d prize-fighting may be
recognized in Elis, and be condemned in England; music may be despicable
in the eyes of certain moderns, and be in the highest place with Aristotle
and Plato,--(and the case is the same in the particular application of the
idea of Beauty, or of Goodness, or of Moral Virtue, there is a difference
of tastes, a difference of judgments)--still these variations imply,
instead of discrediting, the archetypal idea, which is but a previous
hypothesis or condition, by means of which issue is joined between
contending opinions, and without which there would be nothing to dispute
about.

I consider, then, that I am chargeable with no paradox, when I speak of a
Knowledge which is its own end, when I call it liberal knowledge, or a
gentleman's knowledge, when I educate for it, and make it the scope of a
University. And still less am I incurring such a charge, when I make this
acquisition consist, not in Knowledge in a vague and ordinary sense, but
in that Knowledge which I have especially called Philosophy or, in an
extended sense of the word, Science; for whatever claims Knowledge has to
be considered as a good, these it has in a higher degree when it is viewed
not vaguely, not popularly, but precisely and transcendently as
Philosophy. Knowledge, I say, is then especially liberal, or sufficient
for itself, apart from every external and ulterior object, when and so far
as it is philosophical, and this I proceed to show.

6.

Now bear with me, Gentlemen, if what I am about to say, has at first sight
a fanciful appearance. Philosophy, then, or Science, is related to
Knowledge in this way:--Knowledge is called by the name of Science or
Philosophy, when it is acted upon, informed, or if I may use a strong
figure, impregnated by Reason. Reason is the principle of that intrinsic
fecundity of Knowledge, which, to those who possess it, is its especial
value, and which dispenses with the necessity of their looking abroad for
any end to rest upon external to itself. Knowledge, indeed, when thus
exalted into a scientific form, is also power; not only is it excellent in
itself, but whatever such excellence may be, it is something more, it has
a result beyond itself. Doubtless; but that is a further consideration,
with which I am not concerned. I only say that, prior to its being a
power, it is a good; that it is, not only an instrument, but an end. I
know well it may resolve itself into an art, and terminate in a