OFFICE OF PEDAGOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY 61 



philosophy or from that of theology. One is not to be preferred to 

 the other; and to meet the situation we must approach the field from 

 both sides. 



Between them there is a profound and permanent dissimilarity. 

 As regards the theological starting-point we meet a restriction in the 

 fact that there we must needs adopt as our basal science and as our 

 point of departure a definite religious system, which includes also an 

 ethical system; thereby pedagogy takes a definite imprint which 

 holds only for a particular religious society. On the other hand, 

 philosophical pedagogy has a surer basis, since it starts out from 

 such common ethical and psychological tenets as the civilized nations 

 feel to be essential to the maintenance of their character. 



It may be suggested, however, that there is a tendency to turn 

 away from those religious associations that come down to us from 

 the past, and to adopt as a basis a common religion for all men, the 

 product of the philosophy of religion. And then one can ask, as in- 

 deed it is asked, whether to the above-mentioned constituent sciences, 

 ethics and psychology, we must not add a third, that of the philo- 

 sophy of religion. Just as the theory of ethical ideals would set up 

 a standard by which different peoples and different epochs may judge 

 their dispositions and their actions, in order to learn what has moral 

 value and what has not, so, it is thought, the universal theory of 

 religion may systematize and establish as ideas of universal validity 

 what presents itself to the religious needs of human nature as the 

 deepest religious conviction. 



But where shall we find this universal religion? Where shall we 

 discover the totality of religious truths which are accepted by all 

 cultured peoples so systematically arranged that they can serve as 

 the proper foundation for an educational system? Or where is that 

 philosophy of religion which, on account of its ideal value as the 

 supreme product of the historical development of religion, can, in its 

 own province, direct the minds of men? And would it have the 

 power to assimilate those convictions that live in religious com- 

 munities; in which, too, our children are reared? 



So long as these difficulties exist it will be well for pedagogy to 

 confine itself to ethical principles. In carrying out its educational 

 designs it will find itself compelled to start from the basis of some 

 established religion, unless it would build in the air. In the face of 

 any philosophy of religion with its subjective construction, pedagogy 

 must ever bear in mind that it has to deal with a complex product of 

 evolution which involves many and varied ethical outlooks. These 

 ethical implications can be unraveled and receive systematic and 

 independent treatment. By this means pedagogy acquires an 

 essential foundation for its system, in ethics, that is, a founda- 

 tion well able to support the superstructure. 



