The Function of Method 93 



function itself, or is consciously expressed, in education for in- 

 stance, in the social control exercised apparently arbitrarily by 

 the mature members of society over the potential activities of 

 their children. 



(2) Conscious or attentive control. In this stage in the pro- 

 gressive socialisation of the individual there is a conscious and 

 individual reorganisation or reconstruction of his experience. He 

 has reached a stage in his development in which he can perceive 

 dififerences in action and can realise the disparity between fact 

 and ideal ; he finds his actions involving deliberation, a balancing 

 of motives and situations, determination and choice. Here the 

 individual finds himself in a stage of transition, midway between 

 the bondage to physical law and the freedom which comes from 

 the active expression of a moral principle within. 



(3) Habitual control. At this stage the individual realises his 

 freedom through the law. He expresses the general principles 

 of human activity at large. He has developed the method of his 

 experience. He has realised how physical control and social sanc- 

 tion may be rationalised in individual thought, and he has formed 

 a basis for further moral development. The aim of this stage is 

 the functional expression of developed character, and the pro- 

 gressive organisation and valuation of experience. The educa- 

 tional implications of these three stages are well summed up by 

 Aristotle when he says that " in the case of the virtues, a man is 

 not said to act justly or temperately (or like a just or temperate 

 man) if what he does merely be of a certain sort — he must also 

 be in a certain state of mind when he does it : therefore, first of 

 all, he must know what he is doing ; secondly, he must choose it, 

 and choose it for itself; and, thirdly, his act must be the expres- 

 sion of a formed and stable character." The interpretation of 

 the process of experience from the point of view of activity al- 

 ways gives more significance to the materials involved. Education 

 is always a process of giving meaning to the environment. The 

 blacksmith hammers meaning into the iron as he hammers shape 

 into the horseshoe. The carpenter builds an idea at the same 

 time that he constructs a table or chair. Teaching in the same 

 way adds to the significance and value and reality of the daily 

 world in which the child is developing. The world grows as the 

 child develops, and there is continual proof of correspondence 

 and mutual influence between nature and the mind of man. Edu- 



