Education and the Philosophical Ideal

Mr. Dresser is deeply impressed with the fact that "the transition period in which we live is witnessing a noteworthy change of attitude in regard to that persistently fascinating thing which we call human life.'' He finds that "instead of the old theory of a divine providence and a disjointed world, torn asunder by a persistently threatening adversary, we now have as a practical faith the knowledge which modern science has so long and so nobly inculcated, the knowledge that the world-process is a unit". Various causes, he thinks, have contributed to this changed point of view. Amongst others, "Philosophy had long ago prepared the way for belief in this unity of the world-process." It was "modern science," however, "which supplied the evidence or proof, by showing that all forces are so many diverse forms of one ultimate energy" ...