Huxleys Liberty, Equality and Machinery

Industrialization Mechanization

Huxley has mixed feelings about the role of machines and industrialization in the service of
mankind. In this regard, the merits and demerits of machines described by Huxley are quite
different from the views of other people.
In fact, he begins by mentioning the objections raised by Ruskin and William Morris against
machines.
Ruskin:









Ruskin


:William Morris
Ruskin Morris
Both of them disliked them on aesthetic grounds. Moreover, they believed that machines
were destroying the older customs and tradition and turning human beings into brutes
and automata.

Tolstoy objected industrialization to be a manifestation of applied science and said

that it was the most powerful instrument of oppression in the hands of tyrants.
:Tosltoy
)(Applied Pure) (:
Applied Sciences
Applied Sciences



Applied Sciences


Gandhi also preached the same doctrine. But history is witness that he watched his own
country undergoing all out industrialization. Huxley agrees that.
All these opinions are the result of grave concern of these learned people for the good of
humanity.
But he says that these arguments are faulty. This is because
All of them fail to take into account the most important single fact of modern
history.The rapid, the almost explosive increase in human numbers.
Industrialization

Artistic Ugliness
Industrialization
He says that the population explosion has serious aesthetic, psychological and political
consequences for entire human race. This is because beyond a certain point, human beings
cant multiply without creating a hostile environment for themselves.

He is almost dogmatic in declaring.
There has never been a beautiful city of million or over.
Actually, Ruskin and Morris were looking at the results of population increase. So,
this is how, Huxley looks at industrialization. He perceives it to be double edged sword. Its

facilities decrease the death rate and make like more dependable. But at the same time,
the quality of life begins to suffer in other ways.
Industrialization



Applied Sciences

Industrialization

This is why he says,
Generalized death control imposes the duty of generalized birth control.
Huxley looks into Tolstoys distrust technology and agrees that it does strengthen
the position of the ruling minority.

For Example,
Modern weaponry enables it to apply force wherever it is called for almost
immediately with the help of mass communication it can,
Browbeat )( , persuade, hypnotize, tell lies and suppress truth
on a national, even a global scale.
These facts need laws for the protection of the masses without such laws, applied
science with remain Venom
Next, Huxley examines an entirely different aspect of industrialization which Ruskin,
Tolstoy and Gandhi couldnt have foreseen. It concerns the fact that the machine is also,
the fabricators of synthetic ) ( works of art.
Men and women work on office and factory machines. Then in order to relax, they
seek some avocation of their personal machines. The outcome is that a new breed of
artisans has come into being. They are jack of all trades but master of none.

Artisans

So, on the one hand through industrialization there has been too much population.
Yet the writer is of the opinion that industrial progress can be of benefit to mankind if
population is kept under control and laws safeguarding the rights of the masses.

KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING

Knowledge is generally defined as a persons range of information or his awareness gained
by experience whereas understanding is illustrated as persons perception or judgment of a
situation.




Anatomy
Astronomy

Complete Systematic


Understanding




Knowledge comes when we are able to fit our new experience into the circle of concepts
that is drawn from (based on) our old experiences.
Understanding comes when we are able to make a direct contact with the new phase
(mystery) of our existence.

Knowledge always comes from established concepts that can be passed on to others by
means of words or other symbols. Contrary to that, understanding never comes in terms of
concepts hence cant be passed on. As it is an immediate experience, so it cant be
shared. Just like nobody can feel the pain and pleasures of the others. In the same way,
nobody can experience (feel) anothers understanding of a given situation and event.

Knowledge is different from understanding as doctors prescription of Penicillin is different

from Penicillin. Understanding is neither inheritable nor acquired by labor.