Educational philosophy and future evolution

“We want to serve history only to the extent that history serves life.” (Nietzsche)

Pro-social and anti-social genius needs to be distinguished in relation to advancing evolution. I affirm some of the early Greek philosophers, perhaps Goethe, Schopenhauer and later Nietzsche and Cattell in seeing a graded reality from lower matter all the way to Godhood, a dynamic natural world with all forms striving upward, all levels of nature directed toward compounding consciousness, all evolving toward the zenith of intelligence, beauty and noble character, which is Godhood. Natural evolution may be beyond good and evil but not beyond good and bad---it is not value free.

Finding and assisting genius needs the help of our institutions. Working in isolation happens in any case, but genius and the works of genius lead human culture, culture follows genius and lags behind both culturally and genetically, and it is the task of culture to manage the under-emphasized cultural frustrations which are caused from the lag. This can anchor educational philosophy which has all but abandoned these ideals in regressively centering on the less talented rather than the most talented. Culture needs to promote the greatest number of exceptional people whose inventions can help the less exceptional. The great culture of the Renaissance was developed by only about one hundred men!.

The idea is that we don't study for the sake of studying as “idlers in the garden of knowledge” (Nietzsche), we study as the attendant of the great current of evolving life. Life precedes knowledge. We study past greatness to help ourselves become great.

Philosopher Frederick Nietzsche and psychologist Raymond Cattell more or less agreed with this assessment of future education, two outstanding masters, although neither essentially acknowledged evolving to Godhood in evolution, and certainly not in terms of transforming the God first seen inwardly by the great religions to Godhood evolved to outwardly. What is vital is faith in evolution, in its continual possibilities.