NONTHEMATIC / Vol. 16, No. 3 (Fall 1949)
- Social Research An Int'l Quarterly
- Oct 1, 1949
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 22, 2023
Don Fernando was indeed a passionately loyal Spaniard, but he was more deeply loyal to the great community of European nations and still more deeply loyal to the whole community of civilized peoples of the world. Spaniard, good European, world citizen, he was concerned with the fate of Spain not for nationalistic reasons alone but in its relation to the European and the world commonwealth.
In referring to the economic and social crisis of Europe, I hold to the point of view that this is a time of crisis, but not a crisis for Europe only; that when we know the nature of the crisis we shall realize it has a history and a future as well as an immediate present aspect; and that when we view it thus the present will seem less a burden than an opportunity. And I hold finally that with such an understanding of the crisis we shall know how to make education produce, not merely the specific skills we need for the solution of our most immediate problems, but the peace of mind, the hopefulness, and the versatility with which to live happily and above all produce a satisfying faith in the future.
It is the mark of culture to remember, to be mindful, to recollect the deeds and examples which set our standards and enlighten our minds. Such mindfulness implies a voluntary acknowledgement of the truly excellent, a human independence, which Goethe regarded as the distinguishing characteristic of Bildung as against barbarism. He thought it the highest quality in man to be able to respond to outstanding superiority with love, eschewing resentment and envy.
As these lines are being written, it is not yet clear how far the present recession will go. It has already gone further than most economists anticipated. As late as last fall they were divided into two schools--except for a few observers who always predict a collapse and are therefore bound to be right at least once every seven or eight years, according to the periodicity of the 'business cycle.' One school still feared inflation and was busy propagating the time-honored measures against it: an increase of taxes, price control and the like. The other school, to which I belonged, predicted a termination of the inflationary pressures, except for a possible fourth round of wage increases, and a settling down of the economy on a level of full prosperity and full employment. The most notable feature of the development, however, is not the fact that the recession has gone somewhat further than was foreseen by the second group, but that, at first glance, it cannot be easily explained from the basic facts as known at the end of 1948.
It was one of Jaures’ greatest gifts to be able to reconcile apparently contradictory concepts by discovering their underlying unity. Hence he saw no opposition between internationalism and patriotism. The proletariat that succeeded in subduing the enemies of democracy within its own country served the cause of international peace at the same time. Jaures would have had little sympathy for the pacifist socialists who, in the shadow of another world war, agreed that they would rather choose servitude than war.
A scientist may in some phases of his inquiry successfully apply methodological principles without formulating them explicitly, but in other situations reflection upon those principles is indispensable for scientific progress. That is where the philosopher steps in with his quest for clarity. He does not arrogate for himself the role of a legislator, but the more humble function of an interpreter. It is in this spirit that I shall now discuss the issue of ethical neutrality in political science, that is, the question whether moral judgments have a legitimate place in political science. My argument applies to scientific method as such, and accordingly to the general question whether moral values can be known. The postulate of ethical neutrality is usually taken to imply that they cannot be known.
With a labor-saving improvement, the same output can be attained with less labor and more capital. With a capital-saving improvement, the same output can be achieved with less capital, and not necessarily with additional labor. In this connection, the deepening and widening terminology is useful. Deepening implies that more capital is used per unit of output and per unit of labor. Widening implies that capital formation grows pari passu with the increase in the output of goods. A capital-saving invention is the opposite of deepening, since it decreases the amount of capital required per unit of output and per unit of labor. In the early stages of industrial development deepening and widening went on together.
In Fear, War and the Bomb, Professor Blackett, British Nobel Laureate in Physics, presents a new evaluation of the military and political consequences of atomic energy. He dissents vigorously from the view that nuclear fission has revolutionized warfare, on the grounds that the atom bomb is just one more powerful addition to the large and varied stock of weapons. The political consequences of atomic energy, therefore, flow not from the unique military position which the (temporary) monopoly of production and stocks of bombs gives the United States, but rather from the attempt of the United States and other western powers to exploit for political purposes the international power struggle the legend of the bomb as an absolute weapon..."
Review of book by Ralph Linton. New York: Columbia University Press. 1949. 917 pp.
Review of book by Louis B. Wright. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1947. 354 pp.
Review of book by Dixon Wecter. New York: Macmillan. 1948. 362 pp.
Review of book by Fritz Sternberg. New York: John Day. 1949. 184 pp.
Review of book by George E. Lent. New York: Columbia University Press. 1948. 203 pp.
Review of book by Herbert W. Schneider. New York: Hafner. 1948. 484 pp.