What will be the intellectual-moral "face" of the Germany of tomorrow? Will she be a Germany traveling along a road that will eventually lead her back into the comity of civilized nations, or will she be a Germany essentially identical with what she has been during the past ten years? Or to put it differently, will Germany remain the intellectual-moral wasteland into which the enormity of national Socialism has turned her, or will she be capable of rising above herself once again, as she has risen before in history in times of national catastrophe?
As labor unions have become more powerful, the desirability of education as a tool for using their power more effectively and as an instrument for clarifying their responsibilities has become obvious. On the side of management this potential of education has already been partially demonstrated through schools of business and similar institutions. It may be useful, therefore, to review what contributions existing educational institutions in this country can make to both labor and management. How can they aid more keenly and more sensitively in equipping industry and labor to use their power more cooperatively, and to recognize their joint responsibilities--to each other and to the wider community?
The European traveler crossing the western mountain ranges of this country for the first time is surprised by nothing more than by the vast emptiness of these regions--a density of population so low that he travels for a dozen, even a hundred miles without encountering inhabited areas. The high mountains of Europe have accustomed him to quite a different picture. The peaks of Switzerland and the Tyrol do not rise to lesser heights than those of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada; but more than 160 inhabitants per square mile can be counted there, while not much more than 5 are found in the American mountains.
The term "scientific methods," used in the singular, designates a pattern common to all scientific inquiries; used in the plural it designates specific patterns of inquiry. Like other means or tools, a particular scientific method may be more or less conducive to the attainment of the desired goal. If it does not lead to the expected result it may be modified, or even abandoned entirely and replaced by another method. Methodology, then, is conceived of either as a description and systematic classification of actually adopted methods, that is, as descriptive discipline, or as a totality of precepts for the proper conduct of scientific inquiries, in other words, as a normative discipline.
Though many sciences deal with man, there is no science of man. Man has been cut into pieces and distributed among different departments of research. The number of pieces increases as the quantity of our knowledge increases. Yet man goes on being one. The many sciences apply different methods and conceptual schemes. They look at their different pieces under different aspects. Only a butcher who knows the animal can find the right joints. Hence the philosopher, as Plato demands, should be a good butcher.
Review of book by Jacob L. Mosak. Bloomington, Indiana: Principia Press. 1944. 187 pp.
Review of book by Ludwig Von Mises. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1044. ix & 291 pp.
Review of book by Harry W. Laidler. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. 1944. xx & 828 pp., index 54 pp.
Review of book by Solomon Liptzin. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. 1944. 298 pp.