In sum, it has taken the effort and the judgement of thousands of people
to build this University
so quickly and so well; and I draw comfort from the thought that this effort
and judgement, which
had been so abundantly available in the past, will continue to sustain
it.
If ever the University has needed the wholehearted support of its friends,
it needs it today. We are
all proud of the University's past; and we have a right to expect that
it will have a great future. But
if our expectations are to be fulfilled, we shall have to meet immense
challenges. The University is
still growing, and growing rapidly. In part, this growth is a response
to the need to accommodate
the rapidly increasing numbers of young people coming from the high schools;
here our problem
will be how to expand facilities at a swift pace while maintaining high
standards.
But, the accommodation of students in increasing numbers is only a part
of the vital role which the
university is called upon to play in the modern world. I believe that this
role is more important in
our century than ever before in the history of civilization--that the work
to be done by men and
women of trained intellect is greater and more desperately urgent today
than at any previous time.
Each civilization has produced its characteristic institutions of [page
7] learning. They have
reflected the essence of the civilization which created them, and usually
their place has been at the
vital center of society. In the ancient empires which the archaeologists
unveiled, secret knowledge
was guarded and kept alive in the great temples. The spirit of ancient
Greece, the heritage of all
Western civilization, produced Plato s academy and the legendary library
of Alexandria. When
Islam swept across Asia Minor and North Africa, it gave birth to illustrious
centers of learning
such as El Azhar, the still surviving University of Cairo. When, around
the time of the Crusades,
the West reentered the history of progress, the scattered cathedral schools
of Europe turned into
those medieval universities which were the direct forerunners of so many
modern European
schools. In the New World the Universities of Santo Domingo, of Mexico
and of San Marcos in
Peru came into being in the sixteenth century. And as for ourselves in
North America, no sooner
had the Pilgrims arrived on this continent than they founded the institution
we know as Harvard.
To safeguard and transmit that knowledge which was considered vital to
the survival of society
and the salvation of its members--such was the main function of these institutions
of earlier times.
Knowledge was usually conceived of as a finite and limited substance, inherited
from the past. All
that was worth knowing, indeed all that could be known, was often assumed
to have found its
authoritative expression. Scholars were the custodians of this fixed fund;
their task was to
reconcile apparent contradiction and, in the case of the most ambitious
schoolmen, to set down in
their Summas the definitive balance sheet of man s comprehensive of the
universe.
As long as this conception of knowledge hung over the universities, their
role in society, however
important, was inevitably a relatively passive one. When Abelard, in the
twelfth century, said that
the first key to wisdom is [page 8] constant and frequent interrogation;
for by doubting we are led
to question, and be questioning we arrive at truth --this was the call
of a heretic, and the University
of Paris was not long in expelling him.
More often than not, the atmosphere of the universities of earlier centuries
was one of rigid
conservatism and the sort of pettifogging pedantry which has given the
word academic its
invidious overtones. The great periods of intellectual ferment in earlier
Western history were
usually inspired outside the orbit of the universities, and against much
academic opposition. In the
Renaissance, in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, in
the enlightenment of the
eighteenth, intellectual leadership passed to men who not only led their
lives outside the academic
institutions but who often regarded academic learning as sterile and old-fashioned.
If the universities did not originate great intellectual changes, even
less were they the mainspring
in the vast social and political transformations which made up historical
change. The universities
may have been guardians of the past, but the course of history was not
set by the academicians.
For thousands of years, the history of mankind was shaped by prophets and
visionaries, by
warriors and rulers. Faith and power, rather than abstract intellect, provided
the energies by which
the societies rose and without which they crumbled. Even the gigantic technological
upswing of
the West was at first quite independent of science--indeed, it has been
said that during the first
200 years of modern science, from 1600 to 1800, science learned much from
technology but
taught it relatively little.
Merely to recall these things is to realize the extent of the change which
has taken place. The
world has changed--from an emphasis on tradition to an emphasis on progress--
and the
universities have changed, albeit at first reluctantly, to become the architects
of progress instead of
the protectors [page 9] of tradition. In so changing, their role in society
has become ever more
important. Increasingly, the leading universities of the world have absorbed
functions of
intellectual leadership, and today we are all intensely aware of the link
between intellect and power,
of the appalling urgency and historical significance of our scientific
and intellectual capabilities.
As the university in recent times has become the undisputed headquarters
of intellect, so has
intellect invaded all corners of society. I am not thinking merely of the
role of science in the
modern world, for ours is also an age of ideologies. As Lord Keynes said,
more than 20 years
ago, and proved so well himself: The ideas of economists and political
philosophers, both when
they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly
understood. Indeed
the world is ruled by little else. In the eyes of the public, the actors
in the world arena may still be
athletes and politicians, generals and diplomats; but no one now can afford
to ignore the class
rooms, the laboratories and the libraries which have become the small back
rooms where history is
really made.
Of all the forces which have combined to cast the university in this role,
the principle one--which
also presents us with one of our greatest challenges for the future--is
the unbelievable acceleration
in the accumulation of knowledge. Professor Teller once suggested that
in each century since
1650 man has roughly doubled his knowledge of the physical and biological
universe; but even
this may be a conservative estimate. Not only is our knowledge growing,
but we are putting it to
use in more ways than even the dreamers and visionaries of the past could
imagine. Every facet of
our society reflects its impact, and we have become dependent upon a level
of skill and a degree of
scientific training and knowledge which has the most profound implications
for us all, both as
individuals and as a society. We know so much that no one [page 10] can
know very much; for as
there is more to know each one of us grows relatively more ignorant.
Even as a society we are finding it difficult to digest and to store the
torrent of new knowledge.
Our libraries are bursting under our eyes, and it is no coincidence that
much creative talent is
being devoted to the construction of electronic computing machines with
copious memories to
facilitate storage of information as well as to handle the administrative
tasks which we are creating
for ourselves.
Looking ahead, it seems to me that at least four paramount tasks present
themselves to the
university in our society. On is to continue to stimulate the quest for
knowledge. Another is to
transmit our knowledge to future generations. A third is to enable us to
remain masters of our
knowledge, to prevent the complete fragmentation of our view of ourselves,
our society and our
universe. The fourth and perhaps most exacting is to assess the values
which our knowledge
should enable us to serve. Let me discuss each in turn.
It is clear that our welfare and our security, now and in the future, depend
intimately on our ability
to continue our scientific and technological progress. This alone would
suffice to make the
research work of the university one of its central responsibilities, one
which it can not escape. To
be sure, the quest for knowledge is not the monopoly of the universities,
but they alone combine
the task of research with the basic training of the researchers, and provide
the environment (if not
the salary) that attracts outstanding men. In a recent survey, the major
foundations and
government research agencies were asked to submit lists of the scientists
below the age of forty
whom they considered most promising, whether located in universities or
industrial laboratories.
When a master list was compiled, it was found that of the 225 persons nominated--by
agencies
whose crucial business is to recognize talent--221 proved [page 11] to
be university members.
Our government's research program leans heavily upon these scientists;
and those branches of
industry which operate st the frontier of knowledge and whose own research
efforts have
contributed so much to our technological advance are now begining to locate
their facilities in the
convenient neighborhood of major universities.
The university, with its libraries, its laboratories, its training facilities,
its faculty to consult, and its
disinterested flow of ideas, is becoming one of the principal assets of
our economy and our
nation.
Scientific research is much in the limelight these days. But many of our
most urgent problems are
of a different nature. It is not only technical know-how that makes a modern
society, but above all
organization in the most general sense. Our efforts to help the so-called
underdeveloped areas of
the world have brought home to us the enormous differences between rigid
societies where the
very fabric of social life opposes change and dynamic societies where the
ceaseless adaptation to
new circumstances is relatively painless. But even in our country, social
change is not without its
difficulties. In this country the fabulous efficiency of our economy has
almost removed the curse
of grinding poverty under which mankind has hitherto labored; but the new
abundance itself
creates new social problems. The most important thing now may be not to
find new ways of
making things, but to find new ways of living together. Our architects
and city planners are
evolving new physical patterns to fit the changing modes of family and
community life. Social
scientists of all descriptions are trying to analyze the implications of
the increasing complexity of
our society. Biologists and medical research workers are joined by psychologists
and sociologists
in our attempts to understand and t meet the needs of the individual in
his modern industrial
environment.
[page 12] In all this work, the university has a natural function and responsibility,
for here, too, the
role of intellect has become indispensable. The never ceasing flow of new
ideas, in all fields, is the
lifeblood of our kind of society, and change and movement is the way it
achieves its dynamic
equilibrium.
But scholarship does not exist only for its application. The pursuit of
knowledge and insight is
perhaps man s noblest adventure, and needs no other justification. As all
scholars know, rigorous
intellectual work is one of the most intense and rewarding forms of human
experience, and to
subordinate everything to the demands of utility would be to impoversih
our lives. When the
conquest of space excites us, it is not for its practical consequences,
whatevr they may be, but for
the human achievement it represents. To expand the boundaries of our knowledge
is simply one
of our obligations to a civilization based on reason.
The extension of knowledge, in its myriad forms, is but one of our major
obligations. We must
also devote the utmost skill to the education and training of the vast
numbers of highly skilled
intellectual personnel without whom the machinery of modern society could
not operate. Ths task
alone--to transmit enough knowledge to sufficiently many--presents a challenge
to our
educational system, the full extent of which we have hardly yet explored.
A further kind of effort is also necessary if we are to come to terms with
the stupendous changes
of today and tomorrow. We must weave this new knowledge into the fabric
of our social lives and
consciously subject it to our service. And we must face the problem of
living with a body of
knowledge and learning which in its complexity and diversity almost defies
attempts at
classification. Our knowledge is already separating us, and specialists
speak different languages,
enigmatic to colleagues in other fields and totally [page 13] incomprehensible
to laymen. In part
we must learn to accept this state of affairs; in part we must strive to
overcome it. Unless educated
men are able to perceive, however dimly, the compass of human behaviour,
our knowledge will
become a tyrant and we shall be all at sea in a universe more utterly meaningless
than before we
began to explore it.
Finally, there is a task even weightier than the acumulation, the transmission,
and the
comprehension of knowledge. In a century which by creating much has overthrown
so much, men
of intellect everywhere have an obligation which they must not betray.
The philosophers and
humanists of our universities bear a large share of that burden, as creative
and sensitive thinkers
and as teachers of our values and our heritage. Whatever demands in the
way of technical training
the age of science may make on the universities, we recognize that education
is more than
information, and that the wisdom and experience of the human condition
which we have inherited
are more pertinent than ever in an era of drastic change. The tradition
of the humanities is a noble
one, based on a belief in the dignity and worth of the individual, in understanding
and tolerance.
And more than anything else it is the cement which binds our civilization
together.
The future for which we are preparing need not be the result of blind fate.
It can be ours to make,
and this is the greatest challenge of all. A people s image of the future
may shape its destiny:
where the image is fearful and apprehensive, society will be faltering
and slow-moving; where it is
confident and optimistic, a society is capable of civilization. Intellectual
and moral vision can
animate a culture, and without it all our scientific achievement may be
in vain.
In conclusion, the university over the centuries has moved from its role
as the guardian of the past
to that of the explorer of the future; and in [page 14] this transition
it has become one of the great
focal points of human endeavor. To create new knowledge, to train the men
and women who can
use this new knowledge, to make this knowledge comprehensible and thus
the servant rather than
the master of men, to help men know the values this knowledge should be
made to serve--these
are the great tasks of the university in the advancing industrial society
that is sweeping around the
world. These are the tasks of the University of California in an age when
the worth of intellect is
more apparent than ever before--an age of the most fabulous unfolding of
the human mind in
history. This can be a truly Golden Age in the life of the University of
California during what may
yet become a Golden Age for mankind.