380 Ethical Functions of Scientific Study — Chamberlin. 
THE ETHICAL FUNCTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY. 
By Pres. T. C. Chamberlin. 
[An address delivered at the annual commencement of the University of 
Michigan, June 2% 1888.] 
Above all material acquisitions, above all intellectual attain- 
ments, above even the refinements of culture, in the esteem and 
endeavor of true educators, rises the moral exaltation of an in- 
dividual or of a people. Whatever contributes to intellectual 
attainment rises in regard above material acquisition; whatever 
contributes to the refinements of thought rises above mere 
intellectual vigor; whatever contributes to moral elevation 
rises above all these. Whatever, therefore enters into the cur- 
ricula of our institutions of learning, invites judicial inquiry re- 
specting its ethical character, tendencies and effects. I sym- 
pathize with those who esteem a devout and reverent spirit as 
loftier than all these, crowning them all; but that lies beyond 
and above our present theme. 
It is not our habit to attach the idea of the moral to what we 
are accustomed to designate intellectual processes. We are 
wont to permit ourselves to regard certain mental activities as 
indifferent in moral character. Some activities do indeed betraj 
an ethical nature less obtrusively than others. Unquestionably 
the feelings and the choices bring more distinctly into consider- 
ation than do the processes of the intellect the question whether 
their action is right and wholesome or indifferent or evil. 
Nevertheless it is here atfirmed that a moral character attaches- 
to our thinking as well as to our feeling and to our action. 
"As a man thinketh * * so is he." The swerving of the 
mind from absolute rectitude in any of its activities falls under 
ethical condemnation. Falsity in intellectual action is intellec- 
tual immorality. NarroAv and loose habits of thought, preju- 
diced attitudes towards evidence, bias from previous opinions 
and feelings, shallowness and superficiality in observation, and 
carelessness in reasoning are appropriate subjects of moral re- 
proof. If, in the sharpest analysis, these are not purely intel- 
lectual, they are at least concomitants of our studies, and I 
therefore feel justified in designating them intellectual immor- 
alities. If the purist in metaphysical distinctions shall insist 
that the ethical character resides in the emotional and volitional 
