Because of experimental science we know a very large number…

Because of experimental science we know a very large number of things about the natural world of which our predecessors were ignorant. In the great books we can observe the birth of science, applaud the development of the experimental technique, and celebrate the triumphs it has won. But we can also note the limitations of the method and mourn the errors that its misapplication has caused. We can distinguish the outlines of those great persistent problems that the method… may never solve and find the clues to their solutions offered by other methods and other disciplines.

Great Books: The Foundation of a Liberal Education (1954)

Other Robert Hutchins Quotes

The rise of experimental science has not made the Great Conversation irrelevant…. Science itself is part of the Great Conversation. - View Quote Details on The rise of experimental science has not made the Great…
We do not confine people to looking at poor pictures and listening to poor music. WE urge them to look at as many good pictures and hear as much good music as they can, convinced that this is the way in which they will come to understand and appreciate art and music. - View Quote Details on We do not confine people to looking at poor pictures…
The Great Conversation began before the beginnings of experimental science. But the birth of the Conversation and the birth of science were simultaneous. The earliest of the pre-Socratics were investigating and seeking to understand natural phenomena; among them were men who used mathematical notions for this purpose. Even experimentation is not new; it has been going on for hundreds of years. But faith in experimentation as an exclusive method is a modern manifestation….it is now regarded in some quarters… as the sole method of obtaining knowledge of any kind. - View Quote Details on The Great Conversation began before the beginnings of experimental science…
There appears to be an innate human tendency to underestimate the capacity of those who do not belong to “our” group. Those who do not share our background cannot have our ability. Foreigners, people who are in a different economic status, and the young seem invariably to be regarded as intellectually backward… - View Quote Details on There appears to be an innate human tendency to underestimate…
It is sometimes admitted that many propositions that are affirmed by intelligent people, such as that democracy is the best form of government or that world peace depends upon world government, cannot be tested by the method of experimental science. - View Quote Details on It is sometimes admitted that many propositions that are affirmed…
Liberal education was aristocratic in the sense that it was the education of those who enjoyed leisure and political power. If it was the right education for those who had leisure and political power, then it is the right education for everybody today. - View Quote Details on Liberal education was aristocratic in the sense that it was…
Until lately the West has regarded it as self-evident that the road to education lay through great books. No man was educated unless he was acquainted with the masterpieces of his tradition. There never was much doubt in anybody’s mind about which the masterpieces were. They were the books that had endured and that the common voice of mankind called the finest creations, in writing, of the Western tradition. - View Quote Details on Until lately the West has regarded it as self-evident that…
The products of American high schools are illiterate; and a degree from a famous college or university is no guarantee that the graduate is in any better case. One of the most remarkable features of American society is that the difference between the “uneducated” and the “educated” is so slight. - View Quote Details on The products of American high schools are illiterate; and a…
There is a sense in which every great book is always over the head of the reader: he can never fully comprehend it. That is why these books are great teachers; they demand the attention of the reader and keep his intelligence on the stretch. - View Quote Details on There is a sense in which every great book is…
The more logical and determined… critics will confess that they believe that the great mass of mankind is and of right ought to be condemned to a modern version of natural slavery. Hence there is not use wasting educational effort upon them. They should be given training as will be necessary to enable them to survive. - View Quote Details on The more logical and determined… critics will confess that they…