| Universities in Danger
The Coherence of Knowledge294

83

There is a problem before the Western universities, or, at least, betöre those in Germany.
It is that, by resolving themselves into a group of technical schools, the universities
might lose their true meaning. Only a specialist, it is true, who has really mastered his
technical trade can feel quite at home with his subject. But if knowledge is not to be
confined to considerations of Utility, its true purpose cannot lie in specialization alone.
It lies rather in training a man to become a critical, inquiring being, in developing in-
tegrity of character, and it lies, also, in helping him to perceive the coherence of all de-
partments of knowledge. Such a coherent view of knowledge permeated university life
in the nineteenth Century. Certainly, Utility was valued at that time, but it did not pre-
dominate. This was possible only because of a historical tradition which, through its
common roots in Greece, Rome, and the Bible, United all Western people under hu-
manism.295
The danger now facing the universities is a consequence not only of scientific de-
velopment, which of necessity demands specialization, but also of a general change
of outlook. Humanism has lost its hold on men, and the number of genuine human-
ists has steadily diminished. Finally, and most important, the danger has grown out
of the momentous progress of this technical age. People are looking for new intellec-
tual foundations, and they will have to go on seeking them in this, the most critical
period ever known in history. And these new intellectual foundations are not yet
there.
What, then, is the solution? The human mind cannot be directed; it moves when
and where it feels inclined. The universities will survive only if there are men, who,
through their work and personality, are capable of displaying with conviction the
unity of knowledge to the world of to-day. Such men cannot be created according to
plan,68 but it is possible to indicate the necessary conditions. Scholars must be made
to realize their intellectual responsibility for what is at stäke. In an age without paral-
lel in history it is not enough merely to cling to humanism, however near it may be to
our hearts. Circumstances have changed and we must constantly strive to understand
the new conditions and to become whole men again.296 The Sciences must be mastered
again in their true unity and won out of their present fragmentation. Such suggestions
as can be put forward for this task and for arresting the decay can only be insignificant.
Perhaps we should let the past history of Science produce its effect through the teacher