Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

Page 28 text:

Profes! or D. G. Munro, Direi lor, ff ' oodrow Wilson School policy, the social sciences are in a unique position to con- tribute real meaning to the familiar phrase. Princeton in the Nation ' s Service. In the last analysis, then the basic aim of the social sciences is to contribute to the Princeton idea of a liberal education for life in a democratic society, an ideal which is founded upon the conviction that the most practical education is the liberal training which seeks to create independence of thought and judgment in the student. The social sciences, like the other dissiplines, are es- tablished upon the belief that a democratic society can never develop if the individuals composing it are merely specialists with no significant knowledge or beliefs held in common . . . Liberal education and the democratic ideal are related to each other in a thousand ways. It is not loo much to say that they stand and fall together. Professors G. Patterson, R. A. W. J. Baumol, Department Institutions Lester, Chairman. J. intr, oj Economics and Social Professor G. A. Craig, Department of History 24

Page 27 text:

social science discipline? have as their ohject the por- tra al of man as a wliole heing. of man as an intellectuah cultural and social animal. Recognition of tliis fact that the social sciences and the humanities share common pur- poses is fundamental tn the idea of a Princeton education — the student who majors in one of the social science areas readih comes to understand that his education is incomplete if he ik)es not elect courses in the humanistic department.-. Also hasic to the Princeton idea is the helief that the student should have the opportunity to discover that his own special field of knowledge is related to other fields. As the late Professor Donald Stauffer wrote, he should have the chance to make the exciting discovery that all knowledge is related. The endeavor to fit all the parts of a course of study into a coherent whole is equally as im- portant as specialization within any given area. In the social sciences the Woodrow Wilson School, the first of a number of joint enterprises carried out by several depart- ments, offers an interdisciplinary approach to problems of public affairs which is designed to organize the pro- gram of upperclass vears into such a related pattern. There is also at Princeton a long tradition of public service, arising out of the conviction that the goal of education is not simpU the self-impro ement of the student. In Woodrow Wilsons words. We are not put into this world to sit still and know: we are put here to act. The social sciences, therefore, aim at giving the student the knowledge with which he can make his own appraisal of the great public issues of the da and thus become an active and not a passive citizen. And by virtue of their close concern with the larger questions of public Profes-,,,- K. II. Hariiivi.!! DepartmenI oj History I ' rofi --(iTi . .S. Carpenter. G. A. (iraham. Chairman. H. 1,. (!liil(ls. Department oj Politics Professors . El)enslein. A. T. MaM ' ii. Department of Politics. 23

Page 29 text:

NATURAL SCIENCES By Hadley Cantril. Ph.D. Stuart Professor of Psychology The over-all aim of the natural scientist can perhaps best be expressed by saying that he is trying to humanize nature. He is not trying to conquer nature. For nature is neutral. He is tr ing to understand her intricacies, moods, and changes and turn her essential neutrality to his own uses. Nature yields her secrets to him only if he begins to imitate her imagination, patience, and perseverance. And when the secrets are discovered, she will turn them to aid man ' s purposes only if he in his turn caters to her pur- poses. The soil produces for man only if man tends the soil: the domesticated animal serves man only if he satisfies her needs: the atom yields its energies for mans use only if man creates the proper conditions. What science does is to extend the range of mans sen- sorv and motor equipment. It extends our vision with telescopes and television: our hearing with radio and phonographs: our feeling with radar. It extends our mus- cles with water power, electricity, jet planes, and steam- ships. In short, the wonders and accomplishments of science are all devoted to increasing mans ability to Professor H. Cantril. Chairman, Department uj l ' s)rh(ilogy Pn.f.-s..r A. W. ' lurk... (hairnian. DefKirtment i f Mathentatits Professors H. H. Hess. Chairman. E. Dwtf, B. F. Howell. F. B. Van Houten, Department of Geology