MR. BALFOUR'S GIFFORD LECTURES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 9

MR. BALFOUR'S GIFFORD LECTURES.

INTELLECTUAL AND OTHER VALUES. T!IE!STIC SETTING ESSENTfAL; i. ■ " . 'Mr. lialtour lias lic-ld his great :nt« dience together to the end," writes tho S]joci;i! fi'jrres.pqudent of the. London ' "J'imes" regarding this tenth of the recent Series of Gilford Lcctures which Was cjel:i verod a', Glasgow oil jSSljruSiry. 0, In replying to sonio well-chosen ■words in whieh Professor Smart conveyed to him the. thanks of his listeners, tho .tiiiUqril Lecturer. ypok'e grateWl.y of a .sympathy tlio .existence, .of which ho had felt from the iirsi, jectee to tkr< last,, and !u> added that I'm did not believ; tliav in any other country siii'lt i\U fiaidicHce would- have ;as- - on ten occasions to hear ilia > discussion of nietaphvsical topics. Tho largo gathering in the Buto Hall re- ; spouded as it has never failed to do, and went home happy with a .good conscience and the pleasant liieinory .of <tlio successful efforts of a great Scotrin.an.. to till his Icllow-countrymen liia thoughts on. these liijrjt themes. ilics tenth lecture, Was .partly a. sttm- . murf and partly an appeal to the. au- '• Mr. li.xlfour began bv sayihtl ■that Ins object liad fiegii to show that- . , lho valn.es of our beliefs are dependent, upon a Tbejstis setting.* Beliei'.s, he- insisted, could be aiid must- he considered as natural products, and their values' , as natfi-fal products .must depend tipoii i their origin. Wo must find in. iheir • pedigree si.me sonrco higher than our: poor efforts at reasoii, not ii source lower aiid more It was no answer to say that twain fundamental truths make the world, and the world '. is What it is hecaiisn of iu'iidanveiital;. truths, for. lie., had shown, thai among the unproved and. unprovable as&mupiions which are required to justify common sense and scientific knoivledjie, • lhe.ro are assumptions nrithor necessary nor universal i:or inevitable, yet- as-' : sumed through the t\ hole course of, . knowledge, lie had alsu sliow ii that! ti'iero are probabilities, tendencies to: believe, !nelinatio).is, wdiicll '■an he seen 'in ths history of science.

Natural Selection and Religion. Having tinis dealt. with.% jjossiblo ob« .ject ion ' from (ho point of view of cri-lka-1 idealism, Mr. Balfour summarised his argument- that natural selection is ineapaolo of aGcou'ivting 1 directly any. of tho great values lie had dealt witli. Ho was awaro of tho controversies ragiilg among biologists about- natural selection : but ho had chosen it because it is the only substitute thiit wo know of for what, 'is co.mmonly called design. Selection does imitate design up to .a certain point, but even if it Coiild, as it certainly cannot, be proved that tho higher values ><rf aesthetics, of ethics,: •and of thought have a- survival- value, it would not help its to maintain theso values. Hut iu fact lh» higher a. valuo ■tli'i).' further fl is removed from the primitive consetiueiices for .which selectioii' is responsible. , . ' . His own argument- about tho ncees'■sjty .61 a Theistie setting for our Reliefs was not attached .to any great metaphysical system of thought, nor to ; any intuitive seiiso of religions values. Ho did .not tiuder-esti'mato the direc'b argument from religious beliefs ivlm-h ° rests religious value -pii religion itself.; : But religious values were vox him tho conclusion, not tho promises, of' liis argument, Slid he could only rest tho . lvalue oi' religion upon-; other value's which are universally acknowledged. Ho did not appeal to those who are satisfied with any of the jp'e.at i-onstrueUv<» metaphysical systems,-but he urged tho necessity for a philosophy of science and. of eomiuon sen«e.' lie did so, l.iot iu 'the interests of science or of common sense, but: in the interests of philosophy itself.

Tho GlfjOrd Lecturer's Public. AYiili this hint, ia philosophical experts, Mr. Baliour proceeded to ask' himself io -whom his argument, was addressed. He thought that a Gilford lecturer should speak to tho general publie: hut to what public? ' Fortunately,. he remarked, thorn are maiiy to whom God is as immediate and, as certain as aiiyihiiig' of which the.v havo immediate • experience—to whom tho'existenqi} cf God is a, daily and iiQiitv ly certainty. They were above J:is argument nn.il to them it would he superiuiipus.. There are others immersed in the daily task, in the. toil that cannot he put off, who- liave' n,o interest 'in speculative questions, and wh.o aro satisfied to acquiesce ill the co_iumo.ii -beliefs of science and in the religious beliefs of those among whom the.v live. 011 them depends the work .or the world, and he did not. think it was every man's duty- to acquaint, himself with. all tho arguments 011 all important issues. "Gotl," lie said, "has.iiot so made the world that it's, ordinary business is ytp be carried oil by dialectic." .

turning to. the classes of men who are. interested in such inquiries, .ijijV ■■ Balfour contrasted tho shallow and in--' ■fcit.elji tellectual reputation upon .it few. materialistic tags with the great doubters • from, whoso ranks, liave come . pillars 6f orthodoxy. leaders of: heresies.; ers of systems of 'speculation, makers. of now modes of thought, and of new. pictures of the universe. . Between, these two c#r;p.nios there tiro many educated persons gl'Ca% _ about the- problems which scionce, phil-i o's'ophy, and criticism were forcing ujiiiir. lliein. .Such thinkers lfmild agree «'i;h. In 111 that a world- Witivo'ut'fie'd is a world ■in wliieli aesthetic and ethical values are; greatly clmiitiished, but they . -might ai'g.iie that their intellectual integrity; required them to inal.'i. the saeriiico;_ He hoped that his. line of argument'niigbt suggest to these 111 oil vrtluajvi? forms of consolation. Their attitude was honourable, hut it was mistaken, for it. was based upon ali entirely false contrast. between intellectual and other value's. Let them hot ho misled oy. file pevr.icious fallacy thai speculative difficulties only begin when we ge nift)-. supersensible rceioiis. under the'guidance. of hair-splitting metaphysicians. The real speculative. difficulties tench: our daily life, the very nature 01 the . things 011 which our daily hfe-deneuos. ' J./et them ieiticUihoh t00,._ that. the Theistie, setting lis -not' ...rcqitfMjd merely for the' vaiucs of feiigicn and morality; it is'an icsseiifrai' coitdiLioii of all. iiite!- ■ lectu.al values, including iho.se ol lh.fi liel.fei of science. - Belief In Coil. Tire re.il lnoia. of Wis Jecfv.res Is, he ■■ coi'.::lnded, that a belief in Thrill is. pat a.!.i aficldeut.a'l ornamfciit' Wlnela civil he added *»V nest added te the house 111. v-hich you live. It c.w.uot he. super- * a'ddcci or no! superadded to oilier, he- , jjof.s, those oilier lwlM's i:eiritpi\Mig ini- ' affected aitd unchanged. A Tiieistie Ji'qi lief is essential 011 whatever values wo ' ca>t our c.yos: «iid iov the retention of these values alike in heautv, in- moraljh-, and. ij.i s-ciOi'icc llte.re is. if we want. i:n ' retain these values uiuliimiiishoii, hut. .oiin sctiing. That seiting; is' a he-., lief in God, -.. V. v'W M::, Ihillo-ur's -sfißrt'iiict series of Oiffovd lecturcs will probahly he .delivered'iit January, 1&175. '.-.V.X' I Reports of previous. Icetuves. of- this series were published :n Till:. Dominion* 011 Fehiuaiy 27 and 2S, and Maicli G, 1, 14, IS, 21, and 25-1