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HELENA OSPINA
Universidad de Costa Rica
Academia Dominicana de la Lengua
Miembro del Círculo de Newman
Asociación Española de Personalismo
Editorial Promesa
ospina@promesacultural.com
Coloquio Internacional
John Henry Newman
y los desafíos contemporáneos
Universidad Panamericana, Campus Guadalajara
Círculo John Henry Newman
8, 9 y 10 de octubre 2015
Guadalajara, México
Sumario
Introducción
1. Una idea de la Universidad
2. La enseñanza de la Literatura en la Universidad
2.1 Discurso IX sobre la enseñanza universitaria
Los deberes de la Iglesia hacia el conocimiento
2.2 Lecciones y ensayos sobre asuntos universitarios
La Literatura católica en lengua inglesa
3. El enfoque personalista de Newman sobre la literatura
Conclusiones
Apéndice
Resumen
El objetivo de mi trabajo es dar a conocer los desafíos contemporáneos que plantea John Henry
Newman para la Literatura en su obra The Idea of a University. Entresacaré y desarrollaré temas
relacionados con la unidad inseparable de pensamiento y palabra como manifestación del “two-fold” logos,
el carácter personalista de su concepción de la literatura, la literatura como reflejo de la condición humana,
expresión de vida y voz del hombre “natural”.
Palabras clave: Newman, The Idea of a University, literatura, unidad del “two-fold” logos pensamiento-
palabra.
Helena Ospina Newman y la literatura
La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
Introducción
1
Utilizaré para el presente trabajo la edición de la Universidad de Yale: John Henry Newman. The Idea of
a University (Frank M. Turner, ed.). New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1996. En adelante: IU.
2
Newman agrupó en esta obra:
- 9 Discursos sobre la enseñanza universitaria (pronunciados en Dublín, 1852):
I. Introductory
II. Theology a Branch of Knowledge
III. Bearing of Theology on Other Knowledge
IV. Bearing of Other Knowledge on Theology
V. Knowledge Its Own End
VI. Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Learning
VII. Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Professional Skill
VIII. Knowledge viewed in relation to Religious Duty
IX. Duties of the Church Towards Knowledge
- 10 Lecciones y Ensayos sobre asuntos universitarios (preparados entre 1854 y 1958) reunidos en 4
secciones:
I. Christianity and Letters (1854)
II. Catholic Literature in the English Tongue (1854-1858)
III. Christianity and Physical Science (1855)
IV. Christianity and Scientific Investigation (1855)
3
“The view taken of a University in these Discourses is the following: -That it is a place of teaching
universal knowledge”, IU, p. 3.
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La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
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6
“(…) as Science is the reflection of Nature, so is Literature also –the one, of Nature physical, the other, of
Nature moral and social”, IU, p. 157.
7
“(…) on the whole, all Literatures are one; they are the voices of the natural man”, IU, p. 158.
8
“(…) while Nature physical remains fixed in its laws, Nature moral and social has a will of its own, is
self-governed and never remains any long while in that state from which it started into action”, IU, p. 158.
9
“Man will never continue in a mere state of innocence; he is sure to sin, and his Literature will be the
expression of his sin, and this whether he be heathen or Christian”, IU, p. 158.
10
“Christianity has thrown gleams of light on him and his literature; but as it has not converted him, but
only certain choice specimens of him, so it has not changed the characters of his mind or of his history; his
literature is either what it was, or worse than what it was, in proportion as there has been an abuse of
knowledge granted and a rejection of truth”, IU, p. 158.
11
“Literature, no matter of what nation, is the science of history, partly and at best of the natural man,
partly of man in rebellion”, IU, p. 158.
12
“(…) Literature is… the manifestation of human nature in human language”, IU, p. 160.
13
“(…) we should be shrinking from our plain duty, (…) did we leave out Literature from Education. For
why do we educate, except to prepare for the world?” “(…) a University is a direct preparation for this
world (…)”. “(…) it is a place to fit men of the world for the world”, IU, p. 160.
14
“(…) without any rule given him for discriminating “the precious from the vile”, beauty from sin, the
truth from the sophistry of nature, what is innocent from what is poison”, IU, p. 161.
15
“(…) the Church’s true policy is not to aim at the exclusion of Literature (…) Let her do for Literature
(…) what she does for Science (…); each has its imperfection, and she has her remedy for each”, IU, p.
161.
16
“She fears no knowledge, but she purifies all; she represses no element of our nature, but cultivates the
whole”, IU, p. 161.
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La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
En este ensayo de la segunda parte de The Idea of a University, Newman retoma sus
argumentos medulares sobre la literatura:
- Newman entiende por Literatura el “pensamiento” transmitido por la “palabra”, bajo
la forma de algún lenguaje particular.18
- La Literatura, en su más alto y genuino sentido, es un “hecho” histórico y nacional.
Es un asunto del pasado y del presente. La Literatura no puede ignorar su “presente”,
como tampoco deshacer su “pasado”.19
- Cada gran pueblo tiene su propio carácter que manifiesta y perpetúa a través de
variadas formas: leyes, tradiciones, costumbres, maneras, canciones, proverbios,
religión… Todo ello constituye su rasgo peculiar y forma parte del “todo”. 20 Lo
mismo acontece con el lenguaje y la literatura. Son lo que son y no pueden ser otra
cosa.
- Es interesante esta afirmación de Newman; el lenguaje cambia con el progreso del
pensamiento y los eventos de la historia; lo mismo que el estilo. 21 La vertebración
“pensamiento-lenguaje” aparece como clave importante. El lenguaje y la literatura las
considera como dependientes de un proceso de la naturaleza. 22 Con gran realismo
analiza este proceso cuando dice que la excelencia en la literatura es fruto de un
proceso que tarda años en consolidarse.23 “We cannot force an Aristotle”,24 dice
Newman.
17
“Science is grave, methodical, logical; with Science then she argues, and opposes reason to reason.
Literature does not argue, but declaims and insinuates; it is multiform and versatile: it persuades instead of
convincing, it seduces (…)”, IU, p. 161.
18
“(…) by Literature I understand Thought, conveyed under the forms of some particular language”, IU, p.
184.
19
“(…) Literature in its highest and most genuine sense, (…) an historical and national fact (…)”, IU, p.
184.
“A Literature, when it is formed, is a national and historical fact; it is a matter of the past and the present,
and can be as little, ignored as the present, as little undone as the past”, IU, p. 185.
20
“Every great people has a character of its own, which it manifests and perpetuates in a variety of ways
(…) All these are peculiar, and parts of a whole, (…) and the case is the same with the national language
and literature. They are what they are, and cannot be anything else, whether they be anything else, whether
they be good or bad or of a mixed nature; before they are formed, we cannot prescribe them, and
afterwards, we cannot reverse them”, IU, p. 186.
21
“Language changes with the progress of thought and the events of history, and the style changes with it
(…)”, IU, p. 187.
22
“(…) and while in successive generations it passes through a series of separate excellences, the respective
deficiencies of all are supplied alternately by each. Thus language and literature may be considered as
dependent on a process of nature (…)”, IU, p. 187.
23
“First-rate excellence in literature, as in other matters, is either an accident or the outcome of a process;
and in either case demands a course of years to secure (…)”, IU, p. 187.
24
IU, p. 187.
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La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
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La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
¡Qué huella la que dejó Newman –con su pensamiento y palabra (el “twofold
logos”) en la historia del pensamiento, de la literatura y del lenguaje! La solidez de su
argumentación tenía como fuente su preparación intelectual. La elegancia de su estilo
–lleno de metáforas brillantes– era el fruto maduro de la lectura asidua de los clásicos.
¿Qué desafíos nos plantea esta visión de la Universidad y de la Literatura? Yo
diría que son los siguientes.
Para la Universidad, que no olvide la altura de su cometido, en la formación de
ciudadanos que “prepara para la vida”, para “servir a la sociedad”; que no desestime las
artes liberales en el cultivo del intelecto porque todas las ramas del conocimiento se
complementan y forman un todo.
Para la Literatura, el cultivo de los clásicos; la responsabilidad que tenemos los
escritores para hacer avanzar el “pensamiento” de nuestro tiempo con la perfección de la
36
“National Literature is (…) the untutored movements of the reason, imagination, passions, and affections
of the natural man (…) lawless savage of God’s intellectual creation”. “(…) man’s intellect puris
naturabilis did prefer, of the two, liberty to truth (…)”, IU, p. 191.
37
“By classics of a natural Literature I mean those authors who have the foremost place in exemplifying the
powers and conducting the development of its language”, IU, p. 193.
38
“The language of a nation is at first rude and clumsy and it demands a succession of skilful artists to
make it malleable and ductile, and to work it up to its proper perfection”, IU, p. 193.
39
“It improves by use, but it is not every one who can use it while as yet it is unformed. To do this is an
effort of genius; and so men of a peculiar talent arise, one after another, according to the circumstances of
the times, and accomplish it”, IU, p. 193.
40
“The style of each eminent masters becomes henceforth in some sort of property of the language itself;
words, phrases, collocations, and structure, which hereto did not exist, gradually passing into the
conversation and the composition of the educated classes”, IU, pp. 193-194.
41
“The influence of a great classic upon the nation which he represents is twofold: on the one hand he
advances his native language towards its perfection; but on the other hand he discourages in some measure
any advance beyond his own”, IU, p. 196.
42
“(…) as a nation declines in patriotism, so does its language in purity”, IU, p. 198.
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Newman’s viewpoint, then, is at once historical and personalist, and the link between the two in
the quest for truth anticipates present-day philosophies of existence. Moreover, Newman’s
lifelong hostility to rationalism in all its forms made him conscious of the fundamental mystery of
God, nature and human existence. All reality has a light and dark side. The dark side is the
sphere of mystery. Truth then is not, as Descartes believed, a product of clear and distinct ideas; it
is a quality of mind that is grown into. It is the outcome of personal decision and choice amid
the mysteriousness of the human condition.44
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Abordaré ahora el ensayo “Literatura” que Blehl toma de la publicación The Idea
of a University, de Longmans, Green (Londres y Nueva York, 1899). En este ensayo
aparece claramente el enfoque personalista de Newman sobre la Literatura. Veámoslas en
su conjunto:
En las citas que siguen aparecen claramente las características del indivisible
“doble logos” –pensamiento y palabra– de Newman:
- “Thought and speech are inseparable from each other. Matter and expression are parts of one:
style is a thinking out into language”.56
- “(…) this is literature; not things, not the verbal symbols of things; not (…) mere words; but
thoughts expressed in language”.57
- “(…) logos (…) It stands both for reason and for speech, (…) It means both at once: why?
Because really they cannot be divided –because they are in a true sense one. When we can
separate light and illumination, life and motion, the convex and the concave of a curve, then will it
be for thought to tread speech underfoot, and to hope to do without it –then will it be conceivable
that the vigorous and fertile intellect should renounce to its own double, its instrument of
expression, and the channel of its speculations and emotions”.58
46
EN, p. 218.
47
EN, p. 219.
48
EN, p. 219.
49
EN, p. 219.
50
EN, p. 220.
51
EN, p. 220.
52
EN, p. 220.
53
EN, p. 220.
54
EN, p. 220.
55
EN, p, 221.
56
EN, p, 221.
57
EN, p, 221.
58
EN, p, 221.
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- “Critics should consider this view of the subject before they lay down such canons of taste (…).
Such men (…) consider fine writings to be an addition from without to the matter treated of –a sort
of ornament (…). They speak as if one man could do the thought, and another the style (…)”.59
- “(…) by letters or literature is meant the expression of thought in language, where by “thought” I
mean the ideas , feelings, views, reasonings , and other operations of the human mind. And the art
of letters is the method by which a speaker or writer brings out in words worthy of his subject and
sufficient for his audience of readers the thoughts which impress him”.60
- “Literature, then is of a personal character; it consists in the enunciations and teachings of those
who have a right to speak as representatives of their kind, and in whose words their brethren find
an interpretation of their own sentiments, a record of their own experiences, and a suggestion for
their judgments”.61
- “A great author (…) is not one who merely has a copia verborum whether in prose or in verse,
and can, as it were, turn on at his will any number of splendid phrase and swelling sentences;
but he is one who has something to say and knows how to say it”.62
- “I do not claim for him, as such, any great depth of thought, or breadth of view, or philosophy,
or sagacity, or knowledge of human nature, or experience of human life, though these
additional gifts he may have, and the more he has of them the greater he is; but I ascribe to
him, as his characteristic gift, in a large sense the faculty of expression”. 63
- “He is the master of the twofold logos, the thought and the word, distinct but inseparable from
each other”.64
Newman establece una unidad entre lo que el escritor tiene “dentro” y la justeza
de palabra con que sabe expresar esta riqueza interior:
- “He may, if so be, elaborate his compositions, or he may pour out his improvisations but in
either case he has but one aim, which he keeps steadily before him, and is conscientious and
single-minded in fulfilling. That aim is to give forth what he has within him (…)”. 65
- “He always has the right word for the right idea, and never a word too much. If he is brief, it
is because few words suffice; when he is lavish of them, still, each word, has its mark, and
aids, not embarrasses, the vigorous march of his elocution”.66
- “He expresses what all feel, but all cannot say; and his sayings pass into proverbs among his
people, and his phrases become household words and idioms of their daily speech, which is
tessellated with the rich fragments of his language, as we see in foreign lands the marbles of
Roman grandeur worked into the walls and pavements of modern palaces”.67
59
EN, p. 221.
60
EN, pp. 221-222.
61
EN, p. 222.
62
EN, p. 222.
63
EN, p. 222.
64
EN, p. 222.
65
EN, p. 222.
66
EN, p. 222.
67
EN, p. 222.
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Esta fue precisamente la labor monumental que hizo Newman para su tiempo y el
nuestro: hacer avanzar el conocimiento, ponerlo en contraste con las ideas que circulaban
en su momento, argumentar, discutir, discernir, evidenciar, clarificar, iluminar. ¡Cuán
agradecidos hemos de estar con mentes así, que han puesto al servicio de la verdad todos
los talentos que recibieron y desarrollaron, enriqueciendo y ennobleciendo el
pensamiento, con el ejercicio infatigable de virtudes que requiere la tarea intelectual de
escribir.
¿Cuáles son los desafíos que esta visión de Newman de la Literatura trae consigo?
Diría que están implícitos en estas afirmaciones que hago. Las letras son asunto serio, no
son cuestión de “verborrea”. El escritor ha de prepararse para ello porque es “la voz” de
su tiempo, para bien o para mal. No puede deshacer el impacto que su persona y su
palabra tendrán en el presente y para el futuro. La unidad entre arte & persona 68 requieren
68
Línea personal de investigación que inicié en 1996 con la presentación de la Comunicación “Arte y
persona: Implicaciones de la noción y de la realidad ‘unidad de vida’ de Josemaría Escrivá en la persona y
en la obra del artista”. Actas del IV Congreso “Cultura Europea” de la Universidad de Navarra. 23 al 26
oct. 1996. E. Banús y B. Elio (eds.). Pamplona: Editorial Aranzadi, 1998, pp. 1259-1269.
Posteriormente, durante dos décadas, he presentado trabajos sobre esta “unidad” en diez artistas. Se trata de
una búsqueda que empiezo a llamar poética de la unidad: “la unidad de fondo y forma en la obra de arte
como reflejo de la unidad de cuerpo y espíritu en la persona humana”:
1) El poeta de la Antigua Guatemala Gustavo González Villanueva. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Cartas de
navegación para la Glosa del amor bien pagado [Gustavo González Villanueva]”, Encuentros
literarios, filosóficos y artísticos. IV Jornada Nacional de Reflexión Omar Dengo, San José, Promesa,
Centro Cultural Español, Universidad Nacional, 1997, pp. 177-238.
2) El escritor colombiano David Mejía Velilla. Cfr. H. Ospina, “La honda y el arpa en la poesía de David
Mejía Velilla”, Pensamiento y cultura, Revista del Instituto de Humanidades, Universidad de La
Sabana, Chía, Colombia, 2002, 5: pp. 113-120.
3) La argentina Victoria Ocampo. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Arte y persona en Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979)”, Il
ritorno a casa. Poetica & Cristianesimo, Roma, Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, 2006, pp. 375-
383.
4) El humanista y poeta colombiano Eduardo Ospina SJ. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Poesía y vida en la persona y
en la obra del padre Eduardo Ospina”, Literatura Hispanoamericana y sus Valores, Actas del I
Coloquio Internacional, B. Piotrowski (ed.), Chía, Universidad de La Sabana, 2006, pp. 309-320.
5) La alemana Edith Stein. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Mi trilogía poética sobre el esplendor de la belleza –Splendor
Formae, Splendor Personae, Splendor Gloriae– a la luz del pensamiento de Edith Stein”, Miradas
axiológicas a la literatura hispanoamericana, Actas del II Coloquio Internacional “Literatura
Hispanoamericana y sus Valores”, B. Piotrowski (ed.), Chía, Universidad de La Sabana, 2007, pp. 355-
372.
6) La poeta española Ernestina de Champourcin. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Eros y ágape en la poesía de Ernestina
de Champourcin”, Personaje literario hispanoamericano como un valor, Actas del III Coloquio
Internacional “Literatura Hispanoamericana y sus Valores”, B. Piotrowski (ed.), Universidad de Costa
Rica, Universidad de La Sabana, 2008, pp. 235-246.
7) El poeta español Bartolomé Llorens. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Arte & Persona en Bartolomé Lloréns (1922-
1947)”, Ficción y valores en la literatura hispanoamericana, Actas del IV Coloquio Internacional
“Literatura Hispanoamericana y sus Valores”, B. Piotrowski (ed.), Chía, Universidad de La Sabana,
2009, pp. 103-118.
8) El poeta polaco Karol Wojtyla. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Mousiké [Karol Wojtyla] y Cantata a las Artes
[Helena Ospina], la búsqueda de una poética de la unidad”, Congreso Internacional Legado de Juan
Pablo II El Magno, Red Internacional de Investigación Juan Pablo II El Magno, Escuela de
Comunicación Social y Periodismo de la Universidad Sergio Arboleda, Bogotá, Colombia, 19 al 20
feb. 2010.
9) La ensayista y cuentista norteamericana Flannery O’Connor. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Art & Person in
Flannery O’Connor: A Lifetime Endeavor (1925-1964)”, Ragione, Fiction e Fede, Convegno
internazionale su Flannery O’Connor, Poetica & Cristianesimo, Convegni Biennali della Facoltà di
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meter cabeza y corazón en la “triada” propuesta por san Josemaría Escrivá –santificar el
trabajo (un trabajo bien hecho), santificarse con el trabajo (en el ejercicio heroico de
todas las virtudes humanas), y santificar a los demás con el trabajo (haciendo avanzar el
servicio al bien común con miras a la gloria de Dios). John Henry Newman es la carta
cabal de este cometido que a todos nos espera.
Conclusión
En este trabajo he pretendido mostrar los desafíos que plantea John Henry
Newman para la literatura y la crítica literaria en su obra The Idea of a University, al
establecer el vínculo entre pensamiento y palabra (el “two-fold” logos). Esta unidad
manifiesta el carácter personalista de su concepción de la literatura: la literatura como
reflejo de la condición humana, expresión de vida y voz del hombre “natural”.
Apéndice
Prefacio
- Para Newman, la Universidad tiene por cometido “el cultivo del intelecto”: “The culture of
the intellect” (IU, p. 7).
Comunicazione Sociale Istituzionale, Roma, Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, 2011, pp. 305-
312.
10) El humanista ruso Pavel Florenski. Cfr. H. Ospina, “Pável Florenski: una poética personalista de la
unidad”, Scrittori del Novecento e Mistero Cristiano, Poetica & Cristianesimo, P. Universidad de la
Santa Cruz, E. Fuster y J. Wauck (eds.), Roma, EDUSC, 2013, pp. 347-355.
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- ¿Qué entiende por esto? Esta cita lo explica: “Our desideratum is (…) the force, the
steadiness, the comprehensiveness and the versatility of the intellect, the command over our
own powers, the instinctive just estimate of things as they pass before us, which sometimes is
a natural gift, but cultivation of mind (…)” (IU, p. 7).
- Para el cultivo del intelecto, Newman hace el elogio de la educación liberal: “It brings the
mind into form” (IU, p. 7).
- Cuando el intelecto ha sido formado y entrenado es capaz de tener “a connected view or
grasp of things” (IU, p. 8): “In the case of most men it makes itself felt in good sense,
sobriety of thought, reasonableness, candour, self-command, and steadiness of view… In all
it will be a faculty of entering with comparative ease into any subject of thought, and of
taking up with aptitude any science or profession” (IU, pp. 8-9).
- Newman señala un hecho social interesante cuando menciona que la “autoridad”, antes
confiada a las universidades, ahora reside en gran medida en el mundo literario: “The
authority which in former times was lodged in Universities, now resides in very great
measure in the literary world (…). It increases the seriousness of the mischief, that so very
large a portion of its writers are anonymous, for irresponsible power never can be anything
but a great evil; and, moreover, that, even when they are known, they can give no better
guarantee for the philosophical truth of their principle than their popularity at that moment,
and their happy conformity in ethical character to the age which admires them” (IU, p. 11).
PRIMERA PARTE
La enseñanza universitaria considerada en 9 Discursos
Discurso I: Introductorio
- Newman se confiesa cuando admite que el tema de la educación universitaria liberal y el de
sus principios le ha cautivado siempre: “(…) the subject of Liberal Education and of the
principles on which it must be conducted has ever had a hold upon my own mind” ( IU, p.
14).
- Sus reflexiones sobre este tema han llegado a constituir todo un sistema de pensamiento:
“The views (…) have grown into my whole system of thought, and are, as it were, part of
myself” (IU, p. 16).
- Su filosofía de la educación está fundada en verdades de orden natural: “(…) the philosophy
of Education is founded on truths in the natural order” (IU, p. 16).
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La unidad entre pensamiento y palabra: el “two-fold logos”
- El conocimiento “liberal” es lo propio del Gentleman: “Liberal Education makes (…) the
gentleman”. “It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, and a
delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind., a noble and courteous bearing in the
conduct of life; –these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects
of a University” (IU, p. 89).
- Llama al conocimiento liberal “hábito filosófico de la mente”: “A habit of mind is formed
which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness,
moderation, and wisdom; or what (…) I have ventured to call a philosophical habit” ( IU, p.
77).
- Este conocimiento tiene su belleza, “la belleza de la perfección del intelecto”: “There is a
physical beauty and a moral: there is beauty of person, there is beauty of our moral being,
which is natural virtue; and in like manner there is a beauty, there is a perfection, of the
intellect” (IU, p. 90).
- Sus objetivos son tan inteligibles como los del cultivo de la virtud: “To open the mind, to
correct it, to refine it, to enable it to know, and to digest, master, rule and use its knowledge,
to give it power over its own faculties, application, flexibility, method, critical exactness,
sagacity, resource, address, eloquent expression, is an object as intelligible (…) as the
cultivation of virtue” (IU, p. 90).
- En las Artes liberales, el conocimiento se convierte en una “ciencia de la filosofía” informada
por la razón: “(…) that special Philosophy, which I have made to consist in a comprehensive
view of truth in all its branches, of the relations of science to science, of their mutual
bearings, and their respective values” (IU, p. 78).
- Este tipo de conocimiento es considerado un “bien”; no un “poder”.
- Newman se pregunta por el beneficio de este conocimiento y concluye que es útil y tiene en
sí mismo su propia recompensa: “What is the use of it? (...) What, after all, is the gain of this
Philosophy? (…) How are we better for this master view of things? What is the Art of this
science of sciences? What is the fruit of such a Philosophy? (...) What is the end of University
Education, and of the Liberal or Philosophical Knowledge which I conceive it to impart (…).
It has a very tangible, real, and sufficient end, though the end cannot be divided from that
knowledge itself. Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the
human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward” (IU, p. 78).
- Newman distingue la “educación” de la “instrucción”. El conocimiento “útil” es lo propio de
la instrucción. En la instrucción, el conocimiento “útil” tiene como objetivo los asuntos
seculares. En la educación –por ejemplo de la Religión– el conocimiento tiene como objetivo
los asuntos eternos.
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- “(…) a University (…) has this object and this mission; (…) it professes to exercise the
mind (…); its function is intellectual culture; (…) It educates the intellect to reason well
in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it” (IU, p. 92).
- “I have called the perfection or virtue of the intellect by the name of philosophy,
philosophical knowledge, enlargement of mind (…)” (IU, p. 92).
- “(…) the cultivation of the intellect is an end distinct and sufficient in itself (…) it is an
enlargement or illumination (…) I proceed to inquire what this mental breadth, or power,
or light, or philosophy consists in (…)”. “(…) investigate those qualities and
characteristics of the intellect in which its cultivation consists (IU, p. 93).
- “(…) the true and adequate end of intellectual training and of a University is not Learning
or Acquirement, but rather, is Thought or Reason exercised upon Knowledge, or what
may de called Philosophy” (IU, p. 101).
- Esta cultura intelectual se diferencia de la mera adquisición de conocimientos:
“Knowledge (…) is the indispensable condition of expansion of mind, and the instrument of
attaining it. “Knowledge (…) thought through, and thought out” (IU, p. 102).
- La educación liberal es precisamente la que garantiza esta cultura: “It is the action of a
formative power, reducing to order and meaning the matter of our acquirements; it is a
making the objects of our knowledge subjectively our own (…)”. “(…) it is a digestion of
what we receive, into the substance of our previous state of thought; and without this no
enlargement is said to follow” (IU, p. 98).
- La educación liberal busca “agrandar” la mente: “(…) the enlargement of mind which is
the power of viewing many things at once as one whole, of referring them severally to their
true place in the universal system, of understanding their respective values, and determining
their mutual dependence. This is (…) Universal Knowledge (…)” (IU, p. 99).
- La educación liberal permite ver las cosas “en relación con otras” y con “el todo en
general”. En este cultivo del intelecto, el conocimiento se interesa más por las relaciones
entre las cosas, que por las cosas mismas: “It possesses the knowledge, not only of things,
but also of their mutual and true relations; knowledge, not merely considered as acquirement,
but as philosophy” (IU, p. 98).
- Para Newman, los hombres que buscan solo “información” no han alcanzado la meta de la
educación liberal.
- La cultura intelectual implica una disciplina cuya función es perfeccionar el intelecto.
- La Universidad es vista como una “comunidad” particular. Esta comunidad es más
importante que la “instrucción”; posee valores “educativos” superiores. En este tipo de
educación el conocimiento de los alumnos es fundamental: “A university is (…) an Alma
Mater, knowing her children one by one (…)” (IU, pp. 104-105).
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partial notions, by the employment, concentration, and joint action of many faculties and
exercises of mind”.
- “Such a union and concert of the intellectual powers, such an enlargement and
development, such a comprehensiveness, is necessarily a matter of training (...)”.
- “(…) sifting out the grains from the mass (…)” “(…) building up ideas”.
- “Such a power is the result of scientific formation of mind; it is an acquired faculty of
judgment, of clear sightedness, of sagacity, of wisdom, of philosophical reach or mind,
and of intellectual and self-possession and repose, –qualities which do not come of mere
acquirement” (IU, p. 109).
- El hábito y la disciplina juegan aquí un papel importante: “The bodily eye, the organ for
apprehending material objects, is provided by nature; the eye of the mind, of which the object
is truth, is the work of discipline and habit” (IU, p. 109).
- Esta disciplina constituye un fin en sí misma y es lo propio de la educación liberal: “This
process of training, by which the intellect, instead of being formed and sacrificed to some
particular or accidental purpose, some specific trade or profession, or study or science, is
disciplined for its own sake, for the perception of its own proper object, and for its own
highest culture, is called Liberal Education (…)” (IU, p. 109).
- La educación liberal prepara para numerosas vocaciones:
- “(…) I will show you how a liberal education is truly and fully a useful, though it be not a
professional, education.
- ‘Good’ indeed means something, and ‘useful’ means another (…) though the useful is not
always good, the good is always useful.
- Good is not only good, but reproductive of good; this is one of its attributes; nothing is
excellent, beautiful, perfect, desirable for its own sake, but it overflows, and spreads the
likeness of itself all around it.
- Good is prolific; it is not only good for the eye, but to the taste; it not only attracts us, but
it communicates itself; it excites first our admiration and love, then our desire and our
gratitude, and that, in proportion to its intenseness and fullness in particular instances”
(IU, p. 117).
- Esta educación representa un gran bien difusivo, un tesoro para quien lo posee y para el
mundo entero: “A great good will impart great good. If then the intellect is so excellent a
portion of us, and its cultivation so excellent, it is not only beautiful, perfect, admirable and
noble in itself, but in a true and higher sense it must be useful to the possessor and to all
around him; not useful in any low, mechanical, mercantile sense, but as a diffusing good, or
as a blessing, or a gift or power, or a treasure, first to the owner, then through him to the
world. I say then, if a liberal education be good, it must necessarily be useful too” (IU, p.
117).
- La Universidad, al enseñar todas las ramas de conocimiento, enseña todo conocimiento: “(…)
[the University] it teaches all knowledge by teaching all branches of knowledge, (…)” (IU, p.
118).
- Este conocimiento es importante para evitar que seamos absorbidos por una disciplina en
particular:
- “(…) out of a University he is in danger of being absorbed and narrowed by his pursuit
(…) whereas in a university he will just know where he and his science stand, he has
come to it (…) from a height, he has taken a survey of all knowledge, he is kept from
extravagance by the very rivalry of other studies, he has gained from them special
illumination and largeness of mind and freedom and self-possession, and he treats his
own in consequence with a philosophy and a resource, which belongs not to the study
itself, but to his liberal education” (IU, p. 118).
- Esta educación nos hace capaces de posicionarnos y posicionar nuestra disciplina desde una
altura en el conjunto de todas las ramas del saber, gracias al hábito filosófico adquirido con la
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educación liberal. Este intelecto cultivado proyecta su fuerza y su gracia a todo lo que
emprende, haciendo capaz, a quien lo posee, de servir a un mayor número de personas: “(…)
a cultivated intellect because it is good in itself brings with it a power and a grace to every
work and occupation which it undertakes, and enables us to be more useful, and to a greater
number” (IU, p. 119).
- Newman destaca, en la enseñanza de la Literatura, esa capacidad de unificar lo disperso, de
sobrevolar con altura las limitaciones de todas las ciencias, de “agrandar la mente”,
enriqueciendo y ennobleciéndolo todo: “In the cultivation of Literature is found that common
link, which (…) unites subdivision, which supplies common topics, and kindles common
feelings, unmixed with those narrow prejudices with which all professions are more or less
infected. The knowledge, too, which is thus acquired, expands and enlarges the mind, excites
its faculties (…) And thus, without directly qualifying a man for any employment of life, it
enriches and ennobles all” (IU, p. 120).
- Newman llega a decir que cuando se logra mejorar las facultades mediante el cultivo del
intelecto, se llega a dominar el conocimiento; pero cuando no se desarrollan estas facultades,
ni siquiera se es capaz de dominar el propio conocimiento: “A man of well improved faculties
has the command of another’s knowledge, A man without them, has not the command of his
own” (IU, p. 123).
- Es preciso llegar a la fuente de las cosas: “(…) we must go to the fountain of things (…)”
(IU, p. 125).
- Esto le hace ser un ser más racional e inteligente: “(…) taking a wide and liberal compass
(…)”, “thinking a great deal on many subjects with no better end in view than because the
exercise was one which made them more rational and intelligent beings” (IU, p. 125).
- Newman ve la conexión intima que existe entre el cultivo personal y el servicio que ese
cultivo presta a la sociedad. Lo llama “el arte de la vida social”, y su finalidad está en
preparar a los ciudadanos para el mundo: “(…) that training of the intellect which is best for
the individual himself, enables him to discharge his duties to society”. “If then a practical end
must be assigned to a University (…), I say it is that of training good members of society”.
“Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world” (IU, p. 125).
- Califica la formación universitaria como el gran medio “ordinario” para conseguir un gran fin
ordinario. Este fin tiene que ver con la elevación del tono de la sociedad, el cultivo de la
mente publica, la purificación del gusto nacional, proveer los verdaderos principios para el
entusiasmo popular, y las metas fijas para las aspiraciones populares; otorga
engrandecimiento y sobriedad a las ideas de su tiempo, facilitando el ejercicio del poder
político y refinando la participación en la vida privada: “(…) a University training is the great
ordinary means to great ordinary end; it aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at
cultivating the public mind, at purifying the national taste, at supplying true principles to
popular enthusiasm and fixed aims to popular aspiration, at giving enlargement and sobriety
to the ideas of the age, at facilitating the exercise of political power, and refining the
intercourse of private life” (IU, pp. 125-126).
- Newman precisa las bondades de esta formación universitaria. Esta educación otorga al
hombre una clara conciencia de sus opiniones y juicios, una verdad para desarrollarlos, una
elocuencia para expresarlos, y una fuerza para proseguirlos. Le enseña a ver las cosas como
son, ir al grano, desenredar lo complicado, detectar sofismas, y desechar lo irrelevante: “It is
the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a
truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It
teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of
thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant” (IU, p. 126).
- Esta formación prepara para ocupar cualquier puesto con credibilidad y dominar cualquier
tema con facilidad. Le enseña a acomodarse a los demás, a ejercer una influencia sobre ellos,
a llegar a un acuerdo y entendimiento con ellos, a “lidiar” con ellos: “It prepares him to fill
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any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. It shows him how to
accommodate himself to others, (…) how to influence them, how to come to an
understanding with them, how to bear with them” (IU, p. 126).
- Esta formación le permite “sentirse en casa” en cualquier sociedad, pisa terreno con todas las
clases sociales, sabe cuando hablar y cuando callar; es capaz de conversar y escuchar; sabe
hacer cualquier pregunta pertinentemente; siempre está listo; es un compañero agradable en
quien se puede confiar: “He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every
class; he knows when to speak and when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to
listen; he can ask any question pertinently (…); he is ever ready yet never in the way; he is a
pleasant companion (…) you can depend upon (…)” (IU, p. 126).
- En estas afirmaciones de Newman encontramos su propio retrato: una persona que ha sabido
cultivar su intelecto, que posee “el reposo de una mente”, una mente capaz de vivir en sí
misma mientras vive en el mundo; que posee recursos interiores para estar feliz en casa
cuando no puede viajar; que posee un don que le acompaña en público y le sustenta en su
jubilación, sin el cual la buena fortuna no es más que asunto vulgar, y con el cual el fracaso y
la desilusión tienen su encanto: “He has the repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it
lives in the world, and which has resources for its happiness at home when it cannot go
abroad. He has a gift which serves him in public, and supports him in retirement, without
which good fortune is but vulgar, and with which failure and disappointment have a charm”
(IU, p. 126).
SEGUNDA PARTE
Asuntos universitarios tratados en Lecciones y Ensayos
Cristianismo y Letras
(Lección leída en la Escuela de Filosofía y Letras, 1854)
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