344. Othek Parts of the Course of Study. ВЂ” It

seems that Condillac is in pursuit of but one single purpose,

— to make of his pupil a thinking being. The stud}' of

Latin is postponed till the time when the intelligence, being

completely formed, will find in the study of that language

PHILOSOPHERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 317

only the difficulty of learning words. Condillac has but

little taste for the study of the ancient languages. He rele-

gates the study of Latin to the second place, and omits

Greek entirely. But he accords a great importance to his-

torical studies.

"After having learned to think, the Prince made the study

of history his principal object for six years."

Twelve volumes of the Course of Study have transmitted

to us Condillac's lessons in history. In this he does not take

delight, as Rollin does, in long narrations ; but he analyzes,

multiplies his reflections, and abridges facts ; he philoso-

phizes more than he recites the facts of history.

345. Personal Reflection. ВЂ” What we have said of Con-

dillac's Course of Study suffices to justify the judgment

expressed of his pedagogy by one of his disciples, Gexando,

when he wrote: "He who had so thoroughly studied the

manner in which ideas are formed in the human mind, had

but little skill in calling them into being in the intelligence

of his pupil."

But we would judge our author unjustly if, after the criti-

cisms we have made of him, we were not to accord him the

praise he deserves, especially for having comprehended, as he

has done, the value of personal reflection, and the superiority \

of judgment over memory. A few quotations will rehabilitate

the pedagogy of Condillac in the minds of our readers.

Above all else there must be an exercise in personal

reflection : —

" I grant that the education which cultivates only the

memory may make prodigies, and that it has done so ; but

these prodigies last only during the time of infancy. . . .

He who knows only by heart, knows nothing. . . . He who

has not learned to reflect has not been instructed, or, what is

still worse, has been poorly instructed."

318 THE HISTOEY OF PEDAGOGY.

"True knowledge is in the reflection, which has acquired

it, much more than in the memory, which holds it in keep-

ing ; and the things which we are capable of recovering are

better known than those of which we have a recollection.

It does not suffice, then, to give a child knowledge. It is

necessary that he instruct himself by seeking knowledge on

his own account, and the essential point is to guide him

properly. If he is led in an orderly way, he will acquire

exact ideas, and will seize their succession and relation.

Then, able to call them up for review, he will be able to

compare them with others that are more remote, and to

make a final choice of those which he wishes to study.

Reflection can always recover the things it has known,

because it knows how it originally found them ; but thfe

memory does not so recover the things it has learned,

because it does not know how it learns."

This is why Condillac places far above the education w 3

receive, the education that we give ourselves : —

"Henceforth, Sir, it remains for you alone to instruct

yourself. Perhaps you imagine you have finished ; but it is I

who have finished. You are to begin anew ! "