I.] SCIENCE AND CULTURE. 9 



sphere make most progress, which most thoroughly 

 carries out this programme. And what is that but 

 saying that we too, all of us, as individuals, the more 

 thoroughly we carry it out, shall make the more 

 progress ? " 1 



We have here to deal with two distinct proposi- 

 tions. The first, that a criticism of life is the essence 

 of culture ; the second, that literature contains the 

 materials which suffice for the construction of such a 

 criticism. 



I think that we must all assent to the first pro- 

 position. For culture certainly means something quite 

 different from learning or technical skill. It implies 

 the possession of an ideal, and the habit of critically 

 estimating the value of things by comparison 

 with a theoretic standard. Perfect culture should 

 supply a complete theory of life, based upon a clear 

 knowledge alike of its possibilities and of its limita- 

 tions. 



But we may agree to all this, and yet strongly 

 dissent from the assumption that literature alone is 

 competent to supply this knowledge. After having 

 learnt all that Greek, Eoman, and Eastern antiquity 

 have thought and said, and all that modern literatures 

 have to tell us, it is not self-evident that we have laid 

 a sufficiently broad and deep foundation for that criti- 

 cism of life which constitutes culture. 



Indeed, to any one acquainted with the scope of 

 physical science, it is not at all evident. Considering 

 progress only in the "intellectual and spiritual sphere," 



1 Essays in Criticism) p. 37. 



