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II

Condorcet himself became a victim of the Revolution. But his work guided to a large extent that same Revolution, particularly its educational reforms, and it was only as a result of these that toward the beginning of the new century the great institutionalized and centralized organization of science arose which created one of the most glorious periods of scientific advance, became not only the birthplace of that scientism which is more particularly our concern, but was probably also largely responsible for the relative decline of the position of French science in the course of the century from indubitably the first place in the world to one not only behind Germany but also behind other nations. As is so often the case with similar movements, it was only on the second or third generation that the mischief was done by the pupils of the great men who exaggerated the ideas of their masters and misapplied them beyond their proper limits.

In three respects the direct consequences of the Revolution are of special interest to us. In the first place, the very collapse of the existing institutions called for immediate application of all the knowledge which appeared as the concrete manifestation of that reason which was the goddess of the Revolution. As one of the new scientific journals which sprang up at the end of the Terror expressed it: ``The Revolution has razed everything to the ground. Government, morals, habits, everything has to be rebuilt. What a magnificent site for the architects! What a grand opportunity of making use of all the fine and excellent ideas that had remained speculative, of employing so many materials that could not be used before, of rejecting so many others that had been obstructions for centuries and which one had been forced to use.''11.15

The second consequence of the Revolution which we must briefly consider is the complete destruction of the old and the creation of an entirely new educational system which had profound effects on the outlook and general views of the whole next generation. The third is more particularly the foundation of the Ecole polytechnique.

The Revolution had swept away the old system of colleges and universities, which system was based largely on classical education, and after some shortlived experiments the Revolution replaced them in 1795 with the new écoles centrales, which became the sole centers of secondary education.11.16 In conformity with the ruling spirit and by an overviolent reaction against the older schools, the teaching in the new institutions was for some years confined almost exclusively to the scientific subjects. Not only the ancient languages were reduced to a minimum and in practice almost entirely neglected, even the instruction in literature, grammar, and history was very inferior, and moral and religious instruction, of course, completely absent.11.17 Although after some years a new reform endeavored to make good some of the gravest deficiencies,11.18 the interruption for a series of years of the instruction in those subjects was sufficient to change the whole intellectual atmosphere. Saint-Simon described this change in 1812 or 1813: ``Such is the difference in this respect between the state of...even thirty years ago and that of today that while in those not distant days, if one wanted to know whether a person had received a distinguished education, one asked: `Does he know his Greek and Latin authors well?' Today one asks: `Is he good at mathematics? Is he familiar with the achievements of physics, of chemistry, of natural history, in short, of the positive sciences and those of observation?' ''11.19

Thus a whole generation grew up to whom that great storehouse of social wisdom, the only form indeed in which an understanding of the social processes achieved by the greatest minds is transmitted, the great literature of all ages, was a closed book. For the first time in history that new type appeared which as the product of the German Realsehule and of similar institutions was to become so important and influential in the later nineteenth and the twentieth century: the technical specialist who was regarded as educated because he had passed through difficult schools but who had little or no knowledge of society, its life, growth, problems and values, which only the study of history, literature and languages can give.


next up previous contents
Next: III Up: The Source of the Previous: I   Contents