Foundation for Integrated Education

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This single example of language is enough to show that acomplex society cannot exist unless it has formulated and shareda substantial body of ordered ideas. Furthermore, conceptualorders must ultimately be in agreement with the nature of things,except in tyrannical societies, where whim and wish may take theplace of reality. For man himself is primarily an expression, aproduct, of a universe. He is only secondarily a citizen of aspecific culture. His basic imperatives come to him from his ownpotential, which is rested in part upon nature. He loves andthinks, eats and drinks, primarily as a human being produced andconfronted by a universe. Failure to acknowledge or even to recognize this fact is the reason why the global society which iscoming into being, is in grave trouble. There is a fundamental,but correctable, deficiency based upon lack of knowledge- Veare seldom talking about identical general principles even whenvie share the same experience and words. What is the cause ofthis? One important part of the answer is quite clear-In respect to matter and energy, our command of the ordersof nature is considerable. But in regard to life and its functional forms our knowledge is deficient, and it is deplorablyfragmentary as to man and his works- In short, those areas whichwe need most of all to understand are shrouded in a twilight ofconfusion which deepens into the darkness of ignorance. In thisdarkness we have lost one another and become afraid.To correct this state of affairs we must undertake a neweducational duty. Op to the present teachers have been calledupon to agree upon ideal goals- Meanwhile physical and techno-
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10.logical needs have taken precedence over ways to reach thesegoals. This was necessarily so for one obvious reason if noother: The research required for a consensus upon valid andimportant concepts has not been done, and so the teaching materials are not available. Herein our purpose is not only to suggestthat such research can be specified, carefully pursued, andreadily funded. We propose also to outline the reasoning whichshows that the task of preparing such teaching materials, leading to a consensus, can be performed.
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VI to X A precise point for the attack.Our firmest knowledge of natural orders derives from threesources -For ages man has accumulated information about recurrent orrepeatable experiences. The ideas based upon this information, andtested again and again, have built up the body of folk knowledge.The fact that this knowledge has become sophisticated over thecenturies does not change its essential character. Many pricelessinsights into the nature of the universe and the meaning of humanexistence have thus slowly formed. Although parts of this lore arestill prized and used, much of it is now suspect as knowledge. Thecause for this rejection, as is well known, is the rise of science-Over the years, scientific generalizations have prompted testable hypotheses, and so led on to predictions of nature's orderlybehavior, often in mathematical and measurable terms. These hypotheses, when verified, have built up a vast, almost unmanageable,mass of knowledge about the orders of nature. It is a very mixedbag, and much is descriptive, so that the conceptual validity isquite uneven. Nevertheless, so large and so useful is this bodyof knov.'ledge that many educated people believe that there is noreliable method of knowing other than that of generalizations abstracted from sense data, hypothesis, prediction, and test.There is, however, another kind of science deductive-exact,empirically tested which has been in successful use for somecenturies- This is the other side, the obverse, of science, thatprecious coin of the emerging world-realm. Since the precise
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12.character of this method is not commonly understood, and sinceits potential usefulness in fields outside physics is littleappreciated even within university circles, it is necessary toidentify the principles which distinguish this third method ofacquiring knowledge of natural order.In considering it we must be clear on an important point.This method does more than lead us to the highest ranges of knowledge of natural order. Close study of the workings of the methodas such in the minds of its creative geniuses discloses characteristics of the human potential as a whole. Basic powers of thehuman mind, insight into some of man's noblest emotions, and cluesto the directives which the universe prescribes to us in our pursuit of the good, are all to be discerned. In short, pursuit ofthis method takes us perforce over into the subjective world, ithelps to disclose the true nature of man, the unseen and unseeable but directly inwardly experienced domain where beauty andgoodness rest with truth. For pure thought, applied to nature'sworkings leads to visions of loveliness and to love of goodness.Such by its very nature is the arduous and exact and rever-endingpursuit of truth. Thus the method may be said to be philosophicaland metaphysical, just because it is positive science at its best.Its distinctive feature must therefore be made clear.VIIIn science, the deductive-exact process properly starts witha certain type of postulate which is assumed to be true althoughwholly ideal and beyond sensory experience. ( This should not betaken to dany that sense perceptions of certain intuitive kinds
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13-may partly hide and partly reveal comparable principles.) Itis of first importance to note that the postulate is quite different from the hypothetical generalization,in this very important respect: The latter is drawn from sense data, is aboutthat data, and changes with the data- But the postulate isdifferent. However it may be prompted and this process isnot yet understood—-when articulated, it belongs to the classof ideas called pure thought.As a rule the postulates, when clearly enunciated, turnout to be assumptions about infinities, perfections, and thelike. They usually have reference to space (geometry), or tospace-time (hypergeometry), and like elements subjectible tomathematical treatment.In the present state of affairs this mathematical and logical structuring is the only manner in which deductive-exactknowledge is firmly shaped. Later, no doubt, as mankind evolves,other methods than those of mathematics may be worked out. Eventoday, in the highest arts, reflection suggests that we mayassume that ultimates lie in the background, as we may dimlyfeel in tha presence of exalted musical experience-VIIIIt is notable that the above-mentioned characteristics,i.e., of perfection and infinity, are also ascribed in religiousfaiths to the divine source, or Reality, although the verbalterms used are such as omnipresence, omniscience, and so on.In some religions attempts'to verbalize reality is discouraged
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14.until the individual has, by an appropriate life of service andstudy, come to a point where the terms will have correct meaning.In science, however, the object is not belief but validknowledge, and even control of nature through obedience to anduse of her basic orders, and therefore the postulates are profitless if left as mere beliefs- Being strictly treated bylogic and mathematics, certain inescapable, publicly demonstrable,conclusions can be drawn which, when justified empirically, turnout to give us more exact knowledge of natural order than doesany other form of knowledge or experience. In fact it may besaid that if we are to find natural laws for the purposes ofimproving the institutions of free societies, this is at presenta required method.In the case of religion, notions of omnipresence and omniscience usually remain arrested in the form of feelings or beliefs seldom worked out even in internally self-consistent form.At the other end of the scale, religion, like science, has content, namely, a body of social-ethical ideas and practices, andinherited lore. But from this end too little effort is made towork backward to connect this system firmly with the basic postulates of infinity and perfection, or laterally with the restof valid knowledge. 'v'uch could be done along such lines-Within the arts, too, that emotional content which all senseexperience engenders plays its important part. It may be strongand vital and ennobling, too. But in an art like music, justas in the best of religion, there is also rational content.This is seldom explored deeply enough to disclose the infinitude
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and perfection which may lie behind both the acoustical and themusical principles. Here, too, much good work could be done.IXIn natural science at its best we have a peculiar advantage.The original assumptions about infinity and perfection become anintegral part of its structures and processes. Hence they can bepublicly demonstrated as working truths. They are not merespeculation nor beliefs, when they end in affirmative empiricalThis is doubtless one reason why we all feel coerced tolive by the principles statedin science, and find it difficultto act according to the concrete yet universal principles ofreligion. The latter we say we believe; the others we say weknow. Truly religious persons maintain that they know directly,and when they live accordingly i.e., make over their lives, asdemonstrations we may respect the method and prize the implementation. But the structuring, whether reasoned out or intuitive and inarticulate, necessarily remains a private possession.Such individual experience cannot lead to a consensus, exceptamong those capable of leading similar experimental lives. Theyare in a sense apart, and often their society deals harshly witheven such of them as history later pronounces admirable.As a rationale for society (in contrast with its personaluse as a criterion) the pragmatic failure of religion is causedthen, chiefly, by the lack of operating connections between basicfaith in infinitude and perfection, and the finite, material,
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16.imperfect approximations with which we have to deal every day inthe ethical and moral challenges of ordinary life. The sameapproximation of the material structure to the ideal turns upin science. Imperfections are seen as irregularities in crystals, for example- But since in crystallography we possess afairly well worked-out body of theory (operable truth), we knowwhichparts we are to judge imperfections, and the extent towhich nature has succeeded in expressing in matter the idealproperties of crystalline space.X.In physics and chemistry the success of this deductive-exact method, the highest form of science, can be readily demonstrated. Few examples of its success can be cited in biology,fewer still in the sciences of man. The overweight of successin physics and chemistry is, therefore, both an advantage and adanger. Since we are able to display the method, and derivesome knowledge of natural orders, in energy and matter, we tendto the belief that these are the only major kinds of orders,and hence that life is but a yeasty scum of protoplasm on theface of the planet, man but a vapor arising from the slime.We propose a program of studies aimed to get a better balance in the sciences themselves. In practice this means, first,to examine the present status and content of this kind of knowledge in physics, chemistry, and astronomy, in order to disclosethe root postulates and the structures in each significantexample. Then the nature and value of the inquiry will be clear,
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17-beyond doubt, and the use of the method in other areas can beexpected to increase. "We propose that all this be put in theform of educational materials, for all teachers, but for manyparents no less-'•'e may be confident that the very considerable evidence forlike, but more subtle lawful orders in life and functional formwill be seen. We propose that the needed inquiry into lifeorders be made. The writings of O'Arcy Thompson, Herman Weyland others will be starting points in this area- Again, letteachers study the material and share among them, and withstudents and parents, the new knowledge-Although little or nothing is available along these methodological lines as to man and society, what may be found so farshould be collected and issued. These will prompt new suggest-The ultimate goal is to disclose the background of Realityin which not only all science whether physics, biology, oranthropology but religion, art and ethics and the very gameof life itself, inhere-Our basic proposal is that this work shall be done so systematically and with such authoritative documentation that itwill constitute the small beginnings of a publicly demonstrableconsensus upon which the educational systems of free men theworld over can rest an important part of their necessarily otherwise varied programs. We start vdth physical science for obvious reasons, but we propose that at every stage the true shall
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18.be demonstrated as one with the beautiful and the good, until atlast juncture with inherited culture can be made at many important points.XI Of ends and meansIn our complex society what is right and what is wrong hasbecome operationally uncertain. tfa all agree that love, justice, freedom and the like are universal goals for mankind; butwhat love, truth, or justice may be in a given case is far fromcertain. Is war wrong? "Thou shalt not kill," when? MarkTwain's celebrated remark aimed to give us the truth about Truth."Honesty," he said, "is the best policy. I have tried both."His only certain test was pure empirici m.In this disjointed state of affairs it is possible for aman in public life to adhere verbally to ideals proclaimed byhim over and over without being promptly called to account unless his conduct is flagrantly aberrant. The criteria are tooverbal to have proper effect. Even when we know the facts in agiven case we discover that there is a diversity of opinions asto the ethics involved. This situation, so notorious in political affairs, worsens when we observe it in matters economic orsocial- We cannot get to the bottom of things for a very goodreason. The facts, when we are able to get them, cannot bejudged by themselves nor ideals alone- To evaluate them we needa shared structure of thought which implements the ideals soclearly that we can all tell, in a given case, whether the conduct in question is in fact appropriate to all we know- The
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19.simplest thought about some old evil say, human slavery makes this quite clear. Many who were involved in that hatefulsystem believed in love, in justice, and so on, in some idealsense- Slave owners not uncommonly took some care of theirproperty, as they might of cattle. The system of thought thenprevalent in many parts of the world was so confused that itblurred the lines of demarcation between men and beasts. Theyare even now not as clear as they should be. Then they were sotragically defective as to shape themselves to give sanction tobarbarism-It is difficult to admit that what we are doing today mayin some instances be just as wrong. \»e live along with ourproblems, as best we can, slowly improving details in matterspolitical, economic and social. A hundred or a thousand yearshence some decisions that now pass for right will appear hideously mistaken. This will come about, in some instances, only whenour certitude as to what is a human being, and what is natural,and what is the real relation of man to man and man to nature,will have been improved. It is not useful to suggest contemporary examples, for they will today be judged according to feelingsand beliefs, not necessarily by reason. Ve do not, as yet,share the knowledge, or even command it for sharing, appropriateto identify inhumanities now practiced, let alone to correct them.The point then is to get to work and to acquire that neededknowledge, insofar as we can.When the need for a concerted effort is seen, a start onsuch studies can be made. A properly staffed, equipped, and
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20.financed research institute for integrative studies will beinexpensive as compared with present institutes fir advancedstudies. As it grows it would, of course, greatly accelerateand broaden the program. The times call for such accelerationand broadening.American scholars and scientists have been lately comingto the defense of the life of the mind. They can also come tothe assistance of teachers and parents by providing the needednew kind of educational materials in rich abundance- Given asuitable center for the research, a firm start could be madewith a sum as small as $40,000 a year for the first two or threeyears. In a short time the program, being productive of educational materials, would pay its own way, because the world'sneed of this particular kind of help is desparate even if asyet generally unrecognized. Once the issuing of the materialsbegins, and consciousness of the requirement and of its nowpossible fulfilment awakens, support for the program wouldmount.

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