Item 37 - Letter from Edward Hawkins

8 pp

Oriel College - Thanks WW for a copy of his 'Fundamental Antithesis' [Second Memoir on the Fundamental Antithesis of Philosophy, 1848]: 'it has given me a world of thoughts, on a very small compass, upon subjects which I am glad to obtain glimpses of'. EH gives an update on developments concerning the changes being made to the Oxford curriculum: 'The principal alteration which this scheme suffered in its passage through the Hebdomadal Board [see EH to WW, 29 Nov. 1848] was the addition of a Fourth School, at the final examination, in Modern History, Moral and Political Science as taught by the moderns, General Jurisprudence etc'. EH greatly regrets this move: 'I fear lest it should induce some of our best minds, our men of rank and future statesmen, to neglect the study of the Classics and Mathematics in order to seek a popular but premature distinction in Modern History etc'. However it does make the 'scheme more systematic and consistent, and much more like your plan' and was carried by a large majority: 'It is your school of Moral Science, or nearly so, but without Political Economy'.