The Psychology of Consciousness

France. Natural philosophers in European colleges and universities preferred to expand Aristotle&s;s science rather than test it with evidence, as we saw in chapter 5. In the United States, there were no universities before the Civil War. Instead, there were small, church-supported colleges devoted to the higher education of a few of the young men and women of a particular Christian denomination. Very few people pursued higher education anywhere, and except for those aspiring to one of the three learned professions, college was not seen as the entrance to a career pathway, but as a means of preparing for entrance into polite, educated society. The Kaiser&s;s new university was a genuine innovation that ultimately made universities important engines of national advancement worldwide.