A Twentieth-Century Dilemma

Frederick C. Neff

In Charge of Graduate Study, Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif.

In the accompanying article what might be described as essentially the "dichotomy of the social outlook" is discussed. The author points up the natural conflict between considered conservatism, withdrawing before the vistas opened by change, and the mentally youthful eagerness to explore all possible new avenues. It is not a new problem, of course. It is as old as the family unit, far more ancient than any ordered society and perhaps it will be with us through all the ages to come. But the importance of this article, we feel, is the stress that is laid upon emphasizing the portion of our thinking that welcomes change, and limiting our natural conservatism so that it becomes a healthful check upon the other. Ed. Note.

TO SAY THAT WE are living in a period of transition has become a commonplace. There seems little to be disturbed about in this thought. For most of us transition means change, and change is regarded as

a

conquest of the barriers of space, time, sound. Why, then, should the fact that affairs are in a state of flux be any great cause for alarm?

What is not so commonplace is a grasp of the precise nature of the changes that are taking place, together with an awareness of the need for some pretty careful thinking before charting our prospective course. This is another way of saying that the transitional character of our time goes deeper than the rather obvious changes in the physical scene. It is bound, sooner or later, to raise the problem of choice between compet

necessary condition of progress. Furthermore, most of us tend to identify change with material advancement. We think immediately of the strides we have made in mass media of communication and transportation, and as evidence we summon to mind the radio, television, and the three-dimensional movie; or new depths of submarine navigation, flights into the stratosphere, and supersonic travel. Truly, we are living standards of value. To put it ing in an age of marvels-a period

that has witnessed a considerable

differently, evidences of material progress are basically indications of

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an increasingly experimental outlook, the import of which is that progress occurs whenever control is satisfactorily gained over situations for purposes of human betterment. In opposition to this view is the contention that progress results, not through acquiring mastery over physical forces, but by conforming to some set of fixed principles, which have been variously defined as cosmic, transcendental, classical, revealed, or otherwise absolute and inviolable. From the latter standpoint, those who would invade the cosmic order, if not rank heretics, are at least persons whom we should "keep an eye on," and those who would presume to match their wits against nature had better "watch their step." Science has made such startling discoveries regarding man's ability to manipulate natural forces-in medicine and psychiatry, in nuclear fission and astrophysics-that those accustomed to viewing nature as an evidence of the handiwork of the Lord, and not to be tampered with, are dismayed to find their moorings being loosened on all sides. For better or for worse, the fact is that the older sanctions are being seriously challenged and it is becoming increasingly evident that we must move either forward or backward. If the course we decide upon is to

determine moral and social trends. for some time to come, then there is reason for attaching concern to the problem of what procedure had best be followed.

Our present dilemma has to do with the fundamental question of deciding between adjustment on the one hand and reconstruction on the

other. The Weltansicht in which we have been operating stems largely from the Aristotelian notion of a closed universe, mechanistic in nature, which was thought to be an outward manifestation of some sort of predetermined plan or design, the metaphysics for which cosmic was provided by Platonic philosophy and later adopted by Christian theology. It is this dualistic or twoworld outlook which has been largely responsible for the present dichotomies in psychology, philosophy, economics, religion, morals, and government, which have become SO familiar, if unfortunate, a part of our Western culture. It is this twofold conception of reality which has resulted in a not-too-healthy separation of mind from body, heaven from earth, spiritual from worldly, cultural from practical; ideal from real, dividual from society. In education it metaphysical from physical, and inhas performed the irreparable error separating things-to-be-learned from the learner.

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fiable with each new addition to knowledge.

The absolute or authoritarian point of view demands stress on conformity and uniformity, the pragmatic or progressive on inventiveness and creativity; the former implies adjustment to things "as they are"; the latter involves reconstruction and improvement of things in terms of what they ought to be. The former reminds us of our perennially imperfect state and at the same time holds in front of us a vision of perfection; the latter reminds us of our virtually infinite powers for betterment and bids us construct goals that are attainable. The former perpetuates the dichotomy between the cultural and the practical, while the latter holds that the practical can be cultural and that the cultural can be practical.

The old "adjustment" act has become at best a shoddy routine. If adjustment is to be the continued mode, then we had better make haste in patching up the old frame

work before it crumbles beyond repair; and perhaps the first step would be to declare a moratorium on any investigations that might further endanger it. If reconstruction is to be the vogue, then we had best begin operating in a medium more friendly to change. The present uneasy balance cannot persist indefinitely.

Voltaire had a point when he said that "history is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes." At least we would do well to remind ourselves that we have been borrowing from the residue of democratic, nor a past that was neither scientific, even humane. We are now offered a choice between a reinstatement of absolutism and tyranny or a cultivation of democracy and humanity. Our century may mark the inauguration of another Dark Age, stifling to the spirit of inquiry; or it may be the beginning of a Second Renaissance, ushering in a new era of freedom. The choice which will one day become history, today rests with us.

ALL THE WORLD is watching and listening to what we say, what
we do and how we behave. So let us give them a demonstration of
democracy in action at its best-our manners good, our proceedings,
orderly and dignified. And-above all-let us make our decisions open-
ly, fairly, not by the processes of synthetic excitement or mass hys-
teria, but as these solemn times demand, by earnest thought and
prayerful deliberation.
-Adlai E. Stevenson

Education For Survival

I THINK IT was Robert Maynard Hutchins who is credited with having said, "When I feel the need for exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes," a statement which has been attributed to various qualities, some not very complimentary, but which at any rate indicates intellectual maturity. Exercise, and by extension athletics, then, is for the birds, to use an expression of the day. At best it serves as an outlet for the physically or mentally immature.