Preface

Abstract

A PROPER FEAR OF ARROGANCE might reasonably cause one to hesitate before exploring and crossing the boundaries that separate the various domains of knowledge. After all, each area of knowledge is vast in scope and requires a distinctive method or approach, and we all find ourselves harassed by the limitations of the time available to us for expanding our knowledge. Surely the lessons taught us by our work and by our enormously productive economic system confirm day by day the wisdom of specialization. Specialization in the workplace helps us see that we can best hone competence through discipline and through the repetitive practices that enable us to know deeper the intricacies of a craft or profession. We hear praise these days for people who are able to exercise what is called "compartmentalization," meaning that they maintain a careful separation of distinct aspects of life such as the concerns of family, the ambition of work, and the practice of worship. Efficiency is only a mediate value, always dependent upon an end for the determination of its true worth, and yet we all count upon it on a daily basis and feel hampered and irritated by its absence as we complete our necessary tasks, and living our lives in a "compartmentalized" fashion enhances our efficiency. We have many good reasons and many ingrained habits that encourage us to respect the familiar fences we have established in our lives.