ABSTRACT
At the end of the last chapter we began to compare the two great educational movements of the sixteenth century. They are to be contrasted not only because of the fact that the one accords to knowledge and learning a place which the other reserves almost exclusively for literature; the moral inspiration from which they issue is also quite different. Their different ways of approaching the education of the intellect help us to understand their conceptions of moral education. A scientific education, indeed, has the very great advantage of forcing man to step outside himself in order that he may have dealings with things; and this fact alone causes him to take cognisance of his dependent position in relation to the world which surrounds him. It is impossible that we should form any conception, however imperfect and confused, of what the universe is, of its immensity, without immediately perceiving that we are not at the centre of it. Now, at the very root of the moral life is the sense that man does not belong entirely to himself. Everything which makes us aware of what there is in us which is impersonal opens up a path for the spirit of sacrifice and devotion; for in order for man to give himself, to sacrifice himself for something other than himself, it is essential that he be dependent upon something other than himself and that he should feel this dependence.
