The Doctrine and Discipline of Human Culture (1836)

AUTHOR: Alcott, Amos Bronson

SUMMARY (Bryn Skibo, revised Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen):
Like several of his other writings, most notably “Orphic Sayings,” this short tract is composed in a series of paratactic fragments, aphorisms, vignettes, or “Ideas,” to use Alcott's term. The 26 fragments present Alcott's understanding of the ideal form and function of education. The booklet begins with an outline of the “Idea of Man” (3). According to Alcott, the human is the highest expression of divine power and thus is destined to “subdue” and “hold[] dominion” over all beings and nature. These, in turn, are also expressions of God; they are the “fluctuating things of the Outward” (4), whereas inward things, humans, beings of nature, all coincide in God. This is not merely a fact, however, but a responsibility – a “dut[y]” as Alcott calls it (3) – and to fulfill this duty a proper education is needed. The remaining fragments then proceed to formulate the contours, set up, and fundamentals of such an education.

Importantly, for Alcott, as for his Romantic peers, education does not amount to mere knowledge acquisition. It is holistic – it concerns the human's “entire nature,” as Alcott says – and consists in the development and perfection of all human “faculties” (4). Hence, education amounts to “the perpetual work of self-renewal” (5). The ideal model of the educated human is Jesus. Humans have been slow and feeble in following this model. But Alcott believes that the time has come to “restore Nature to its rightful use; purify Life; hallow the functions of the Human Body, and regenerate Philosophy, Literature, Art, Society” and thus finally attain the “Divine Idea of Man” (7). In Alcott's view, Jesus is also the model teacher, with the Gospels providing “the true method of imparting instruction” (8). Conversation is preferable over other methods of instruction as it “quicken[s] the Spirit” and involves all the faculties (10). It is thought in action. This is why Socrates and Plato, too, were champions of conversation. To educate, one must thus follow these models. To do so, one has to be “in possession of [one's] idea” (11), that is, be attuned to God or Spirit. Only those who are already educated in Alcott's sense are fit to be teachers. Only such teachers are proper “Prophets of the Future” (12).

To unearth and make perceptible the divine powers of humans is hard work as they are buried within a corporeal and sensual existence. Only the powers of genius can penetrate this surface to reach the domain of ideas. Alcott is clear that “[a]ll men have [genius], yet it does not appear in all men” (14). Genius is a universal capacity. Unfortunately, it remains undeveloped and buried in most people. In fact, Alcott believes that “genius is at its wane” due to a lack of “great men,” “good institutions,” and a general “low estimate of human nature” (14; 16).  Education has to focus on developing and fostering the powers of genius. This cannot be attained by “the routine of formal tuition” (17). What is needed is teaching that inspires (literally: teaching that spiritizes, imbues the minds of the students with Spirit). Hence the necessity of inspired teachers, as only those who are inspired themselves can hope to “be the personation and exampler of what he would unfold in his charge” (19). Only then can one hope to promote attunement with God, Nature, and Life. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is the case: “We incumber the body with the gluts of the appetites; dim the senses by self-indulgence; abuse nature and life in all manner of ways” (20). This perception is the basis for Alcott's veganism.

“Nature and Life” should serve “as means for the Soul's growth and renewal” (22), not as mere material resources to be exploited. We are actually closest to this state in childhood. In children “is our Nature yet despoiled of none of its glory” (24). Education thus needs to focus on fostering and developing this glory. Luckily, Alcott concludes, “[t]he renovating Fiat has gone forth, to revive our Institutions, and remould our Men” (26). Due to such reform, a change for the good is imminent, so that “[m]en shall be one with God, as was the Man of Nazareth” (27).