Principia College - Sheaf Yearbook (Elsah, IL)

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A study of SOCIOLOGY, the field of human re- lationships and group inter-actions, should pro- vide an opportunity to use the scientific method in the social sciences and a lesson in objective thinking. It should encourage the student to build insight and constructive attitudes, to cultivate a respect for others and a desire for the greatest possible development of others, and to help eli- minate feelings of prejudice. As each of us will find ourselves Working with people throughout our lives, an understanding of human motivation and behavior is invaluable. Course work and counseling in the MATHE- MATICS DEPARTMENT are career-directed. However, our objective is two fold: first, to prepare students to use math as a tool in the natural or social sciences, second, to see the relation and impact of math on the rest of socie ty. In this way We can guard against any deci- sions which would use math or science to en- slave rather than to liberate mankind. 415'-I

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The student who is so naive as to think that the past can be dis- missed as a 'failure' or as of no 'relevance' to himself is simply one Who has no understanding of the lessons which it can teach us. I believe it was Gen. George C. Marshall who said that he never could have understood the complexities of a land-sea-air World-Wide involvement in WW II Without having read T hucydides on the Peloponneasian War of the 5th Century BC. 'Plus ca changeg plus c'est la meme chose. ' HIS- ' TORY is especially merciless to ttllt , . pppynyciiy ,ny,n n y I TE those H15 who neglect it. One ple's of the gravest dangers of our times is peo- ignorance of the environment and its proh- lems. Therefore, the goal of the BIOLOGY DE- PARTMENT is to develop and promote an under- standing and appreciation of the living environment which surrounds man. JAMES Political Science A study of POLITICAL SCIENCE involves learning how human beings act in the political arena--how governments are organized, how political systems operate, how governments carry on relations. In addition, the 'Poly Sci' Department places special emphasis on how in- dividual citizens and officials can have a posi- tive impact on society through governmental and political activity.

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Science - Application to C.S.? Physics, as one of the original liberal arts, continues to play a vital role in the mental development of second cen- tury Christian Scientists. They need to recognize both the potential and the limitations of scientific thought, and be able to communicate with a world more and more influ- enced by the inventions of scientific endeavor. As each one grows in his understanding of modern science, he dis- covers that the knowledge he acquires is less important than the impressions he gains regarding his own abilities and the thought processes he develops. One valuable impression to be developed is the indivi- dual's own ability to control a small segment of his envir- onment with mathematical precision. He emerges from a sense of subjection to a sense of domination in human af- fairs. ln so doing, he discovers that scientific thought is not superhuman or supernatural, but rather the establish- ment of simple precept upon simple precept until an un- derstanding is gained. Another valuable impression is fostered by the study of physics. This is the recognition of a sense of order with- in our surroundings--an order which suggests that human problems are understandable and indeed solvable--a sug- gestion that comes even before the problems are fully understood. One special outgrowth of participation in scientific thought pertains to the way in which ideas unfold from es- tablished postulates. There are two valuable contributions to Christian Scientists which result from a study of physics as a system of thought. First, outward appearances do not point toward the most valuable postulates. For neither the poet's View of the Second, any theory that is merely self-con- sistent is insufficient to meet the standards of modern scientific thought. To be of gen- uine value a theory must be demonstrable in human affairs and through demonstration its validity as a science is established. --Thomas Holzberlein setting sun nor the laborer's View of perpetual resistance can point to a rotating earth on Newton's first law of mo- tion which must be at the starting gate of space age thought. W --.,,-hh...