Culture and Anarchy · Chapter
Porro Unum Est Necessarium explained
Arnold argues that the exclusive predominance of Hebraism—valuing strictness of conscience and action over spontaneity of consciousness—has led to a mechanical, one-sided pursuit of perfection.
What happens
Arnold argues that the exclusive predominance of Hebraism—valuing strictness of conscience and action over spontaneity of consciousness—has led to a mechanical, one-sided pursuit of perfection. He contends that the 'one thing needful' is not a single rule but the full, harmonious development of all human faculties. Hellenism, with its emphasis on free play of thought and 'sweetness and light,' is more needed now to counteract the narrowness of Puritanism and the Philistine obsession with money and salvation. Culture, which brings us toward right reason and a fuller humanity, is the true remedy for the confusion and anarchy of the age.
Themes in this chapter
Hebraism vs. Hellenism
Central contrast of the chapter: Hebraism's focus on strictness of conscience and action versus Hellenism's spontaneity of consciousness and free play of thought.
Perfection and Self-Development
Arnold argues that true perfection is the full, harmonious development of all human faculties, not a single 'one thing needful.'
Machinery vs. Ends
Critique of treating religion, business, and other pursuits as mechanical, absolute laws (machinery) rather than as means to a larger human perfection.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The voice of the chapter, advocating for Hellenism and culture against the excesses of Hebraism.
- Philistine
Represented by the middle class, exemplified by Mr. Smith's dual concerns of poverty and eternal loss, and by the narrow mechanical conception of life.
- Mr. Bright
Cited as an example of treating the assertion of personal liberty as a mechanical, absolute law, lacking free play of consciousness.
- Mr. Beales
Cited as an example of treating the right of meeting in Hyde Park as a mechanical, absolute law.
- Mr. Spurgeon
Cited as an example of treating voluntaryism as a mechanical, absolute law.
- Mr. Sidgwick
Mentioned for his broad claim that the world needs fire and strength more than sweetness and light, which Arnold challenges as forgetting the specific needs of different groups.
Key passages
“Instead of watching and following on its ways the desire which, as Plato says, 'forever through all the universe tends towards that which is lovely,' we think that the world has settled its accounts with this desire, knows what this desire wants of it, and that all the impulses of our ordinary self which do not conflict with the terms of this settlement, in our narrow view of it, we may follow unrestrainedly, under the sanction of some such text as 'Not slothful in business,' or, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might,' or something else of the same kind.”
Instead of pursuing the universal longing for beauty and harmony, we assume we already understand it and can freely indulge our ordinary impulses as long as they don't obviously violate a narrow set of rules, using scripture to justify our busyness.
Arnold criticizes the reduction of life to mechanical adherence to a few texts, ignoring the broader human aspiration for perfection.
“The real unum necessarium for us is to come to our best at all points. Instead of our 'one thing needful,' justifying in us vulgarity, hideousness, ignorance, violence—our vulgarity, hideousness, ignorance, violence, are really so many touchstones which try our one thing needful, and which prove that in the state, at any rate, in which we ourselves have it, it is not all we want.”
The truly essential thing is to develop every aspect of our humanity to its fullest. Our current 'one thing needful' cannot excuse our coarseness and ignorance; rather, these flaws expose its inadequacy.
Arnold redefines the 'one thing needful' as comprehensive self-development, not a single narrow rule.
