339. Condillac (1715-1780).—An acute and ingenious psychologist, a competitor and rival of Locke in philosophy, Condillac is far from having the same authority in matters pertaining to education; but still there is profit to be derived from the reading of his Course of Study, which includes not less than thirteen volumes. This important work is a collection of the lessons which he had composed for the education of the infant Ferdinand, the grandson of Louis XV., and heir of the dukedom of Parma, whose preceptor he became in 1757.
340. Abuse of the Philosophic Spirit.—It is certainly a matter of congratulation that the philosophical spirit is entering more and more largely into the theories of education, and there would be only words of commendation for Condillac had he restricted himself to this excellent declaration, that pedagogy is nothing if it is not a deduction from psychology. But he does not stop there, but with an indiscretion that is to be regretted, he arbitrarily transports into education certain philosophical principles which it is not proper to apply to the art of educating men, whatever may be their theoretical truth; thus Condillac, having established the natural order of the development of the sciences and the arts in the history of humanity, presumes to impose the same law of progress upon the child.
“The method which I have followed does not resemble the usual manner of teaching; but it is the very way in which men were led to create the arts and the sciences.”[177]
In other terms, the child must do over again, on his own account, “that which the race has done.” He must be compelled to follow, step by step, in its long gropings, the slow progress made by the race.[178]
There is, doubtless, an element of truth in the error of Condillac. The sciences and the arts began with the observation of particulars, and thence slowly rose to general principles; and to-day no one thinks of denying the necessity of proceeding in the same manner in education, so far as this is possible. It is well at the first to present facts to the child, and to lead him step by step, from observation to observation, to the law which governs them and includes them; but there is a wide distance between the discreet use of the inductive and experimental method, and the exaggerations of Condillac. No one should seriously think of absolutely suppressing the synthetic method of exposition, which, taking advantage of the work accomplished through the centuries, teaches at the outset the truths that have been already acquired. It would be absurd to compel the child painfully to recommence the toil of the race.[179]
Graver still, Condillac, led astray by his love for philosophizing, presumes to initiate the child, from the very beginning of his studies, into psychological analysis.
“The first thing to be done is to make the child acquainted with the faculties of his soul, and to make him feel the need of making use of them.”
In other terms, the analysis of the soul shall be the first object proposed to the reflection of the child. It is not proposed to make him attentive, but to teach him what attention is.