Democracy and Science 



F.'iih iiKiii. iiic/i ill) II. iiirli tliinrii s/iiinliiiij fur irliiil il is, irilli nil 

 till ■■ iinriiH III III iiiiil:i -III lii n llirmrii nil" 



I'.y i> A \' I 1) s '1' A i; i; .1 (> 1.' I) A N 



T\\\\ s)>iri1 of <l('iH(»cr;u'y t';i\'ni's llic ;h1\;iiic<' oT 

 sciciict'. 1 )('iii(i('ra<'y seems ;il lii'st t<» 1('\<'1, licc.-msc 

 il teai-s down all artificial jJi'ops. All men start alike, 

 ;iii(l Jill ideas must st ruut!,"l<' alike foi" existence. 'I'lic tra- 

 dition ol' a thousand years to a d<'m(»ci*acv, is, to lioi'iow 

 Huxley's jdirase, 'H)ut as the heai'say of yesterday." Ami 

 this should he ti'ue (»f all tradition in tln^ face of trnt h. A 

 truth is valueil foi- what it is — iiothiuu' nioi'c. In a de- 

 mocracy truth stands on its own t'e(4, as a man ou.nht to, 

 and opinion may he assailed from any sid(\ Tradition 

 does not help it, and there is no weight in authority. 

 Democracy jit last brink's eacdi one to his own. It is not 

 a leveler. It is the ureat unequalizer, the powei" whi(di 

 makes ea<di man eipial to his own fate, regardless of the 

 fate of all othei' men. And as no two men deserve the same 

 in life, fair jday must end in final ine(pudity. 



In the fields of Science, it is easy to notice the influence 

 of political conditions on the individnal point of view. 

 The American worker applies his rules re.uaiMlJcss of 

 whether they aft'ect great men or small. He knows no 

 tradition larg<^ enough to (dieck the movement of knowl- 

 edge. Among the Scandinavians and the Dut(di, in 

 nations too small to obscure the democracy of learning, 

 we find much the same feeling. In (Termany, in France, 

 even in England, the tradition of great names, the customs 

 of great institutions, largely outweigh the testimony of 

 things themselves. There is always a reserve of excep- 

 tions in favor of great men or the tiadit i<»iis of great in- 

 stitutioiis. The willingness to ado}»t new views, to utilize 

 new classifications, t(» see things in new lights, is, broadly 

 speaking, in ])ro]>ortion to the s]>irit of democracy by 

 which a woi'ker is sui-roumled. A i)erfect demo<'racv 

 means a ]M'rfect intellectual ]>erspective — eacdi man. each 

 id<'a, each theory standing for what it is, with all the 

 "uai'iniMit of make-believe thi'own off." 



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