NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19834, 3 January 1928, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

PATHWAYS TO TRUTH. "Science is a body of knowledge gained by pursuing certain methods of observation and experiment. It formulates in terms of the measurable, registerable and verifiable. It is reliable so far as it goes, and it often approximates to reality, since we use it as a basis for predictions of certain kinds that como true, like the return of a comet," says Professor J. Arthur Thomson, in the Forum. "But :t is an abstract kind of knowledge, pursued for particular purposes. It yields accurate descriptions and empirical formulae, but we cannot regard these as more than a contribution to truth. Truth is an august word, not to be often used, and it means getting near reality; and our thesis is that while science fe one of the pathways, it is not the only one. There is the pathway of feeling and the pathway of action. We ventuie to think that there is at least one other pathway toward truth, and that is by the straight and narrow gate of religion. Who has any right to seek to close this door ? . . . It is possible to be both scientific and religious, for there can bo no radical conflict between empirical description in terms of lowest common denominators and transcendental interpretation in terms of the Greatest Common Measure."

SCIENCE AND RELIGION,

"It may be said that we are proving too much, since the hoary controversy between science and religion continues still," Professor Thomson continues. "But tho reason for this is always trespass. Ori the one hand, ambitious students of science—often undisciplined •in methodology and metaphysics—are apt to intrude into the religious domain of interpretation, or are apt to state their scientific conclusions in terms which insidiously include bad philosophy. If science declares that man is an automatic machine, it cannot expect the religiously minded to take the insult lying down. Similarly, if religious interpretation intrudes into tho scientific field of description and insirts, for instance, that man was created by the Trinity on midsummer day 4004 B.C. at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, it cannot expect the scientifically-minded to regard this as other than an impertinence. But might we not agree not to trespass ? It must not be supposed that we are here suggesting idea-tight compartments in the mind—science on weekdays and religion on Sunday. On the contrary, our plea is that each be allowed free course. Science and religion may continue to clash as regards particular conclusions and convictions, and this must lead to philosophical adjustments; for to take single instances, the religious mood must decline to accept the statement that man is an episodic eine'gence in a long chapter of accidents, and tho scientific mood must ask for a reconsideration of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body in its usual crude theological presentment. But, according to the degree that we are loyal to both disciplines we shall draw nearer to the truth, which makes us free."

CIVILISATION,

"Tha progress of civilisation does not consist, as some would have it, in gradual advance to the point of safety. It consists much rather in a growing perception of the common risk and the growing willingness to face it together. The unity of civilisation is tho unity of that high resolve," says Dr. L. P. Jacks, in an essay on constructive citizenship. "By no conceivable 'measures,' remedial or otherwise, can civilised society attain a position where it can 'dig itself in' under conditions of perfect safety. 'Bug in' under any conditions whatsoever, the fibre of the race would inev.'tably decay, and the pleasanier the stagnation was, the more swiftly would time turn it to putrefaction. . . . Among the products of a sickly idealism none is more repulsive than the picture of human destiny as a universal 'soft job' with 'happiness' evenly distributed by the automatic equity of a social system. The unity of civilisation does not lie in that direction. The 'job' that awaits the human race is a hard one, and destined to become continuously harder as the ages advance. The only 'unity' which civilisation can ever attain is the unity which springs from a clear perception of the dangers and difficulties of the common task backed by a common resolution to get the work done with the utmost excellence ii admits of. Of all the truths our generation needs to learn I know of none more urgent than this. I would make it basic in the training of the citizen." BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. "I sometimes wonder whether employer; realise that England is the only important industrial country which has no national organisation for the study of improved methods of industrial management," says Mr. B. Seebohm Rowntree, in the Contemporary Review. "There is, of course, an American Management Association. In France, Germany, Italy. Czecho-Slovakia, Belgium, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Austria, Spain and Russia, there are national bodies far this purpose, often coordinating many specialised institutions, and in some cases receiving large financial support from the Government. It seems curious that in a country like England, which is so anxious to retain or re-cap ture her position aa the 'workshop of the world,' it has never been thought necessary to establish such an organisation. Of course, we have trade organisations of one kind and another, but their objective is different. The object of a management association is to study the art of management and the underlying sciences on which that art is based, to consider the different means of lowering production costs find of increasing efficiency; and to find out how to establish the right relations bettveen Capital and Labour." THE LITTLE THEATRE. Discussing the widespread revival of interest in amateur theatricals,, the Manchester Guardian says societies no longer amuse themselves by occasional revivals of old West End trifles; they are continually experimenting with work of which the commercial theatre is shy; they are writing and producing new plays of their own; here, there, and everywhere they are endeavouring to fill the gap made by the commercial difficulties of the professional theatre and by the frequent inability of the touring system to withstand the invasion of the kinema. There has been some professional nervousness about the competition of the amateur. Organisations representing managers and players have been inquiring anxiously as to the possibility of a big future for the little theatre. It may be briefly answered that if the commercial theatre cannot stand np to a little competition it should go to a doctor; but, as a matter of fact, the eetoM is not necessary. The amateur movement has been hugely moved to action by the failure of the professional theatre to satisfy a discriminating audience, and, while doing its own work of production, is creating a public for the professional companies who reach beyond the routine. There is no reason whatever for jealousy between amateur and professionals