The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-30
CHARACTER CONNOIssEURS.

CHARACTER CONNOISsEURS.
Saturday Review
The vulgar tendency to simulate =
knowledge about things where the requi
site conditions of accurate information
arc clearly wanting, has ever been q
theme for philosophic satire. It is the
recognition of this tendency which has led
the thinking few to despise the opinion OF
the many as a spurious and counterfeit
kind of recognition. From Plato, who
distinctly excluded mere opinion from the
category of certain knowledge, to the mod
ern idcalist, who pays no heed to the
strongest assurances of common sense.
philosophers have made light of prevail
ing convictions, on the ground that they
are formed in haste, and with no due ap-
probation of the conditions of a rational
certainty. Not only so, but science itself,
which might be supposed to maintain a
more amicablc attitude toward prevailing
belief, has long since learnt to initiate
philosophy i'll its contempt for vulgar
IDEAS. and scientific lecture would now
be deemed wanting in spirit and point if
1t failed to illustrate, by some startling
example,. the wide opposition between the
habltual differences of common minds and
the verified conclusions Of the savant.
Nowhere, perhaps, does popular belief
exhibit its hastiness and inadequacy more
conspicuously than in the readiness of
most persons to pronounce an opinion re-
spectlng the characters and motives of
others. The confidence with which many
a man and woman will talk about the de-
slres and habits of comparatively. new,
mnu as slgnai lIiasrfation 81 tie eassf ass
ness of mankind to seem wise. There are
many whose modesty and good sense
would prevent their giving an opinion on
any point of scientific knowledge or
aesthetic appreciation, who, nevertheless,
feel no hesitation in passing Judgment
respecting matters of conduct, of which
their knowledge is infnitcsimal. Num-
bers of people, who do not in the least
seem to be ashamed of ignorance respect
ing most matters of discussion, are quite
sensitive as to their reputation for knowl-
edge, with respect to the intricacies of
human character. When, for example,
there is an addition to the society of a
small town, through the arrival of new
family, there is the greatest impatience
to have definite and fixed opinion re-
spccting the idiosyncrasies Of the new
comcrs. There will certainly be more
than one knowing person whose supposed
qnickncss of perception will at once ena-
Bile them, satisfactorily to themselves, to
define and characterize the man or
woman about whom curiosity is natur-
ally aroused. 1t is curious, too, to no.
tice the readiness of others to accord to
these persons the special faculty for intui-
tion which they claim for themselves. 1t
has often been remarked, that the first
of winning the confidence Of
others, is to display Il fair amount of self
and this truth is fully illus
trated in the case of the people whom we
are now considering. When lady gives
out among her acquaintance that she is
an expert in matters ofcharactcr and dis
position, she speedily gains an enviablc
reputation for this kind of presciencc. If
there is any new character to be dcci-
phered, about which there hangs GER
tain mystery, she is the authority to
whom all repair, i'll order to acquire def
mite information. If Il scandal is just
gcrminating, and everybody is on tiptoe
respecting its real nature and results, it
is this cornoisseur who is resorted to for
a final solution of the problem. In this
way people are sustained in the pleasing
belief that they possess some easy avenue
to the minds and hearts of their fellows,
thanks to which they are enabled to dis
pense with the tardy methods of observa-
ton, comparison and analysis. and to read
Il new character as confidently as an un-
folded letter
Yet it does not call for any remarka-
BILE power of reflection to- see that this
intuitive kind of knowledge of others
must be very delusiye. For, first of all
human character is an exceedingly com
plex and variable thing, and can not be
known except after patient attention.
Tho facial pernsal of character, of whicl,
we now speak, always involves two inler-
ences, either of which may be a mistaken
one. In the first place, the sclf.styled
observer argues, that certain things which
have held good of other people will hold
good of the new character, and since it is
exceedingly easy to mistake quality oi
a certain order of minds for q universal
attribute of mankind, there is always a
chance of a wrong induction. In the next
place. tic observer is compelled to Judge
the wllo' Of q character from very few
data; and here again there is ample room,
or error in reasoning that, because ono
felt or acted so and so to-day, this must
be his characteristic mode of feeling O,
acting. In other words, human, nature is
too variable, both rs a,whole and within
the limits of q single individual, to allow
of thcsrapid kind of provision of; which
I've are speaking.