The Age of
Industrialization (1850
– 1950)
Worldwide Empires and Worldwide
Exploitation
Social Conditions in the Age of
Industrialization
The World - 1911
RAILROAD MILEAGE BY REGION
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
New England
2,507
3,660
4,494
5,982
6,831
Middle States
3,202
6,705
10,964
15,872
21,536
Southern States
2,036
8,838
11,192
14,778
29,209
Western States and
Territories
1,276
11,400
24,587
52,589
62,394
23
1,677
4,080
9,804
30,626
52,914
93,301
129,774
Pacific States and Territories
TOTAL USA
9,021
Harper’s Index of the Gilded Age







Number of deaths or injury sustained by railroad
workers in 1889: 22,000
Number of hours worked per day by railroad workers
in 1900: 12 – 14
Wages paid per day, in dollars, to Chinese railroad
workers: 1
Wages paid, per day, to Irish Workers: 2
Amount, in dollars, paid by J.P. Morgan for Andrew
Carnegie’s steel company in 1900: 492,000,000
Amount then sold in stocks and bonds for the
combined companies of Morgan and Carnegie:
1,300,000,000
Commission fee, in dollars, Morgan gave himself for
the consolidation: 150,000,000
Possible Significance to Critical
Thinking



When the overwhelming majority of time and energy
each day are devoted to work, little remains for the
development of the mind.
When there is little to no access to schools or libraries,
as was the case with many workers in the Industrial era,
there are few opportunities for learning and intellectual
growth.
A system which explicitly supports the development of
vast fortunes of wealth and suppresses the ability of
the lower class to improve their status is not conducive
to a critical society.
Declining Standards at Oxford and
Cambridge
The middle of the 19th century was a period of
tremendous change and transition at Oxford and
Cambridge. Until this point, both had been first
institutions for the training of the clergy and
later places for the sons of wealthy elite to meet
and establish business contacts. By the 1850’s
their prestige as educational establishments were
declining precipitously.
Reforms and the Tutorial
Significant reforms in second half of the 1800’s largely
resulted in the Oxford and Cambridge which exist
today
 The Oath of the 39 articles, a pledge of religious fealty
which all Oxford and Cambridge students were
required to take, was abolished
 Medieval methods of memorization and regurgitation
were replaced with tutorial instruction. This
emphasized a low ratio of student to teacher and a high
degree of reading and writing. The focus was placed on
the thinking of the student. Students were encouraged
to initiate and pursue their own questions, construct
their own conclusions, and develop a unique and well
reasoned point of view.
Significance to Critical Thinking




The tutorial system curtails passivity and promotes
active engagement, an essential trait of the critical
mind.
By requiring large amounts of reading and writing, it
fosters a disciplined pursuit of knowledge and the
development and refining of ideas.
However, it also has the potential to produce sophistic
critical thinkers who are skilled at intellectual trickery
and manipulation.
No educational system can be designed to foster strong
sense critical thinking in all its students unless
instructors have internalized a rich conception of
critical thinking and explicitly teach it to students.
Trends in the 19th and 20th Centuries



Beginning in the middle of the 19th century and
continuing to the present day, there has been a
proliferation in terms of the diversity of critiques
produced, making it hard to describe and generalize.
However, one trend that can be noted is that
organizations and social movements are increasing in
scale and consideration.
For example, the International Committee of the
Red Cross, which was founded in 1863 with the
purpose of protecting war wounded, refugees, and
prisoners, is not tied to any one country or polity.
Trends (contd.)


The League of Nations (1919), followed by the
United Nations (UN) in 1945, were founded with
the mission of preventing war, settling global
disputes, and improving the general quality of life
throughout the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO, 1948) and
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF,
1946), specialized agencies within the UN, were
established for similar reasons.
Trends (contd.)


This era also marked the beginning of social
movements based on helping those in other
groups and nations.
In other words, instead of seeking to gain
benefits for themselves, as much critique and
activism had in the past, many humanitarian
efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries have had
the express purpose of giving aid to others who
are not able to help themselves.
Significance to Critical Thinking


These organizations may point towards the
development of a broader awareness, at least for
the small percentage of people who engage in
and support them.
As the world becomes increasingly
interconnected and interdependent, the
consequences of uncritical and weak sense
critical thought grow exponentially.
Influential Thinkers in the Age of
Industrialization
John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890)

Key Idea: Newman critiqued the educational system in
a profound manner, arguing vociferously for not simple
piecemeal changes but a paradigm shift. His main
targets were the medieval forms of instruction which
emphasized rote memorization of masses of facts, and
the more recent decline in standards for wealthy elite
who essentially bought their degrees while spending the
majority of their time amusing themselves and escaping
intellectual work.
I will tell you, Gentlemen, what has been the practical
error of the last twenty years – not to load the memory
of the student with a mass of undigested knowledge, but
to force upon him so much that he has rejected all. It has
been the error of distracting and enfeebling the mind by
an unmeaning profusion of subjects; of implying that a
smattering in a dozen branches of study is not
shallowness, which it really is, but enlargement, which it
is not; of considering an acquaintance with the learned
names of things and persons, and the possession of the
clever duodecimos, and attendance on eloquent lecturers,
and membership with scientific institutions, and the sight
of the experiments of a platform and the specimens of a
museum, that all this was not dissipation of mind, but
progress.
All I say is, call things by their right names, and do not confuse
together ideas which are essentially different. A thorough
knowledge of one science and a superficial acquaintance with
many, are not the same thing; a smattering of a hundred
things or a memory for detail, is not a philosophical or
comprehensive view. Recreations are not education;
accomplishments are not education. Do not say, the people
must be educated, when, after all, you only mean, amused,
refreshed, soothed, put into good spirits and good humour, or
kept from vicious excesses. I do not say that such
amusements, such occupations of mind, are not a great gain;
but they are not education. You may as well call drawing and
fencing education, as a general knowledge of botany or
conchology.
Newman’s Significance to Critical Thinking


Newman contributed a rich and substantive model of
education which, despite its flaws, nevertheless would be
a powerful force for fostering critical thinking if it was
taken seriously and widely applied.
He represents a mind concerned with lifelong learning,
systematic and disciplined thinking, applying intellectual
skills to multiple subjects, to problem’s in human life, and
to oneself in an effort to take charge of one’s life. He
had with a healthy respect for freedom of thought and
human reason. He was not afraid to exercise his
autonomous thought by speaking out against received
views.
John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)
Key Idea: Mill contributed much to the history
of critical thinking, but the most important of
his works are those focused on civil liberties. In
these essays, he argues that all liberties are
connected in an integral way, if one should be
removed then the others will be, at the very
least, diminished.

“[The appropriate region of human liberty] comprises, first,
the inward domain of consciousness; demanding liberty of
conscience in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of
thought and feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and
sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific,
moral, or theological…The liberty of expressing and
publishing opinions…is practically inseparable from
it…Second, the principle requires liberty of tastes and
pursuits; of framing the plan of our life to suit our own
character; of doing as we like, subject to such consequences as
may follow; without impediment from our fellow-creatures, so
long as what we do does not harm them, even though they
should think our conduct foolish, perverse, or wrong…No
society in which these liberties are not, on the whole
respected, is free, whatever may be its form of government;
and none is completely free in which they do not exist
absolute and unqualified.”
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle
is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil
still. First: the opinion which it is attempted to suppress by
authority may possibly be true. Those who desire to suppress it, of
course, deny its truth; but they are not infallible. They have no
authority to decide the question for all mankind, and exclude every
other person from the means of judging. To refuse a hearing to an
opinion, because they are sure it is false, is assuming that their
certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of
discussion is an assumption of infallibility…on any matter not selfevident, there are ninety-nine persons incapable of judging of it
for one who is capable; and the capacity of the hundredth person
is only comparative; for the majority of the eminent men of every
past generation held many opinions now known to be erroneous,
and did or approved numerous things which no one will now
justify.
Mill’s Significance to Critical Thinking



Mill’s many treatises explicating and defending the rights of
citizens exemplify the importance of thinking through an
idea deeply and following out the implications that result. He
thus characterizes the critical traits of thinking in a
disciplined and systematic manner.
He is, in this regard, an excellent example of applying
intellectual skills to human problems in an attempt to
alleviate suffering and pain. He was committed to thinking
within multiple points of view and to speaking out against
established systems of power.
Additionally, he firmly believed that reason should guide
human thought and behavior, and that learning is a lifelong
process of growth and development.
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
Key ideas: Einstein did not think of himself as being
particularly gifted or intelligent, but credited his success to a
questioning mind which could focus on an idea intensely until it
was solved. He refused to follow along with the scientific status
quo and was able to shift the paradigm in terms of our
understanding of the universe as a result. Apart from his
considerable contributions to the scientific world, Einstein was
also a strong voice for the creation of a world with more
equality that was more just and more peaceful. Additionally, and
most significant to critical thinking, he grasped the importance
of a general education and intellectual traits in the development
of the mind.
I want to oppose the idea that the school has to teach directly that
special knowledge and those accomplishments, which one has to
use later directly in life The demands of life are much too manifold
to let such as specialized training in school appear possible. ..The
school should always have as its aim that the young man leave it as
a harmonious personality, not as a specialist…The development of
general ability for independent thinking and judgment should
always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special
knowledge. If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject
and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely
find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to
progress and changes than the person whose training principally
consists in the acquiring of detailed knowledge.. It is essential that
the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for
values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the
morally good.
Einstein’s significance to Critical Thinking



Einstein was a scientist in the highest sense of the word. Far
from being locked into the details of his field, Einstein
recognized that every human discovery and invention has
implications and consequences, some of which are negative or
harmful. His horror at the use of the atomic bomb on humans
and his attempt to curtail nuclear proliferation do him credit.
In arguing for the development of traits and a general education,
Einstein comes very close to describing a strong sense critical
thinker.
Einstein was a consummate specialist, yet he applied his
intellectual skills to many subject areas and to human problems
as well.
Emma Goldman (1869 – 1940)

Key Ideas: Goldman critiqued established
governments as not living up to the values
which they professed to uphold. She was
especially critical of the U.S. government and
was imprisoned for vocalizing her thoughts.
It has often been suggested to me that the Constitution of
the United States is a sufficient safeguard for the freedom
of its citizens. It is obvious that even the freedom it
pretends to guarantee is very limited. I have not been
impressed with the adequacy of the safeguard. The nations
of the world, with centuries of international law behind
them, have never hesitated to engage in mass destruction
when solemnly pledged to keep the peace; and the legal
documents in America have not prevented the United
States from doing the same…Far from the Constitution
playing any liberating part in the lives of the American
people, it has robbed them of the capacity to rely on their
own resources or do their own thinking. Americans are so
easily hoodwinked by the sanctity of law and authority. In
fact, the pattern of life has become standardized,
routinized, and mechanized like canned food and Sunday
sermons.
Goldman’s Significance to Critical Thinking



Goldman’s contributions to critical thinking lie in her
unwavering devotion to human rights and her
willingness to critique governments which do not
protect those rights.
She was a living example of intellectual autonomy and
courage, not backing down from her views even in the
face of oppression and imprisonment.
Writing at a time when women had very little legal or
social power or recognition, she is also an example of
someone who was able to develop her mind largely
independently of outside help.
Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
Key Idea: A philosopher/logician/mathematician
who, after making seminal contributions to
professional philosophy, shifted more and more to
addressing virtually every major human problem in
a series of publications and public addresses. The
extent of his influence is suggested by the fact that
he published nearly 100 books and was the recipient
of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Russell’s Significance to Critical
Thinking
He demonstrated command of the complexity of the
major problems of the 20th century world, but
illustrated at the same time how a careful critical
analysis of those problems lent themselves to the
possibility of practical solutions. Virtually to the end of
his life, he demonstrated the power of critical thought
to cut through propaganda and modern sophistry and
to highlight the potential of intellectually disciplined
integrity. He was a 20th century paradigm of critical
thought in the strongest sense.