.84 The Concept of Method 



acters of the children become ideahsed and at the same thiie the 

 ends and purposes of society become realised. 



Historically these three aspects have at different times domi- 

 nated philosophical thought. Each has its distinct outlook upon 

 the phenomena of experience, and the differences that exist 

 among the three are fraught with great dift"erences in implication 

 from the point of view of educational theory. One has only to 

 consider obvious cases where educational theory emphasised the 

 teleological while educational practice based itself upon the 

 genetic, to realise that there can be no permanent truth or value 

 in education as a social process or as a method of individual de- 

 velopment until these two points of view are properly realised 

 in their functional interrelation. 



The necessity for placing due emphasis upon this interaction 

 between genetic conditions and teleological ideals will be all the 

 more evident from the analysis of experience which follows. 

 Together the three form a unity : they constitute the only organic 

 unity which education can have as a method of human experience. 

 This unity lies at the basis of the functional interpretation of 

 any of the phenomena of experience. The thing considered is 

 one, a unity, having many sides or aspects, any one of which 

 may be emphasised and made central for the time being, and in 

 so far as any particular purpose is realised at any particular stage 

 in experience, in so far do genetic and teleological aspects come 

 into functional relation, and the reality of the method is mani- 

 fested. One has only to consider the different aspects under 

 which the tree may be regarded by the farmer, lumberman, and 

 botanist; the child, by parent, teacher, or another child; the home 

 by government, father, mother, or servant ; to see that the reality 

 depends upon the completeness with which the particular phe- 

 nomenon, organism, or process, embodies in its function the teleo- 

 logical ideals which, from any particular point of view, have been 

 discovered to be latent in it. In each case, whether the condi- 

 tions under consideration be regarded primarily from the genetic 

 or from the teleological point of view, there is underneath all 

 partial manifestations, all aspects and forms, an underlying prin- 

 ciple of development, which gives them unity, and is in reality 

 the method of the process. This principle binds together the three 

 points of view, because the organism in the course of its develop- 

 ment at different steps involves the characteristic elements in 



