Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1909. TRUTH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 11 December 1909, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1909. TRUTH.

IS it natural for' the human mind to cleave te truth and to reject falsehood That question, is the cause of an article in- the "Edinburgh Review" on "Fallacies and Superstitions." The reviewei holds that there is no natural human instinct or tendency towards truth, . . kind in his primeval instincts is neither for truth nor against it. He is merely credulous. "Blind confidence is ithe primitive attitude ofour mind.'' The confidence may be wise .or foolish ; butythat does not enter into the question at first. "Men accept a belief first, and only by an afterthought do they question its truthfulness. So that beliefs are "not primarily based pn experience of realiI ty." At first, then,- there are just beliefs, good and bad, true and fal«y"a-kihd of ' conglomerate in the mind. Then gradually science is born; that is, the critical •■ method is developed. Then the -beliefs . are sifted. Some become justified, and ,' are called knowledge'; others- are roject- ■ ed, and are called fallacies or superstii tions. This' is the reviewer's theory of . the origin of knowledge and of its separa-tion-from «rr'or. 'T" e consequence .of '-■ the^-theory is'that "the Jower we get in the scale of development the firmer will be the convictions held, and the leas shall ,- 'we/find of the attitude of doubt." Bub ; if that be so, then even a scientist of ;. to-day. holds his -knowledge less firmly ;' than a savage holds his convictions— a pos ition wc are inclined to question. But . . one of the main points of. criticism on the ■ reviewer's 'theory that has been given ia that -he takes n6 ; acconntj at all ; of evolu•tion. Y.He assumes thatTijan has iio ancestors, and therefore no. heritage. ."': •• ■ • '*'• * ,; |.'£, ..V.' But, it is argued, -if 'evolution be true; then man certainly .has ancestors, and as certainly has a heritage. - Ec appears as a natural species with highly-developed mental store,even at the.very beginning. So Herbert Spencer teaches.-- Even Weismanism, however-thoroughgoing, does not overturn this teaching. If man be the result of evolution, then, he starts with a. considerable^ mental development. He inherits- all- the Tesult of the previous growth. AifJ that seems to destroy the reviewer's position from the very foundation. The review reads like an exposition of Locke or Hume, of Bain • or - Mill,, of those thinkers whomever, heard of evolution, or who refused to take it into account, Perhaps, however, w« may. leave the reviewer's theory of knowledge. on. one side,' for the chief -interest in his .article - is not its base -but its' superstructure. Fallacies and superstitions- — between which no clear line is drawn— are due, •we are told, either to natural credulity, to emotion, or to misdirected > attention. The young maii-'wboVfalla.in.-lave, can perceive no blemishes, in his sweetheart. . . . while to an unbiassed mind she is quite an ordinary person, •'" or'^perhaps very much below- the level of the average.!' This is the result- of emotion. The emotional activity means a flow of blood to the brain. . . and a shrinkage of the arms and legs.' Vertum sapiehta sat est. ' We now quite understand why a.lover thinks his beloved an angel. The same flow of blood makes it, quite clear why the sam© young "man. afterwardsTfalldciously— shrinks from "' his^i- motherin'law. Then, besides emotion, the other cause of fallacy is'misdirected attention. All parents think, themselves! wiser than , their children, arid all . children think themselves wiser than their parents*. These fallacies .are the outcome, of mis^: directed attention. Then beside^'credulity, emotion, .and misdirected attention,' there are such^eelings as strong egotism; There is the man who. feels that "difference from me is a measure of absurdity," . or who thinks hiraself a Napoleon or a ■Paderewski. Bnt. "his neighbours . think him a stupid fool or a selfish-bore.- Egotism, then, like wonder or feap.'is'-a kirifd 'of emotion, and' encourages ..theV eo^th of ..fallacy in the mind. <The most interesting cases of fallacy, however,'are "uch as "the vulgar belief in ezperte. ". .' But experts are frequently ignorant, and fail i rto see the relation in which .their own department stands. to othor 'departments, .^GoyemmentLby. eipe*t« <w6uld 6ertainly"be "a "faiinreT"- This weaknessof experts is expressed in the Taiinting proverb, "There is nothing like leather." And in this connection our reviewer reminds us/ o£~ Huxley's division of witnesses into tKe three classes, "liars, d— d liars, and; experts." Allied to this -is .the fallacy that *'education.increases ; natural intelligence. . or that learning and intelligence go together. . The Jiistoiy bf invention shows that many of the greatest 6teps came from the uneducated. . Herbert Spencer, who rarely read a serious book, used to quote with approval the saying of .Hobbes, "If I had Tead as much as other men I should havo known as little"— all of which shows that /the reviewer is as full of fallacies as the public are. An examination of the opinions, of most men would show that ths average mind is far more full of fallacy than of, accurate knowledge. - . But why? We Cannot feel satisfied r that the reviewer's analysis has .at all solved, the" problem. ; He enumerates and examines many interesting fallacies, but.he never really explains -why ' at the present day men's minds should ko naturally and instinctively: lay up' a store of- fallacies. The "flow, of blood to the head" and' all the rest. of .-Jus theory do not really help ,us at all, .for the real question is, V Why do men exaggerate Why cannot they be accurate Nor does it help us if we assert that falsehood or exaggeration is easier to grasp and hold than accuracy or truth. That merely pushes the difficulty one step further back. Why is falsehood easier to grasp and hold than truth! ''All our progress depends ron truth being grasped, held, and spread. •Why should progress be so' difficult and amid so many pitfalls? Which ia like asking, Why <3o natural species deteriorate, except- under the pressure of a' rigorous selection^' There is some natural disability in ths very build of things. Evolution might have proceeded without struggle, bub it does. not. So the mind of man might have advanced without being clogged and entahgled in fallacy, but it .does not. Perhaps tho' truth iie& in the strange law that the acquiring of knowledge is of more importance" than the knowledge acquired;. for the acquiring means effort, and effort means charac-> ' ter. '-. . . -■■•■ ■ ■'.: