circle. The philosopher makes a fresh start and asks, ‘Do you not think that all holiness must be just?' Eu. I do. Soc. Well, then, is all justice holy too? Or, while all holiness is just, is a part only of justice holy and the rest of it something else? After some fencing Euthyphron admits that holiness is only a part of justice, and, later, that piety and holiness are that part of justice which has to do with the attention due to the gods, and that what has to do with the attention due to men is the remaining part of justice. By a series of questions Socrates, having elicited that the attention of the trainer of horses is intended to benefit the horses, that of the huntsman to benefit the dogs, and that of the herdsman to benefit the cattle, leads up to the admission that 'the attention which is due to the gods' does not mean anything intended to benefit or improve them. It means the attention of slaves to their masters—that is, service to the gods. Asked what the grand result is which the gods use our service to produce, Euthyphron evades the question and says, 'If any man knows that his words and deeds in prayer and sacrifice are acceptable to the gods that is what is holy . . . but the opposite of what is acceptable to the gods is impious.' 'Then holiness,' says Socrates, 'is a science of prayer and sacrifice?' Euthyphron assents. Soc. Then you say that holiness is the science of asking of the gods and giving to them? Eu. You understand my meaning exactly. Soc. Then to ask rightly will be to ask of them what we stand in need of from them, will it not? Eu. Naturally. Soc. And to give rightly will be to give back to them what they stand in need of from us? Eu. True. Soc. Then holiness . . . will be an art of traffic between gods and men? Eu. Yes. Soc. How are the gods benefited by the gifts which they receive from us? Euthyphron cannot answer that question, and Socrates asks 'Then holiness, Euthyphron, is acceptable to the gods, but it is not profitable nor dear to them?' Eu. I think that nothing is dearer to them. Soc. Then I see that holiness means that which is dear to the gods. Eu. Most certainly. Soc. But we have already seen that holiness and what is pleasing to the gods are quite different things. Euthyphron having had enough of this cross-questioning, suddenly remembers that he has an engagement. i 1 The direct quotations in this appendix are from Church's Trial and Death of Socrates. science OBJECT LESSONS1 In a previous chapter, three general principles were laid down for the inclusion of any given subject in the curriculum of a Claims of school. A claim, if based on one of them, deserves consideration; if based on two, it is very strong; and if on the three, it is irresistible. The claim of science is based on the three. The utility of science is universally admitted; and its educational value, if not universally admitted, is incontrovertible. Every physical science begins with the careful and intelligent observation of facts, and then proceeds to classify and generalise; hence the pursuit of it gives a keenness to the senses and a vigour to the reasoning powers, which must be of immense service in any department of human activity. A knowledge of science also adds much to the elevating pleasures of life. We cannot study one which does not give interest to every country walk, to every excursion by river, lake, or sea, even to every journey by rail.” 1 This subject is treated at greater length in Longmans' Object Lessons. 2 'I do not suppose that the dead soul of Peter Bell, of whom the great poet of nature says— "A primrose by the river's brim, A yellow primrose was to him, would have been a whit roused from its apathy by the information that the primrose is a Dicotyledonous Exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and central placentation. But I advocate natural history knowledge from this point of view, because it would lead us to seek the beauties of natural objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them on our attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a But, though the claim of science to be included in the curriculum of every school is irresistible, the study of science Object lesis impossible in schools for young children. It sons a substi- demands, beyond the powers of observation tute and pre- which such children possess abundantly, powers paration for science of classification, generalisation, and inductive lessons reasoning, of which they barely possess even the rudiments. A course of object lessons, arranged with some regard to the laws of psychology, prepared with care, and given with skill, by directing their attention towards tangible things, by encouraging them first to observe, then to compare, and finally to classify and generalise, furnishes, not indeed an equivalent for definite science teaching, but the best substitute possible in their case. Such object lessons are moreover the best preparation for it, because they place the pupil in the right road. and lead him some way along it. When he begins the study of science he has simply to go further and faster in the same direction. He has simply to make more minute observations, more comprehensive comparisons, more distinct classifications, more sweeping generalisations. Object lessons being the substitute or preparation for definite scientific teaching, their primary purpose is in all Purpose of stages the cultivation of the powers of observation, object lessons and in the later stages the cultivation of the powers of generalisation, classification, and inductive reasoning.1 walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning round.'-Huxley: Science and Education Essays, p. 63. 'What makes object lessons valuable, pleasant, and efficacious is the fact that they appeal to the personal powers of the child, call into play his physical and intellectual activities, and satisfy his natural need of thought, speech, movement, and change-that they reach his mind through the medium of his senses, and use what he knows and what he loves to interest him in what he knows not or loves not yet; in a word, because they are for him the concrete and not the abstract.'—Madame Pape-Carpantier: Conférences pédagogiques faites à la Sorbonne, 2o partie, p. 73. Incidentally much useful knowledge may be conveyed, but, however much and however useful the knowledge conveyed about an object, the lesson is not an object lesson if the children have not been made to exercise their senses on the object. In that operation the function of the teacher is to direct and stimulate, not to inform-to make the children find out what they can about the object, not to tell them what he knows about it; to question, not to lecture. The earliest lessons should be on the common things and the common animals to be seen in the home, the school, the Subjects of streets, and the fields. A little later there should lessons be lessons on common natural phenomena, such as clouds, mist, rain, snow, and thunder. Gradually the range of observation should be extended till it includes typical selections from the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral worlds, and the simplest elements of physics and biology. Finally, object lessons should give way to definite lessons in those sciences towards which all the courses have been slowly tending. sons on the Having regard to the fact that the powers of children are constantly developing, it is clear that several lessons may be Several les- given on the same subject at successive stages. Three lessons may, for instance, be given on coal, same subject the first dealing with its more obvious properties and uses, the second with the mining, and the third with the origin of it. Mr. Bain1 gives another example, the lessons which may, at successive stages, be given on a piece of chalk. 'Many sciences centre in it, and therefore it can be the starting point of an agreeable excursion in any one of several lines. It is implicated with zoology, geology, chemistry, and physics, and may be made the occasion of stating or recalling interesting truths in every one of these subjects; all of which truths are lodged in the memory by their connection with it. It is also Education as a Science, p. 253. |