James Frederick Ferrier

“ And hence philosophy, a philosophy which would overtake both of these ends, as all philosophy should, and which would at once fill and discipline the mind, must be a scheme of systematised truth. And as system is merely another name for reason, it is thus the duty of all speculative philosophy—of that discipline whose business it is to fulfil the highest demands of education, and to teach the student that hardest of all lessons both to teach and to learn, namely, how to think—it is the, duty of this science to be from first to last a consistent scheme of methodised and reasoned knowledge. ”

“ The aim of all education is twofold: it is twofold whether looked at on the side of him that teaches or on the side of him that learns; that is, on the part of the student, one aim is the acquisition of knowledge, the other aim is the development and exercise and cultivation of his intellectual powers. ”

“ I do not say that the teacher of philosophy will always succeed in setting to work the minds of his students by showing them in a methodical and concatenated order the workings of his own reason; but when that method fails I certainly know of no other which can succeed, of no other by which the study of metaphysics may be made a practical discipline and a means of developing and cultivating the intelligence of the student. ”

“ The term science rather indicates that end of intellectual endeavour which centres in the possession of knowledge; the term discipline rather points to that other end of intellectual endeavour which centres in the evolution and exercise of reason and reflection. Every intellectual pursuit has thus two sides, a theoretical and a practical. Viewed on its theoretical side, it consists of a body of knowledge, and may properly be called a science ”

“ Practical teaching is generally regarded as the communication of a knowledge which may be useful to us in the daily concerns of life, in our professional pursuits, and in the ordinary intercourse of society. Far be it from rue to disparage the importance of such knowledge; but the teaching which imparts it is rather theoretical than practical. Practical teaching, I again say, is that which looks not so much to the conveyance of knowledge as to the growth and culture of the faculties by which that knowledge is received. ”

“ If it be true, then, that the end of education is twofold, this, a fortiori, must be true in regard to philosophy, the highest instrument of education; and accordingly the teacher of philosophy has to consider what the proper means are by which the twofold aim of science may be overtaken and its double function performed. ”

“ How different is the mental training which their possession evinces, the enlightenment by which they are accompanied! In the one case they are lifeless and isolated facts without unity or coherence; in the other case they constitute an organic whole, they are rooted in central principles, evolved by elaborate calculation, linked together by intelligible affinities, and illuminated by the light of reason. ”

“ Thus, for example, the man who might acquire a knowledge of the Latin language, as he does that of his mother tongue, by associating in early life with those who spoke it, would not, by means of that acquisition, have his powers cultivated in an equal degree with those of the man who amid alien influences had learned that language by dint of systematic and persevering study ”

“ This is what is meant by saying that instruction is or ought to be both theoretical and practical. It ought to be theoretical, because its business is to impart knowledge; it ought to be practical, because its business is to exercise and strengthen the mind. ”

“ On this latter topic, the unsettled state of metaphysics, I now propose to say a few words, with an eye to the conclusion that a better condition of things can be looked for only when Reason and the light and the force of pure thinking have been brought to bear more vigorously and perseveringly than has ever yet been done in the cultivation of this science. ”

“ It is certain, however, that knowledge may be acquired under conditions which cultivate in very different degrees the powers of the acquirer; in other words, it is certain that one man may acquire knowledge, and in the attainment may find his whole intellectual being enlightened and invigorated, while another man may possess the same knowledge without receiving a corresponding benefit in the way of mental improvement. ”

“ But thoughts, in order to be genuine, in order to have root, must coexist in a vital and organic unity, and not as a tissue of floating fragmentary opinions. And hence it is that it is only by means of the exhibition of systematic thinking on the part of the teacher that lessons of thinking can be taught to those whom he instructs. ”

“ His faculties have been aroused and strengthened by the difficulties they had overcome; those of the other, who had imbibed the language instinctively without an effort from the society that surrounded him, lie dormant and inert, or at least the acquirement of the Latin tongue has not contributed to their development. Again, a large amount of the mere facts of physical science may be known by the superficial smatterer no less than by the profound mathematician. ”

“ I am prompted to make these observations on account of the hostility which the attempt to reduce speculative science to precision and exactitude frequently calls forth. I venture to oppose the prejudice which holds that truth can scarcely be made to square with logic, that sublime knowledge is incompatible with rigorous method, that profound thought sets at defiance the formulæ of lucid order ”

“ This assuredly is not to be effected by mapping out the human mind into a set of independent faculties, and exhibiting in a desultory manner the facts of an empirical and unsystematic psychology. Such teaching is at the best merely theoretical. ”

“ It is not discipline: it contributes nothing to the practical development of the student's intellectual life. I have said that truth, strictly speaking, is intelligible only when deduced from principles, and presented, in a rigorously reasoned form. I say this more particularly in regard to metaphysical truth. I limit my assertion to the truth with which philosophy has to deal ”

“ There is an old Greek saying, Πολυμαθία νοῦν οὐ διδάσκει, that is, much learning or multifarious knowledge does not truly educate the intellect. What more is required? This additional element is required, that our knowledge be reduced to system ”