Originally published in 1939, this book builds on Garnett's earlier work on similar topics to re-emphasise the role of education in integrating 'the character of every man and woman' for the overall benefit of both the individual and society. Garnett also surveys previous aims of education and the role of education in moulding the future. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of education.

The aim of psychology is first of all to describe how we think, or the flow of our consciousness, and then to sum up the facts in terms of principles, generalizations, or “laws” which “govern” our thinking. These laws must enable us to foretell what a man will think and how he will act when we know his environment and the state of his thought at any given moment, provided that no unforeseeable exercise of free will intervenes. Psychology has also (...) to inquire whether interventions of “free will” ever do occur and, if they do, what is their nature and scope. (shrink)