the history of
jurisprudence； comparative physiology； and the like。 They have in
fact largely been eliminated。（8*）
And changes running to this effect have gone farthest and
have taken most consistent effect in those communities that are
most fully imbued with the spirit of the modern peaceable
civilization。 It is in the more backward communities and schools
that the barbarian animus of utilitarianism still maintains
itself most nearly intact； whether it touches matters of temporal
or of spiritual interest。 With the later advance of culture； as
the intellectual interest has gradually displaced the older
ideals in men's esteem； and barring a reactionary episode here
an