College News, 1930-03-12, Vol. 16, No. 16

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The College News
VOL. XVI, NO. 16
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1930
PRICE.   JO CENTS
Medieval Jewish
Philosophy Traced
Husik Reveals Complex  Move-
ments and Also
Origins.
GREEK INFLUENCE GREAT
Flower Humanizes
Shakespeare
Sloss Prophesies
Victorianism
Dr. Isaac Husik spoke on "Mediaeval
Jewish Philosophy" in the Commons
Room, Tuesday evening, March 4.
The subject is a very large one.
Only part of mediaeval philosophy in
general. There were three philosophies
in the Middle Ages, as a matter of fact,
which were parallel and we read about
them in three languages: Those were the
Latin, the Arabic and the Hebrew, and
they were correspondingly Mohammeden-
ism, and Jewish philosophy.
What are the characteristics of me-
diaeval philosophy ? Treat' it histor-
ically. One characteristic which differen-
tiates mediaeval philosophy generally
from ancient and modern philosophy is
an epistemological dualism. The ancient
philosopher knew apparently in the clas-
sical period of only one source of truth
�within himself: sensation, perception,
logical inference or intuition. But all
those depend upon the individual him-
�self."-'They "are-the result of his own
existence. And, I imagine, the modern
philosopher has the sa"me notion. On
the basis of experience, or experimental
or logical inference, they believe truth
is derived. But, in the first place,
do not know whether mysticism is classed
as modern philosophy or not. But me-
diaeval philosophers, whether Jews,
Christians or Mohammedans, always in-
sisted upon two sole sources of truth:
the source residing in the individual him-
self, and the external source that comes
from without in an authoritative manner,
and that is revelation.
Hence, in seeking the origin of the
mediaeval point of view in matters philo-
sophic, it is well to go back to the place
where matters' began to be treated in
that way. That place is Alexandria in
the second century, B. C. It is not a
mediaeval origin at all, but you find the
mediaeval point of view beginning right
there.
If you have got two, sources of truth
you cannot just keep, them apart. They
might conflict. So which comes first?
Does reason come first? Does revela-
tion come first? Reason says: The
world is eternal. Revelation says: The
world was created in six days. The
solution they all gave to this problem
in the Middle Ages is about "the same.
It is a very optimistic one. Inasmuch as
both sources are valid, they can't con-
flict, and, therefore, do not. But, ap-
parently, they do conflict. The world
was created in six days vs. the world is
�eternal. There is the conflict. What
are you going to do about it? The solu-
tion was that these conflicts are only
apparent. So that if you are absolutely
certain about your reasoning; if you
can't possibly suspect any error or fal-
lacy in your reasoning, then you must,
go to the documents of revelation which
are embodied in sacred writings. They
are always open to interpretation. There-
fore, if you are quite certain about your
reason, what you do then is to go to
your documents on revelation and see if
you cannot interpret them in a way
which will agree with reason.
If that were impossible and the docu-
ments of revelation were absolutely cer-
tain and you can not - interpret them
away, then the alternative was to go
back to your Reaspn and see if what
you thought was the demand of Reason
�cannot be interpreted in another way.
This solution of the problem was com-
mon to all the three philosophies of the
Middle Ages.
Where do you find that in that par-
ticular form, in the past? Not in Greek
philosophy or in the Stoics, bat in Alex-
andria This w*a in the second century
after Christ, two and a half centuries
after the conquest of Alexandria. In
general, the atmosphere of Alexandria
was Greek. There was a very largje
.population of Jews there whp absorbed
So much has been done by the
learned point of view, Sir Archibald
Flower, chairman of the Board of Gov-
ernors of the Shakespeare Memorial
Theatre, believes, to make Shakes-
peare unpopular, that we must try. to
pull him from his pedestal, and realize
what a very human being he was. Sir
Archibald Flower gave a talk on
Shakespeare in Taylor Hall Wednes-
day morning at 9:45. It was Sir Arch-
ibald's own experience as a school boy
to have been bored and puzzled over"
Shakespeare,/but when coming back
to his native town of Avon.he got the
chance to see the plays well-acted, he
began to realize much more about
Shakespeare. Shakespeare was de-
voted to the countryside, and what was
particularly pleasant to an English boy,
devoted to horses. In his famous de-
scription of a horse not a single salient
point is missed; no one but a consum-
mate judge of a horse could have writ-
ten it. No matter what you are going
to do, if you get to know Shakespeare
better, he will help you. Shakespeare
has so crept into our language that
people do not know when they are
quoting.
The interesting problem is: how did
Shakespeare always come to say the
right thing in the right way? Re waT
born in the little village of Stratford,
but he was fortunate in getting a very
good education�some people deny this
but denial is nonsense. The same old
school was, up to a few years ago, ade-
quate for the needs of Stratford; the
boys are learning their lessons in ex-
actly the room as those of three hun-
dred years ago. Shakespeare is often
thought of as a ready-made poet; one
should try and vizualize him as a
schoolboy�an attractive boy, thickset,
not very tall, with auburn hair and
hazel eyes, full of fun and chaffing
everybody. Shakespeare was prob-
ably thinking of himself when he wrote
"the schoolboy, with shining morning
face, creeping like snail, unwillingly to
school." But Shakespeare made use
of his opportunities; he was able to
learn Latin, and French, and had some
very good masters�the headmaster at
the Stratford school was paid more
than the headmaster at Eton.
Shakespeare had the power of draw-
ing nations together; the world agrees
only in admiration of Shakespeare, no
matter what creed or nation. How
does it happen? His father was mayor
of Stratford, and when players visited
the town a private performance was
given before the mayor and the alder-
men to pay a compliment to the patron
of the troupe. We can picture William
as a boy of six coming to see the
players; we can picture him thinking,
as he grew older. "I could have done.
something better," and so in his boy-
hood the first germ of playwriting
came into his mind. When he grew up
he  entered  his   father's business  and
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Rosemont Victorious
Over Varsity
On Saturday, March 9, the Varsity
basketball team was disastrously de-
feated, 41 to 19, by Rosemont. Even
excluding the star forwards, v" who
could elude any guards, Rosemont's
team far surpassed Bryn Mawr in
every respect. Their centers regularly
got the jump and forwarded the ball,
and their guards messed the passing
and shooting of Engle and Totten
whenever the ball strayed to Varsity's
end.
Outplayed as Varsity was, their poor
passing was particularly glaring. The
zigzag   across   center   frequently   re-
Angles Substitute For Curves in
Present Mechanical
Literature.
INSPIRATION       LACKING
Memorial Service Held
For William H. Taft
"A general survey of the books being
written today does not reveal a very
inspiring whole," said Mrs. Margaret
Fleisher Sloss, executive secretary of
the Foreign Policy Association, in the
first of a series of talks on the "Litera-
ture of the Machine Age" given in the
Commons Room on Wednesday after-
noon, March 5. "They show deftness
of execution and Excellent craftsman-
ship, combined with an obvious lack
of inspiration. Among the finer books
under the head of biography might be
put Fay's "Franklin", and Lewis'
"King Spider." Under the- classifica-
tion of books about the war could be
listed Aldington's "Death of a Hero,"
and "A Farewell to Arms." Dividing
other fiction into two classes, the
"Sophisticates" and the Sensitives,"
one might include under, the first class
Maurois' ".Atmosphere of Love," un-
der the second "Wolf Solent." There
are three pre-eminent authors, Thomas
Mann, D. H. Lawrence and Marcel
Proust, . whose perceptions are ex-
tremely sensitive and who, with the
world as their onion, peel off layer
after layer of sensations not ordinarily
apprehended. These men may be
called the international ambassadors
of the mind of man�others are the
authors of contemporary literature.
Contemporary must be taklen in its
modern sense as dealing w|th things
spanning very little more than a week,
since everything is now jazzed up.
Literature, as Carlyle said, is not alone
a report of past civilizatipns but also
a sensitized record of our own times.
The literature of the new world is
affected by three things. First there
is the war, which created in the mind
of those who took part a sense of
futility and a loss of authority and self-
esteem. The past and future are not
important, only the present counts;
since there is no planning ahead, the
result is a flat literature with no depth
of perspective. Such a book is "A
Farewell to Arms." Then there is the
influence of Dr. Freud and the psycho-
analysts. The point of view of analysis
has penetrated literature with its sense
of an unconscious life responsible for
many conscious acts. This is best il-
lustrated in the works of May Sin-
clair and Rebecca West. Finally we
are living in a new scientific world.
Einstein's phrase, "the crumbling of
space," represents this new world with
time accelerated and distance elimi-
nated. There has been a change in the
fundamental substance of the world
from the politely inert world mass of
the Victorian school. Now the world
is a seething mass of electrons, as A.
S. Eddington in his stimulating "The
Nature of the Physical World" makes
very clear, giving a sense of the size
and speed of the universe.
We are living in a- mechanically-
minded world which has thrown over-
board the ideals and hypocracies of the
past. Smartness is our new ideal in
place of beauty, angles have been sub-
stituted for curves. European stand-
ards of sophistication have been
brought here and altered to machine-
made; we have accepted imperturb-
ability and hardboiledness. speed and
A service in memory of former Pres-
ident Taft was held in Goodhart audi-
torium, Tuesday morning, March 11.
It was lead by Professor Rufus Jones,
president of the board of directors.
The service was opened by the hymn
"O God' our Help in Ages Past," and
an arrangement of the Twenty-third
Psalm, sung by the choir. Professor
Jones read a passage from Ecclesiasti-
cus, "Praise of Famous Men," in in-
troduction to his address. President
Emeritus M. Carey Thomas attended the
service.
"It is most fitting that we at Bryn
Mawr should meet to show our rev-
erence and respect for the memory and
the life of ex-President Taft.
"Next to his own beloved Alma
Mater at New Haven, I think he loved
this 'institution best. He chose it for
his daughter, and so learned to know it
intimately. In the midst of his duties
as President he came here to give one
of the most inspiring commencement
addresses in our history, and he has
watched with intense interest every
step of the progress and development
of the college during these later years
best loved man
He has held the
�� Tmm� SK
suited in loss rather than gain, and the
forwards did much of their playing on
top of each other. The only glimmer
of hope appeared in Remington, who
executed occasional pretty plays as
side center and showed encouraging
speed, although her efforts to dhrert
the ball from Rosemont were as futile
as the rest of Varsity's.
in the United States,
two highest and most responsible of-
fices this nation has to offer, and he
is the only person who has ever held
them both.
"He was the champion of many
great causes.. Besides his great serv-
ices to the nation at home and abroad,
he was a noble and a notable citizen.
He has always had a sense of honor,
a brave wisdom of sincerity, a spirit of
fidelity and rugged honesty. His char-
acter was unsullied and his name is
untouched by any suspicion of low mo-
tives. His whole public career has
been marked by unselfish devotion, un-
wearied devotion, unwearied industry
and purity of purpose. . There was a
unique quality of distinction to his
patriotism, and his long service to the
country was characterized by magnan-
imous disinterestedness.
"He has borne a clear testimony that
truth is the highest thing a man may
keep. He has been tender and sensi-
tive for the rights and privileges of
the most humble persons in the land.
He has been, with all his other distinc-
tions, one of the foremost American
leaders of education for colored people.
One can imagine what is- happening
this morning at Hampton Institute.
"None of us who knew him can ever
forget his humor. No other President,
except Lincoln, has had such a rich
fund of it. His smile, his chuckle and
his radiance were an inherent part of
his personality.
"I should like to appropriate for
him the words that George Fox used
for one of his noblest friends: 'He was
faithful to God, and the immortal seed
of life is his crown.'"
Sandburg's Rhythms
Delight Audience
Culture   Is   the  Conception   of
What Is Worth Seeing
and Listening To.
SINGS    FROM    SONGBAG
--------     "             *
On Monday evening, March 10, in the
Auditorium of Goodhart Hall, Miss Don-
nelly, as the head of the English De-
partment, introduced Carl Sandburg, the
speaker on the Ann Elizabeth Sheble
Memorial Lectureship in English Lit-
erature. To those with the rough chal-
lenge of Onion Days and Clean Curtains
twanging in their ears, the quiet dignity
and fine humour of Mr. Sandburg were
a pleasant surprise. Where an apostle
of the masses had been expected, startling
us out of our placid after-dinner content
with crude jargon of the stockyards, we
found a man acutely sensitive to the fin-
est subtleties of feeling and sound, en-
veloping his work with the rhythms and
cadences of a   rich  musical   voice.
Previous to his readings, Mr. Sand-
burg, referring to the criticism evoked
by his innovations in verse form and con-
text, discussed the matter of personal
taste in art. If we fail to respond to a
work of art, it is probably because it is
not for us. No one peFsort ean hope dur-
ing his life time to put himself in sym-
pathy with all the works of art. nor
should he strive for this. Three or
masterpieces, "shot through with light
and shadow," and springing from pro-
found experience, should be known and
communed with until their depths be-
come a part  of us.
Here we touch the problem of "What
is art ?" and the answer lies in the reply-
ing to two simple questions, "What is
worth seeing?" and "What is worth lis-
tening to?" The reply for any one
nation or people is'the key to its cul-
ture. And culture involves the funda-
mentals of action. A war arises not
chiefly from economic unrest, but rather
from deep-rooted differences in culture.
The Civil War, our "intestinal struggle,"
resulted from the firm convictions' of
"the gentlemen of Massachusetts and the
gentlemen of Virginia" of the superiority
of their respective cultures. Culture,
the conception of "What is worth see-
ing?" and "What is wqrth listening to?"
is the lasic factor operating in strife
at all times.
This   same Jorce   is   working   today.
CaaUaned on Page Six
Miss Carey Tells
of New Senate Rule
~4......#^r
impersonality, as our ideals. It is in-
teresting to compare the best sellers
of 1914, among which were "Stella
Maris" and "Pollyana" with last year's
beat sellers, "The Bridge of San Luis
Rey," "Point and Counterpoint" and Is-
adora Duncan's "My Life." Perhaps
that Iheratnre had some .effect on our
easy acceptance of war propaganda. To-
Calendar
Sunday evening, March 16: Mus-
ical service of the Bryn Mawr
League.
Monday evening, March 17: The
Graduate Club of Bryn Mawr
will give Barrie's one-act play,
Shall We Join the Ladies T in
Goodhart Hall, at 8:20.
Tuesday evening, March 18�
The Dance Club and the danc-
ing classes of the undergradu-
ates will give a recital of nat-
ural dancing in the gymnasium
at 8:15.
Wednesday afternoon, March 19:
Mrs. Margaret Fleisher Sloss
will give the second of her
series of talks on contempo-
rary literature in the Commons
Room. The subject of this talk
wiU be "The Sophisticates";
tea will be served before the
talk, at 4:15, in the Commons
Room.                          -�����
(Submitted in  News competition.)
Slight changes in the standard of work
for the future were discussed by Miss
Carey in Chapel, Tuesday, March 4. In
the first place people taking condition
or deferred examinations may be ex-
cused from quizzes and laboratory work
during the week of the examinations.
Arrangements may be made with the
Instructor to make up this work.
The most important change concerned
double failures and the merit rule in
connection with Major work. If a stu-
dent has more than five hours of double
failure and can not offer enough hours
of advanced standing to make them up,
or if an extra semester would be neces-
sary to average one hundred and twenty*
hours, she is liable to expulsion. This
rule, which will be put into effect this
spring if need be, is quite just, as so
many people are trying to come in that
the college does not want exceptionally
poor people.
Two years ago, the rule for Major
work required twenty honour points, or
a Merit average in the first two years
of Major work. Now, however, the
present Sophomore and Freshman classes
must have at least Merit, and a Credit
must make up for a Pass. This will not
be rigidly enforced in individual cases,
and illness will be taken into considera-
tion; but it will gradually become so,
and must be taken into account when
choosing one's Major.

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