ROGER SCRUTON
209
those subj ects that cann o t fo rtify themsel ves w ith scientifi c m ethod. T he
humanities in parti cul ar have bee n destab ili zed. Unable to m atch the o ld
consensus of th eology o r th e new consensus o f sc ience (a consensus o f
method rather th an o f belie f) , the humaniti es have begun to drift free
from any center of intell ectu al concern .
It
is no lo nge r obvious whether
any of the humaniti es could cla im
to
be the co re intell ectu al discipline,
whether they could be studi ed in dependentl y, or w hat is to be studi ed
under any parti cul ar headin g. And the crisis has been compounded in o ur
time by new developments th at mu st be bo rn e in mind , if we are to
understand what is at iss ue.
First has been the decl in e in cultural attainment. T he mass cultu re of
pop, television , and video has ge nerated a largely passive attitude not o nl y
to art and entertainment bu t also to kn owledge and th e wo rld itself. The
devices of mechani cal rep rodu cti o n give an illusion o f mastery over th e
world. T he wo rld o f the ado lescent is no longer awe-inspiring, threa ten–
ing, or enchanted, since he himself remains to tally in charge o f it, able
to
zap it off the screen as soon as it ann oys him .
It
is hard fo r reli gio n to take
root in a mind so fo rmed , and the steady decl ine of reli gio n (whi ch o f
course has o th er causes besides thi s all-pervad ing illusio ni sm) has res ulted
in a new kind o f human being, o ne wh o docs no t carry within his psyche
the rhythms, words, and max ims of a sac red text, th e mel odi es o f sacred
music, or the sto re of sac red narratives that show the sec ret meaning of
the world. T hose things owe their powe r to fa ith , ye t they have fo rmed
the implicit framework of o ur culture. T hey cann o t be removed w itho ut
a uni ve rsa l slac kenin g and w ea ke nin g of th e wh ole. Su c h rhythms,
marked indelibl y in the un conscio us, cause their bea rer
to
recogni ze
FO llY
Quartets
as a reli g io us poem , w itho ut th e be nefit of criti cal th eo ri es.
Eliot's poem speaks to us in o u r own inn er vo ice, w hi ch was o nce th e
voice of God. It is sca rcely surprising if a new ge nerati o n , unfa mili ar with
the syntax of beli ef, sho uld mi ss th e mea ning o f so mu ch fo rthright po–
etry.
There have b een changes in edu ca ti o n , too, no tabl y the so-ca ll ed
"releva nce revoluti o n ," w hich made the destru cti on of edu ca tion in the
humaniti es into a p roj ec t, rath er than a byp rodu ct of cultural transfo rma–
tions that it would be va in
to
resist. Educa ti o nal theori sts, aga in largely in–
spired by Dewey, argued that the o ld curri culum in th e humanities was
no longe r rele va nt to the ne eds and interests o f to day's students. Th e
guiding prin ciple in curri culum " development" (itself a sinister pi ece of
Newspea k) should no t be whether a subj ect has been sa ncti on ed by tradi–
tion, but wheth er it is rel eva nt to th e modern wo rld . H ow then ca n we
justify the study of Latin and G reek o r place pure mathem atics befo re
