Foundation for Integrated Education

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Sorokin_IX_F_7_049
TllE FOUMJATION FOR INTEGRATED ]THS CULTURAL COHSTITUTIOH OF IANIn uncelfconscious early years tie learn through example, training and'the like. In later life vie may work upon oureelvea conBciously. Euoh AsJhH)Jl4XXgrotitri in Jcnonledge imy properly be called education.Whatever the terminology, this familiar order of events la natural tothe ruman situation, and it ensures that our larger ctaken only with due reference to the paat, and hencethis way oultural and technical gains are preserved.This, our captivity in the stream of culture, iopliee that any inpor-tant advance in knowledge may have to take its start over-burdened by theerrora of the past and the Inertia nhlch mankind commonly display" towardimportant novelty. Thus -jo progress laboriously and, too often, nith painand struggle.Our present study is like any other work intended to add strengthto the foundations of learning subject to the neoessitlea of the humansituation. In addition it presenta a special problem, by the very natureof the undertaking.Our purpose 1b inaif-ht, and a consensus aa to human nature. These weintend to achieve by means of all the chief facilities of modern end ofinherited north-rrhile knowledge. We cannot start on our task afresh, foroaoh of us has already a state of mind. Nor can no very oonienlently weltuntil the study is ended to come to agreerjent as to what constituteshuman nature, for ne must thin:- of man as we go alon>> in some terms orother. Thus our immediate need is a consensus of eome kind in order thatno oiay try to achieve B better one. How oan me make a start at once,■lthout stultifying ourselves in our resolution to seek agreement upon 'evidence, and without being content *ith reduction of tran to animal bybehaviourism and animal to physica by mechanism?
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Fortunately, there li poseible an appeal to history. It ia surelysafe to assume that whatever nan has in his norks porolstently or recurrently declared himself to be, thet ouch at least he indubitably must be.For miUenla he has continued fciolo-ically much ae he is, equipped nithone nose, two eyes, and a tongue in his head, not possessing sings normandibles. Conditioned by these, his own enduring features, he goes onthrough the ages, neither angel nor ant but human.Conversely, then, let us say that as he has over and over oxprenesdhimself culturally, he must be endoood potentially nith a cultural constitution. Asserting ao ouch, "e can go on to determine upon evidence therelation of thia aspeot of human life to all others.In their broadest classification, there can oo little doubt «• toour chief cultural characteriatloB, historically speaking. Early reoordsehon that the race hue expressed iteelf in a variety of arts, sciences,philosophies and religions, first elementary, end then growing more endmore sophisticated.The common Inherence of these moode In one psychic organisation ialetios, tnoss four cultural moods nero closely knit and mutually service-ablo. All the resources of Poricloan Creek art, philosophy, religion andeoience together shaped Attic life and norks.Cultural anthropology has sleo shown us that the srta of early man.aa in the cave palntinga of Altaoira and the Dordo»ne, sre comparable andeven superior to -..ma more mature art in purity of feolim, and excellenceof expression* It nae only the materials, th* techriioijea, and the expar-painter'a hand naa thsre to express it- f-uoh ucods, and euch responsivehands, persist in us today.No lose remarkable are the Items irou soi'on''^. Vt are . i/ivly becoming appreciative of" thj high stita cf old ijliu'.djan g6>rsaf.ry ^nJ ancientIndian algebra. Roc-nUy Kilty Lay bat d'jr.la/of net oarbon-zinc oloc ,rls cells (idor.Uoil nheva baer. found in Chalciic ruins, to aco'juii", for +,he cecuri-enC'i of theskill of grid--plating extent nhon guxogeenw <"m;:.lned bccobb to Baghdad.The aceompila'aente of Sgypt in practical chemistry, of India In astronomy and citric .ne and surgery, of China in agriculture, are all noil knonn.The prevalence of philosophy and religion through the ages is no leasfamiliar.Our. present concern ia not nith relitive merits, but nith the simplefact thet to express himself iran has needed at all times the arts ofdecoration, communication and the like, and science, philosophy, androlir/lon no leas. Since he needs them non, it is therefore fair to saythat all four mooda, at least, perelet In our cultural nature*Are theae allT
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An answer to this question is of peculiar importance, not only to thisstudy, but to human welfare in its present desperate plight*I submit that history a hone us that a lifth cultural mood, non neglected, has pressed through man for expreesion in good societies and infavorable times.This la sport* The term Is here used in the eenae of the generalneed to participate actively in contests aoeordlng to rules fairly madeand fairly observed, particularly those beneficial to the body and theemotions and—-aa in chess the cind. Us are not spaakinr- of professional baseball, commerolal football, horse and dog racing, eoekfightlngior bullfighting, share the thousands exeroiae only simpler emotions,elementary reason and their pooketbooka, while the fen profit in sundryways. *--.Is lntsnd hers ths usage this word has had In England, in Greece,in India and doubtless eleenhsrs, and certainly, on occasion, andbefore 3uropoans arrived, in Central Aroerioa. atp, iQng football artvarietlse of handball have been played need not be estimated exactly.Ve nant only to dnell upon the rslation of sport participation to otherneeds, as a cultural mood to aociety. In nhat sense it is cultural isevident nhen ne concern ouraalvee solely with those sports nhloh aretruly based upon falrplay, and exclude those wherein man overpowers relatively helpless or even '.hi moat dangerous animals by means which givethe beast small chance. Study of Greek society alone is quite enough toehon the connection of eports as a oultural mood nith civil courage andhence nith martial aourage.To illustrate our theme, ne must remark upon the extent to nhiohAmerican institutions most deer and necessary ars beittg poisoned by thefailure of the sporting spirit, the sense of fairplaya and the substitution of Kloig-lighted orgies of denuncistion, in the style of the FrsnohRevolution. Hhat dsgres of elementary justice ie there in Congressionalimmunity as ve see it used nowadays? This ia bad enough; but noraeiFew ars effectively roused by all this, though many are frightened. IaIf not fair, then, to conclude that the decline of honest Indignationis connected nith the loss of the senna of eportsmanship aa s nationaloultural activity? The true sportsman so atlen'.ly desirea falrplay thathe nill champion ths underdog anytiheve end arytine • Ho one can poaelblydeny-.that the founding and constitutional papers of the United Stateeaim at that kind of justice which rests upon the ■porting equal chance
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Theforejoingmood iaquitenecosea;jin any nhi ressenseand so nswly ;1*110 p J.let*.that theindihaithe goodlife> shinb itlittle chenceof gwttlteven nhea thenewsLa 1papers make r,il effort 1under known rules. And everyone must admit tint one does not achieve anart onc3 and for all time but by >)ontiUM«l striving. So also nith seiinoe,religicn and pVrfltrsooh/. C't.stanL efrort ie «((•£•£• "in our national life,llkvfl'-po,. iz ie Cfalts iviuo-vl1.'"* .o _.voii--ve Uij sporting eheuCB m documents. Ti« bportitig ^fi.'lu fcUSt nil- uSi »t it J^d the Qwelce in theirfinest &£';e..culturalattitude;Su- a scclf-ty po nsr.;.aiii£-3d, so ovor-o.^n.zed,■. th ta bristling array 0f gadgeta and rcuchinoa,Lege and lege of the fair sporting chance to livesomething far beyond earning a living. He hasat the real truth of his onn circumstances. Fori fairly reported and not re-written to bias, nsna-i fundamental facts. Hence the citizendoes not really knon the rules of the game he is playing. He belioveathem to be auch aa he sees nritten in the lane, but in this he ia mistaken.All this is new so luridly lighted by events that it needs no argument.The oitizen can no longer be reached, aa the instruments by which toreach him promptly are not devotid to falrplay, primarily, but to otherends. The question therefore ia whether there are enough men and somenin whom aporting spirit and civil courage parshonesty and elementary decencies, to fortify uWe may non usefully come to gripe at last nith the central issue.The problems of our times arise from the disproportion, the disorderedinterrelations, of the several aspects ol the cultural conetitutton.Art, philosophy, religion, science and sports mane hip do not apeak withona united voice out of one background of conceded truths about theuniverse and ourselvee. In many quarters these noble needs in man aredebaaod until they actually become the enemies of rightnesa. A philosophj■hlch proclaims that the world is cbancuy, senseless, and disordered atbottom, quite naturally and by its very nature sanctions injuatlco. Ascience whose successes are limited in ths main to the insentient keepson dragging its finest expositors down by Its ohiil and oven brutalizingnarrowness, no matter hovi much and Jjow long the individual here and theremay resist thla pressure. A religion which asuente by its very nature tothe penalizing of viotlma for the benefit of its own zealots proclaimsin vain words the equal rights of men. Arte in such an ags of culturalconfusion become avenues for the relief of pathological paychee even inthe midst of seeking freedom of expression.
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If the cultural moods are organs in one and the same human psychological system, aa Plate at least mado ao amply e'.jai . tivn ve have tostudy this total causal system, and ask: As a aysteaa "hit ^a J.t lilwtHe have already asserted that ono important activity hns Dsarly iXeappearedfrom classification as a cultural mood. 1y systematic an-a.-. .--■■■■:' ■■ cf themoode generally admitted, we may come out with a rounded-out anrirsnesa ofthe major features of the cultural constitution, and then at last ne canbegin the deviaing of a balanced regimen for the soul, instead of theprssent over-rich diet of sensationalism, vooationallsm, and apecialism,provided (in aubstitution) for the Freudian psyche, end the material body*It nill doubtless be immediately agreed that religion and art are•saentially on the affective side of human temperament, or tend (atthe very least) to prooeed by mesne of feeling first. No one composesmusic successfully as yst by writing a aeries of Fourier equations andthen applying Beseell, Laplace, Legendrs and lite functions to buildingacouetiosl Instruments, hoping to come out with a musical score.The scientific aspect of mueic(haaCof oourse,_i ita place, and if thelate Joseph.Schillinger did help the late Oeorge Gershwin to freshenhis creativity, so much to the good; but one does not manufacturecreativity.Likesise the very nature of religious experience is a charge offeeling, even if it is the Ion emotion of a fanatic and zealot, andoertalnly if it is the inward serenity and peace-seeking of the quietiatand ths dsvotlonal fjodward surge of the cultured pietist.It will doubtless be reaiiily conceded that science snd philosophyare primarily reasonable and therefore stand on the intellective aideof human nature aa we knon it in its present state of divided allegiances*
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There la a second difference among the moods, which lsads to across tabulation. Philosophy is moat certainly concerned nith grandgeneralizations, especially in its metaphysical ends, and is thus thatfunction of the cultural organization charged nith conceptualising.Causality, being, and the like are its higher concerns, as it looksinward Ward final reality, not outward to organise external experience, Ae to science, it ie possible to have a northwhile growth interma, which start nith the ooncrets end objective (and where else doesscience start?) and go no higher than Ian and hypothesis* No doubtthe final triumph of the human mind by itsslf really begins to apntarufcen the science of the tines or the person roaches up so high Intotkw abstract that its fusion with philosophy and hence netaphyeice<a possible. Then ne have a golden age, or a glowing genius, in tornesf mind In the main, though right feeling may aleo support the achievement.A like vortical ordering of religion and art is natural* Genuinereligious feeling, even If i , b naturellsm, ie transfused with aapseific sensation of a lowoi aaS limited entity, a self, at one forthe time being at least with ■ ..iFihcr end greater prsaonce. Everymystic, poet, aage and seer of -„ .kuoaledged rank hoc reported thisaan experience akinwbut naverthdltao aidltlonaljrto the warmth of personal love expressed laterally to friends, kin, end fellonmen.In artistic •xpreaalon, however, as in science, there is theneed for a personal mastery of a medium or an instrument, and inthat contest nith stubborn reality the artiat must necessarily bringto bear the force and honesty .of his own personality. Hence, even arealistic painter is ever projecting himself along with hla eubjeot.Thus there is this moro abstract end mors concrete relction onths affective side, as on tin intellective eide of rumen culturalexperience and activity. Bo doubt on the affective aide, as on theother, high nosienta and greut persons appear, wherein the clarityruns from the highest level of absorption to the most concrete levelof oaatery of ip terials and instruments, including mastery of selfas an instrument of something nobler than personality. There are alsoths greet enterprises of adorning an Aoropolis or building a eathsdrel,alien religion and beauty call all men to be greater as groups than theyare aa persons; but are not science and philosophy at nork here alaoTThen too the arte are highly variant, and many other factors enter in«but the distinction! abovo reviewed stand, and ne have this ayitaat.
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tOn the affective sidst On ths intellective aide:Tonard theabstract BELIQIOB PHILOSOPHY4Toward oon-rete ART SCIENCEealityTheee four familiar oooda are cross connected in every nay. Thereia philoaophy in itaelf, nith an upper goel of reality in metaplr/sica.There is a philosophy of religion, namely, theology; of art, or asathetice)of science, aa ne aee exemplified in a doctrine such as evolution (whichall biologists accept, no doubt, but which they have soma difficulty inproving in the sense of scientific proof by prediction and the like). Weshell later examine the science of art closely, a much neglected weaponfor criticism and perfection of the arte. There have been moments inhuman achievement when there have been sciences of religion, a notion eoalien to the habits of our times aa to sound simply fantastic. 3ut whyahouH there not be rituals of higher living according to the dayepringand the tnilight, the spring and the autumn, the dann of an ago and itesunset, aa ns have right rituals and hours for bathing, sxeroise andt sport has an appropriiand go on to anThie mood, nhon truly experienced and properly valued—-uneonfueedwith the luet for vicarious risk, or simple slaughter partakes of thenature both of art and science by reason of the physical activity required in eo many of ite healthier variations* Thus it may be placedbetween art and science. It is quits as near to physical reality aathey are, sharing with them the use of instruments, ths conquest ofmeteriala, and even the conquest of aelf, in the finest forms. Infact, some sports are ssesntially dependent upon physical contact:Rugby football, wrestling, boxing.Therefore in the schema, ne place sport on the very edge of shearphyaicality, not weaning thereby any diminution in its rank, but indaed temphasize reallatically its truly vital nature, not only as to health,but total well-being.On the affective In the active On the intellec-/,, sidesToward theabstract RELIGIONrealTonard concrete reality ART
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TJhet, then, ia the abstract correlate of eport, ae religion larelated to art and philosophy to science?The answer to thle question now snares evident* It is ethics,but in a spsoisl sense, not of artificial rules, nor of conclusionsdrann from bob* aoolsty, nor from Inherited ideals alone. The ethlcawe need are thoes which consort no doubt nith the best in religion endphilosophy, and ars true to acience and to beauty, but also rest uponor arise out of ths midst of abstract reality, the realms of universaleout of nhioh the universe ie made, or in nhich the oosmoe arises. Howshall there be any justice nhich ie in diacord nith thie matrix? Howcan any complete society be operated if the operative principles beunknown? Can a aoclety euch as our* run along solely upon the apothegmsof the past, nhich knew not this complex, true as those dicta may havebeen for their tire e, and true as they now are, as far as ne oan etretchrf * Affective3 I5 IItIA society which does not quicken those cultural moods througheduoation ie starving its oitizona as sursly ae it would if it deniedthem food. If it etrengthena instead their canasta desires and physicalhungers abnormally, then it is poisoning them nith aubstltutee. Asystem of higher education nhich faile to understand, serve, and enrichthe entire learning experience in terras of the whole cultural range,sell balanced and ooneclously articulated, is not a system of education,honever successful it may be in vocational training, physical ekilla,and other nays. Such an educational failure is lethal to a democracy,for it deatroya civil courage, hope, insight, purpose. It reatoroaslavery, not with the lash, but by means of ths imprisonment of the■mind. Sharp practices take the place of falrplay, the distortions ofprejudice veplace candor. Such a society nill aloken the mors, thericher it groan, and it must take at last the road of p'.yaieal might- and death in lta prime, as in the snd all such over-phyaioalized■solatia* have historically gone on to aelf-extermination*p* L* KunzActive Intellective...- Ethics ^ .aa— " " ' *-SS™s^ . *~ *. „»—■*■* •' ■pV" **«* ■"i s-w* -. -s k' — .7 ^^•^Scienoer* - Sport - "1The Good Kan in a Good SocietyS'
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' *jce..ibor 19, 1950Dr. F.L. KimsHillandaleiort Chester, H.lt.Dear Dr. KunsiI read your two papers with absorbing interest, and find nryseli"in essential agreement with the main theses of both. St' classification ofthe basic moods of Han may vary In soice respects, but it would not basicallydiffer free what you state, especially on page 6 of your first paper.Ab for the second paper* my objection is tcitiinologlcal rathertitan substantial) namely, I would prefer to coll the field you aro treatingIntegral, and not "biological," since the biological coiaprlBCB only tine part.In ycur own formulation, fc.e biological field passes into trio bic—psychologicaland the blo-soclal fields* In so far, the torn "biological" is scrowhat nis-leading.In the Intrixiuctory chapter to the syapcaiuE volume, EIIXOH/.TIOIISIN ALTHUISTIC LOVE AND ISiAVTOR, which I believe was Bent to you, I tried, ina very simple way, to treat altruistic love as a specific fem of energy, transfer.able into the enorgiee of truth and beauty, each and all together havingtheir own field with five empirical dimensions, ate* I did not go to strictlymathOEatioal or "oiystallogTiiphioal" specifications of tlie field of this energy because I know very little about those approaches, and because the necessarydata aro lacking. Aside from, that, I bopa you will find tills a.-preach ao::icwhatcongenial to what you outline in your paper about the biclcgicai field,'If all goes well, the Center plans, within the next ytiar or so,to publish thd second symposium volume, dealing mainly with the techniques ofal truisation. If you find It possible to prepare a paper for this syKposlun,whether it anal with the technique of altruization, or wltli ttio principles underlying scientific techniques (including your field theory), I should be veryglad to publish such a paper, and tlie Center can even, in such cases, pay amoUest honorariuc., ranging frai JiSO to '100.Kith best wishes for the cu..ing season, I amCordially yours,
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'-'arch 21, 195>1Dr. frits L. KunzHain Currents in Llcdorn ThoughtFoundation for Integrated Siucatioi130 East Uith StreetHew York 7, II.Y.Dear Dr. Runs.The copy of the Journal is exceptionally rid:.You arv setting probably the highest standard forsoieitific and philosojhical jounala.Ittt bast wishes.Cordially yours,Pitirlc A. Scrokin
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Professor P. a. SorokinHarvard Research Center in AltruistIntegration and CreativityCambridge, Has*.t snd discussion of ths Course in IntegrativeConcepts in Science, Philosophy and Education at Sew York Universitywill round out the Foundation's program and is held certain to arreatvery wide attention.Prior to this Bally we have the Annual Meeting of the rounda-tion at h p.m. followed by an Informal buffet supper at 6 p.m. Theusual agenda and report will be eupplled to you well in advance, but Iam writing now to ask you whether or not you will be so good as to putthis on your calendar and let us know that you can and will be on hand?The Foundation has come to its present position by dint ofvery hard and austalned work by its officers and staff, always cordiallyencouraged by Council members snd friends. Now that we actually are,and promise increasingly to be a conspicuous element in American culturallife, could you not make a special effort tc be at the Annual Meeting tomeet the various distinguished people who will be on hand and to encouragesnd help us further with your counsel?We have every hope of having 100$ attendance and a very Interesting, happy end ao«t Informal visit amongst ourselves and with others.Xver yours cordially.
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