MATERIALISTIC LEARNING

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1927, 28 October 1926, Page 6

MATERIALISTIC LEARNING

“Aml cl our conflujsed, huirried, clamourous. machinesaving, .morion-mad, materialised! civilisation the world requiiicis brader, finer, befter-balanced intelligences, who can get .and apply wisely; to thta 'furtherance of bum an .well-being the fruitful knowledge,” said 'Dr J. A Leighton, hea'd of .the department of philosophy in the Ohio .State University, in an address . recently. “The present emphasis on itlie value of knowledge iis one-lsided. Knowledge is valued chiefly in commercial terms. The physical sciences arh valued ■highly, because it is believed) that they ©an be turned to m'oneymaking use's. •The best value oif any knowledge Hies in i):.s humane fru'ilMlulnelss. But the trouble is that |the fruits .that have btlan sought for most eagerly have been mlaiprialistic fruits. And what Ss the result? A civilisation It,halt ion it sj mechanical side surpasses even the wildest dJreams; of the earlier prophet's of science, such as Francis (Bacon; but a civilisation that socially, dthidally, spiritually—.in short, humanely—is being weighed in the balance and found wanting. "'What we most need are thinkers and ‘doers who will gelt and apply wisdom.. Wisdom, we have been told from did time, is thfa. application of ideas to (the business of living. Knowledge as an instrument for making a living i, 3 simply (technique applied to gainful ends. Bult, wisdom, .is knowledge pursued in the. spirit of inoeis--81 sant inquiry to (the lend that men may Live well—may have the more abundant 'life.”