How to educate the feelings or affections, and bring the dispositions, aspirations, and passions into harmony with sound intelligence and morality

Section I. Page

MENTAL CONSTITUTION, .--.-. 17

SECTION 11.

THE SELF-PROTECTING FEELINGS :

The Education of each Feeling considered Separately. alimenti\neness — appetite. ------ 2.2

combativeness, -"" 3^

Destructiveness, --------37 acquisitrteness, --.-----50

constructiveness, -- 55

THE SELF-REGARDING FEELINGS:

Self-Esteem, - -66

Love of Approbation, 71

THE SOCIAL AFFECTIONS:

Amativeness, - - - - 87

Philoprogenitiveness, - - - - - - 91

Adhesiveness, -^ 99

6 Contents,

THE MORAL FEELINGS :

PAGE

Conscientiousness and Benevolence, - - - 120

THE .ESTHETIC FEELINGS :

Veneration, - - - i34

Spirituality — Wonder, ------ 149

FEELINGS WHICH GIVE CONCENTRATION, POW- ER, OR PERMANENCE TO THE OTHERS:

CONCENTRATIVENESS AND InHABITIVENESS, - - - 154

MiRTHFULNESS — ThE FeELING OF THE LUDICROUS, - 169

Authority and Obedience, 17^

Temper, - i77

Section III

THE CONNECTION OF MIND WITH ORGANIZA- TION. THE SUBJECTIVE AND THE OBJECTIVE, 191

Section IV

THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, - - - - 205 CONCLUSION, - - - • - • • . ^ 216

PEEFACE

TO THE AMEEICAlSr EDITION.

The Education of the Feelings through the careful study of the brain was a field uncultivated previous to the discovery of Gall and Spurzheim. Several valuable treatises have since been given to the world in the endeavor to set forth the nature and action of all the mental powers, including the propensities, and how to lead them to automatic rectitude of action. Without an intimate acquaintance with every faculty, we can not hope to guide and regulate their forces. So long as the whole realm of passion is regarded by mankind, not as a set of faculties to be studied and governed, but as a single malign force, the inspiration of the prince of evil, or the inheritance of " total depravity," to be repressed by fear or uprooted by punishment, the passions, like volcanic fire, will continue to burn and consume their possessors, if they do not break forth into an open conflagration of crime. And thus the race goes on bemoaning crime, and helplessly exclaiming, " O Lord, how long?" Penalties may be enacted and severe punishment enforced by courts, but these do not

a)

8 Prefaoe to the AmeriGan Edition,

toucli the source of crime. So long as character depends on organization, and organization can be affected by training and habit, good and bad, reform can not be. achieved by punishment, but must come from better culture, not of the intellect merely, but of the faculties which are concerned in passion or propensity, and in their abuse which leads to crime.

The importance of education can not be overestimated. Our pulpits, presses, and schools, which are the pride and blessing of our land, tend to show how much the race feels the need of improvement, and how much it is willing to do to raise from age to age the common level of human life. A moment's reflection will show that efforts in the direction of education have been mainly applied to the culture of the intellectual and moral feelings, while penalty and repression have been the chief means employed for the control of human passion and propensity. Men have become wise in science, able to master the great agencies of nature; but the turbulent passions within themselves have been little understood, except by the devastation and misery which have marked and marred the pathway of human progress and power.

A better day has dawned. The science of man is being studied, and ten thousand families, being discouraged in vain endeavor to control the propensities of their children, or to understand their own, are eagerly inquiring for the light which Phrenology would throw upon this first place of human need and human improvement.

Preface to the Avierwan Edition, 9

This work, by a countryman of George and Andrew Combe, is berc presented as an aid in " The Education of tbe Feelings/' and it has the special advantage of being based on a scientific analysis of the human faculties. Its expositions are so clear and plain that "the" common people," without generous culture, yet anxious to train their children for honor and immortality, can understand and adopt its teachings.

The Notes and Illustrations, it is hoped, will give additional interest to the text, and it is believed that the publishers are conferring a favor on their country by transferring from our fatherland a work so rich in possibility of benefit.

AMERICAN EDITOR.

PEEFACE

TO LOISTDOI^ EDITIOlSr,

Education has been correctly defined as the developing and perfecting of all our faculties. Without a definite and systematic knowledge of the human faculties, education in this sense is evidently impossible, and the tirae has arrived when, as a science, it must be inseparably blended with mental philosophy. Yague generalities ought no longer to be- tolerated, but we ought to be able to state exactly what we wish to do — what we would have or not have : what feelings or intellectual faculties are, in individual cases, weak and require cherishing ; what are too strong and require repressing ; and what feehngs especially we should wish to predominate in the character. The knowledge to guide us in these particulars is at present very vague and unsatisfactory, and based more upon custom and tradition than upon science. It is the aim of this work to give a more systematic direction to our inquiries in this department, and we have to ask the indulgence of our readers for the dry nomenclature which always attends, more or less, on attempts at classification.

With respect to the management of children, no very

definite rules can be laid down, all children requiring

12 Preface to London Edition,

different treatment aceordins; to the difference of tlieir dispositions ; and tliere is but one great rule invariably applicable — viz., to be ourselves what we would wish our children to be. Precept, without this, is comparatively useless ; children's minds are fed and formed by the mental atmosphere which surrounds them ; if we are selfish, they wdll become so too ; if our morality and religion are little more than deference to public opinion, we mnst not expect that any higher feeling than love of applause will be developed under our guidance. We may more easily deceive ourselves in the knowledge of our own dispositions than we can deceive children, who, with their bright, intuitive vision, early learn to distinguish between truth and shams. So soon as children are intrusted to us, a kind of second education commences in ourselves : all that we say, do, and even feel, is imitated — ^we see the reflex of ourselves in others, and, startled into consciousness by the fac-simile, for the first time we begin to inquire what we are, and what we ought to be. In the course of our own early training, our immature powers were incapable of reflecting upon the nature of the different feelings which influenced us ; but now, when we have to direct others, we feel that a correct analysis of the character is necessary. The object of the present volume is not so much to assist in the direct education of children, as in this second education of ourselves; to aid self-knowledge and self-development : or, if it were not thought too ambitious, we might say, that we aim at supplying a new system of moral philosophy, based upon an analy-

Prefdce to London EdiUon. 13

sis of the use and abuse of each faculty, and its direction to its proper and legitimate objects.

If we would ascertain the purposes for which God has formed us, we must study the nature of the faculties with which lie has endowed us, and make use of each faculty in the direction for which its nature shows it was evidently intended.

In our scheme, what Dr. WheweU calls dejpendent and independent morality, that is, the "intuitive" system and that based upon " utility," are blended, neither being able to act without the other. Thus we find in nature certain primitive impulses which make us wish to be kind to others ; to respect and venerate whatever is great and good ; and to do on all occasions what is right, irrespective of consequences, that is, at " whatever cost of pain and loss ; " but these feelings, however strong, in no way indicate what is kind, or great and good, or right ; of themselves they are mere blind impulses, as likely to go wrong as right, requiring, therefore, the direction of the reason. Keason requires a rule for its guidance, and aU systems, even that of Dr. WheweU himself, are ultimately driven to " utility," or the " Greatest Happiness Principle," for this rule. It is, comparatively, of no use to feel the desire to do what is right, unless we know what is right, and it is of little use knowing what is right, without the desire to do it.

Mr. Buckle, in his surprising work on the History of Civilization, evidently confounds the knowledge of what is right with the desire to do it, that is, Moral

14 Preface to London Edition.

Principle with Moral Feeling ; and because the first have undergone little change for the last three thousand years, he underrates the influence of moral y*^^Zm^ on the progress of Civilization. He says, " In reference to our moral conduct, there is not a single principle now known to the most cultivated Europeans, which was not likewise known to the ancients." This is very true, but the true progress of civilization is not marked by the progress of '' opportunity," or by any "improvement in external circumstances," or by the mere knowledge of moral principles, but by our increased disposition to act in accordance with such principles. The far greater number of the actions of even the most reasonable, and almost all the actions of the mass of mankind, are vv^hat Hartley calls automatic, that is, involuntary — the product of feeling, not of intellect. Mr. Buckle says, '' The child born in a civilized land is not likely, as such, to be superior to one born among barbarians; and the difference which ensues between the acts of the two children will be caused, so far as we know, solely by the pressure of external circumstances ; by which I mean the surrounding opinions, knowledge, associations — in a word, the entire mental atmosphere in which the two children are respectively nurtured." Now this is altogether opposed to fact, and the source of this and of almost all of Mr. Buckle's errors of principle lies in his not giving sufficient importance to the fact of the connection of mind with organization, and to his appearing altogether to ignore what is equally proved, that the strength of mind both in thinking

Preface to London Edition. 15

and feeling, is in proportion to the size and quality of the material organ with which it is connected ; consequently, if the moral organs be small, moral feelings will be weak, and the moral manifestation or action will be weak in proportion, whatever the pressure of external circumstances or the mental atmosphere in which the child is nurtured. Mr. Buckle, however, admits " that it may be, owing to some physical causes still unknown, the average capacity of the brain is, if we compare long periods of time, becoming gradually greater ; and that therefore the mind, which acts through the brain, is, even independently of education, increasing in aptitude and in the general competence of its views." " Such, however," he says, " is still our ignorance of physical laws, and so completely are we in the dark as to the circumstances which govern the hereditary transmission of character, temperament, and other personal peculiarities, that we must consider this alleged progress as a very doubtful point." We think, should Mr. Buckle's attention ever be turned to the discoveries of Gall and Spurzheim, he will find that they were not quite so much in the dark on this subject of hereditary tendencies as he appears to be ; that the law for our guidance is, that exercise increases mental power and increases the size of the material organ, and that that increased size and aptitude are transmitted, not in " long periods of time," but from generation to generation, and that the advance of civilization is more properly measured by such increased mental power than by the " opportunities " and circumstances surrounding it.

THE EDUCATION

OP THE

Feelings, or Affections.

Section I. Mental Constitution

The education of the feelings, or formation of the dispositions, is a part of education which has been comparatively neglected; not so much because its importance has not been recognized, as because the too general want of definite knowledge concerning the affections and the moral springs of action has prevented its being pursued systematically.

The objection of this branch of education is the cultivation, by exercise, of tliose feelings which make us wish to do that which we ought to do. The mere knowledge of our duty, without the disposition to perform it, is of little use, or at most, but one small step gained ; and yet, education, conducted as a system, has commonly stopped short at this point. Food is absolutely necessary to support life, but it is a question whether the mere knowledge of this would always be suflficient to induce us to take nourishment, if l^ature had not endowed us with a strong desire to eat when requisite. The wants of our moral nature being less obtrusive, the laws which govern them are not so well understood; and yet it is equally certain that, with respect to religion and morality, that is, our duties to

God and our neighbor, the Creator has not been satistied with merely telling us what we ought to do, but has also implanted feelings — such as love and reverence toward Himself, the moral sense, benevolence — which make us desire to perform the duties which His laws have pointed out to us. With this difference, that while the animal appetite is a full-grown instinct from the first, these incipient germs of our higher nature may, without watchful culture, lie undeveloped.

•The cultivation and training of the feelings bear the ^ame relation to happiness, as the observance of the laws for the due regulation of the bodily system bear to health ; and for the proper management of the feelings it is quite as necessary to know what they are, as it is to know the functions of the different organs of the body ; and as important to treat each mental faculty separately, as to distinguish the heart from the lungs, the lungs from the liver ; so that we may not apply our remedies to one organ when the disease is in another.

It is the province of mental philosophy to show what are the functions of the mind, to explain the manner in which they act, and their adaptation and relation to external objects. No such analysis of our mental constitution has been generally received, neither is it commonly understood that such is essential in education. But if education be a method of treatment of the mental faculties, how can it possibly be adapted to their direction unless we know the nature of these faculties, and their mode of action? Experience may have enlightened us a little here and there as to the best method of treating some of them ; but the character of this knowledge has hitherto much resembled that

Mental Constittition. 10

of the quack practitionerj who having discovered a remedy for one disease, although ignorant of the nature of both remedy and disease, applies it to the cure of all. The little light that has been gained from experience, can never be properly systematized and applied to education, until the nature of our mental constitution be understood.

A parent is apt to think that the knowledge he possesses of his own disposition is sufficient for the guidance of the affections of his children ; but dispositions differ so widely, that we can not have a falser guide, in many instances, than to judge of others by ourselves. The precept " know thyself," is very partially obeyed, and the knowledge of self which is attained is generally far too imperfect and indefinite to be applicable to the systematic training of the feelings.

Natural Philosophy has of late made rapid strides, and vastly augmented the power of man over the physical world ; but because mankind have been unacquainted with the relation that such results bear to the nature of mind, education is very much in the condition it was before all this light shone upon us; consequently, the happiness of the world has not increased in a corresponding proportion with the multiplication of our comforts and conveniences.

The clearest analysis of the mental constitution, and the most practical, is that presented by Phrenology. This is admitted even by metaphysicians, who are not disposed equally to admit that each mental faculty is in connection with separate parts or organs of the brain.

Phrenology teaches, First : That the brain is the organ of mind.

Secondly: That it is not a single organ, but a congeries or bundle of organs, manifesting a plurality of faculties; and

Thirdly : That vigor of function bears a relation to the health, quality, and size of the organ.

It results from this that the mind and body are so intimately related, that it is quite impossible to separate moral from physical training. Nevertheless, the greater part of our remarks will be found applicable to the subject, independent of the truth of the phrenological propositions. .

The mental constitution may be thus divided. The feelings consist of

THE SELF-PROTECTma

THE MORAL.

Alimentiveness.

Conscientiousness.

CoMBATIVEJSrieJSS.

Benevolence.

Desteuctiveness.

THE ESTHETIC.

Secretiveness.

Ideality.

"AcQmSITIVENESS.

THE RELIGIOUS.

Constructiveness.

Yeneration.

Cautiousness.

Hope.

The Love of Life.

Wonder (or Spirituality).

THE SELF-EEGARDma

Concentrative- ^ these

Self-esteem.

NESS or Confaculties

Love of Approbation.

tinuity.

may fur-

Firmness.

liloil

equal aid

THE SOCIAL.

Imitation.

to all.

Amativeness.

The Feeling of the Lu-

PHILOPROGENmVENESS.

dicrous (Mirthful-

Adhesiveness.

NESS).

Mental Constitution. 21

Of course it is not intended to assert that each of these faculties act separately in forming states of mind, but only that they constitute the principal ingredient — many of the other feelings necessarily mixing with them.

To these must be added the intellectual faculties, consisting of :

II. — The Perceptive Faculties.

III. — The Reflective.

I am sorry to use technical language which may bo repulsive to some readers, but the terms must be considered as mere signs to which distinct ideas will be attached afterward. Every one possesses these faculties more or less developed, and their different combination in different persons constitutes the difference in individual character. Thus some are brave, some timid — some firm, others yielding — some proud, others modest, according as some faculty or group of faculties predominates.

Each feeling will be treated of separately, showing its use in the mental constitution, and also its abuse, so that in moral training we may know what to aim at, and what to avoid. The faculties will then be considered in groups, in order to appreciate the relative strength desirable for each to attain.