GENERAL AND HISTORICAL: Ideals of a Student
| Author | Josiah Stamp |
| Published date | 01 January 1934 |
| Date | 01 January 1934 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1934.tb02374.x |
Reviews
GENERAL
AND
HISTORICAL
Ideals
of
a
Student
By
Sir
JOSIAH
STAMP,
G.B.E.,
LL.D.,
DSc.,
F.B.A.
(Ernest
Berm
Ltd.)
THIS
book is based on material which was originally used as lectures
to
academical audiences in Great Britain, Canada and the United
States.
Its
main themes are, first, the importance of the academic
training as almost the only sound means
of
approach to the problems
-and especially the economic problems-of the present day; and
secondly, the principles and methods by which the academic mind
should work. The author enters a strong plea for research as
an
essential part of
a
general education, and defends the cultural value
of
the curriculum of
a
School
of
Commerce.
The main impression left by the book is the versatility of the
author. The only references to Sir Josiah Stamp’s work as an
administrator are slight and indirect. But this book reveals him in
his familiar roles
of
economist and statistician; it also reveals
him
in
the roles
of
philosopher and theologian,
in
which he is less familiar
to
most people. In the second half of the book an ambitious attempt
is made
to
draw a cross-section through the whole sphere of know-
ledge-essentially an essay in logic; the examples used show that the
author has browsed in mathematics, chemistry, physics, sociology,
and jurisprudence. He confesses to having dabbled in phrenology;
and one suspects an interest in genealogy as well.
It is probably in its incidental references that the chief charm
of
the book consists. Of special interest
to
the public servant is a
summary of the author’s earlier work (in the
Jourlaal
of
the Statistical
Society
for 1915) on the homogeneity
of
age groups
in
respect
of
the
distribution of wealth (pp. 88-90).
The following aptly illustrates the author’s view of the universality
of
knowledge:
“
No
mind that has mastered the
real
difference
between a balance sheet and a profit and loss account can fail to carry
that relation into the innermost reasoning on all human interests, not
even excluding religion.” One
is
inclined
to
object that there are
many men who show every outward sign of having mastered
this
important difference, and yet show no sign of being profoundly
influenced by that knowledge.
In
that case,
Sir
Josiah Stamp might
retort, they have not really grasped the distinction. But this further
8s.
6d.
net.
72
To continue reading
Request your trial