{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_Science_and_International_Harmony_longer_version/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_Science_and_International_Harmony_longer_version","id":"wikisource_Science_and_International_Harmony_longer_version","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Science_and_International_Harmony_(longer_version)","summary":null,"tags":["50%","American_speeches","Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","PD-US","Philosophy","Science","Undated_works"],"text":"REMARKS OF MR. SCHURZ.\n\nMr. Carl Schurz responded to the toast, \u201cThe progress\nof science tends to international harmony.\u201d He\nsaid:\n\nMr. Chairman and Gentlemen: Two things which\nfell from the lips of the first two speakers struck me as\nremarkably pertinent to our present situation. One was\nthe proverb of the Amazulus, quoted by our worthy\nchairman, that \u201ca stuffed body sees not secret things\u201d;\nand, great orator that he is, he did not fail to accompany\nthe saying with the illustration of example. (Laughter.)\nThe other was the remark which formed the text of the\neloquent address of our honored guest, Mr. Spencer, that\ntoo great continuity and intensity of work, as observed\nin this country, will be apt to break down the best\nphysical constitution; and I am exceedingly sorry to see that,\nin this respect, he himself appears more like an\nAmerican than like an Englishman. (Great applause.)\nI sincerely hope that, when he returns to his country, he\nwill permit his incessant labors for the benefit of\nhumanity to be sometimes interrupted by due relaxation.\n(Applause.) Profiting from the wisdom we have listened\nto, I shall turn round the Amazulu proverb, and follow\nMr. Spencer's impressive advice in saying that, in my\nopinion, and according to general experience, any serious\neffort at profound philosophical thought or scientific\ninquiry,\nimmediately after a good dinner, must be injurious\nto a man's health. (Applause.) Considering that I have\na family to support, and various other duties to perform,\nwhich make a vigorous physical condition desirable, I\nshall, whatever others may do, in this respect try to take\ncare of myself. (Laughter.) Do not understand me,\nhowever, as meaning to discourage any one of you,\ngentlemen. Everybody must be left to be the judge of\nhis own conduct, upon his own responsibility. Herbert\nSpencer never spoke a wiser word than when he said,\n\u201cThe ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of\ntheir folly is fill the world with\u201d \u2014 he bluntly said \u2014\n\u201cfools,\u201d but I will only say, \u201cwith dyspeptic\nphilosophers.\u201d (Laughter and applause.) Leaving, therefore,\nthe discussion of deep philosophical and scientific problems\nto others more reckless of their physical well-being,\nI shall prefer to call up some pleasant memories which\nthis interesting occasion brings to my mind. Nineteen\nyears ago, shortly after the battle of Missionary Ridge, and an\nexpedition to Knoxville for the relief of Burnside, I was\nwith my command in a winter camp near Chattanooga,\nwhere, for some time, our horses suffered so much from\nwant of food that many of them died, and where we had,\nat times, not salt enough to make our meat and crackers\npalatable. But I had Herbert Spencer's \u201cSocial Statics,\u201d\nwith me, which, in the long winter nights in my tent, I\nread by the light of a tallow-candle, and in which I found\nat least an abundance of mental salt to make up for the\npainful absence of the material article. (Applause.) For\nthe delightful luxury of thus enjoying quiet philosophical\nmeditation at the hand of such a guide, in the midst of\nthe scenes of war, I have been grateful to Mr. Spencer\never since. (Applause.) Moreover, it became perfectly\nclear to my mind that, if the Southern people had well\nstudied and thoroughly digested that book, there would\nnever have been any war for the preservation of slavery\n(applause) \u2014 and that, since they had not read and\ndigested it, it was our bounden duty to hammer the first\nprinciples of the \u201cSocial Statics\u201d \u2014 namely, that \u201cevery\nman has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he\ninfringes not the equal freedom of any other man\u201d \u2014\n(applause) \u2014 into the slaveholders' heads to the best of our\nability. This was done, and the effect was good.\n(Applause.) That first principle is now more and more\ngenerally understood in this country, and the more generally\nit is appreciated the less occasion there will be for\nourselves and our descendants to study the \u201cSocial Statics\u201d\nin a camp of war again. (Applause.)\n\nAs I am supposed to respond to a sentiment touching\nthe influence of the progress of science on the intercourse\nof nations, I may say that it strikes me as a common-sense\nview of the matter \u2014 and, as you know, Mr. Chairman,\ncommon-sense is often the most deceptive disguise of\nignorance (laughter) \u2014 that the effect of that progress\nupon the relations of different peoples is very much the\nsame that it is upon the relations of different portions of\none people, or of different individuals. I shall not disregard\nmy own warning as to the overstraining of our mental\nfaculties immediately after dinner when I lay down\nthe proposition that \u2014 given a certain number of subjects\nof discussion between different nations, or different\nindividuals \u2014 if the progress of science, or of philosophical\nenlightenment, increases the number of things upon which\nthey agree, it reduces, in the same measure, the number\nof things upon which they disagree (laughter); and thus\nit carries them forward in the direction of general good\nunderstanding and harmony. (Laughter and applause.)\nAnd if that progress, as is likely to be the case, increases\nthe number of subjects of discussion, and teaches us, at\nthe same time, how to dispose of them by peaceful and\namicable reasoning, it will, to that extent, prevent us\nfrom coming to blows. (Applause.) These propositions,\nalthough simple, seem to me conclusive, and I feel very\nmuch like claiming for them the right of original\ndiscovery. (Laughter.)\n\nI take it, also, that the end of science and of philosophy\nis not merely to enlighten the minds, but also\nultimately to influence the conduct, of men, and not only the\nconduct of a few, but the conduct of the many. And to\nthat end it should make itself understood by the many.\nThe direct effect upon mankind will grow in strength\nand extent as science and philosophy are popularized in\nthe best sense of the term, and thereby become more\ncosmopolitan. (Applause.)\n\nThere was a time when the investigations of science\nand their results were kept in the possession of\nprivileged orders or circles, and treated as profound mysteries\nwhich could not be exposed to the gaze and the\nunderstanding of the multitude without profanation and\nwithout endangering the fixed order of society. That time\nlies, fortunately, far behind us. But some of us can remember\nthe day when philosophy and science were, by many\nat least, studiously clothed in the darkness of formidable\nterminologies and obscure forms of speech, which seemed\nto warn off all the uninitiated. It was here and there\nconsidered unprofessional, and it exposed the man of\nscience and the philosopher to the charge superficiality,\nif he discussed scientific and philosophical subjects in a\nlanguage easily intelligible to the rest of mankind. I\nknow of works of that sort professedly written in German,\nbut requiring translation into German almost as\nmuch as if they had been written in Sanskrit. (Laughter.)\nAnd of some works written in other languages the\nsame might be said. They tell an anecdote of a great\nphilosopher who, on his death-bed, complained that of all\nhis pupils only one had understood him, and that one had\ndecidedly misunderstood him. (Laughter.) How great\nthe misfortune was has probably never been ascertained.\nPerhaps the loss caused by the misunderstanding was not\nwithout compensation, as I have been told of a philosophical\nbook of the obscure kind which was translated from\none language into another, and some of the original\nthoughts of which were rather improved by the mistakes\nof the intelligent translator. (Laughter.)\n\nWe may certainly congratulate ourselves upon the\nfact that in our days, among men of science and philosophers,\na tendency has grown up to take the generality of\nintelligent mankind into their confidence by speaking to\nthem in a human language; and also a tendency vastly\nto enlarge the range of their immediate usefulness by\napplying the truths discovered by them directly and\npractically to all the relations and problems of actual life.\n(Applause.) And surely it can not be said that, by thus\nbeing made popular and cosmopolitan, science and\nphilosophy have lost in depth and become superficial. On\nthe contrary, it is an unquestionable fact that the same\nperiod which is marked by the popularization of science\nand philosophy is equally remarkable for its wonderful\nfertility in scientific discovery, mechanical invention, and\nphilosophical generalization of the highest value.\n(Applause.) We have gained in depth and surface at the\nsame time. (Applause.) Nor is this at all surprising.\nFor, the greater the number of minds that are reached by\nnew ideas, the greater will be the quantity and variety\nof new intellectual forces that will be inspired and\nstimulated into creative activity. (Applause.)\n\nI am confident, gentlemen, I express your sentiments\nas well as my own when I say that, in the man who\ntonight honors and delights us with his presence, we greet\none of the greatest representatives of that democratic\ntendency (applause); one of the boldest leaders of that\nphilosophy that bursts the bonds of the closet (applause);\none of the foremost builders up of science in the largest\nsense by establishing the relations of facts (applause);\nthe apostle of the principle of evolution, which Darwin\nshowed in the diversity of organic life, but which Spencer\nunfolded as a universal law governing all physiological,\nmental, and social phenomena (applause); a hero of\nthought (great applause), devoting his powers and his\nlife to the vindication of the divine right of science against\nthe intolerant authority of traditional belief (applause);\nan indefatigable diver into the profoundest depths of\nideas and things, who has also known how to bring the\ndiscovered treasures within the reach of every intelligent\nmind (applause), and who has thus become one of the\ngreat teachers, not merely of a school, but of civilized\nhumanity. (Applause.)\n\nAmong us he has come in search of rest and recreation,\nand I trust it will be to him a cheering satisfaction to\nknow that, far from being a stranger with us, he has even\namong this youngest and busiest and most nervous of\npeoples, multitudes of devoted pupils and admirers, of\nwhom the friends here present are a respectful but only\na feeble representation. (Applause.)\n\nThis work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1931.\n\nThis work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.\n\nPublic domainPublic domainfalsefalse\n\nFacsimile of Youmans book at archive.org","title":"Science and International Harmony (longer version)","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":1783}