The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-11-23

| We are indebted to an unknown friend for
Il circular setting forth tho purposes and in
| tentions Of brand new philosophical or
| ganiHaton named the Socratic Club. AS
| everybody Is aware, the headquarters of the
| North American piatonists are In Orange,
| New Jersey, while the present storm centre
| OF llcgelian metaphysics fluctuatcs between
| st. Louis, Missouri, and Concord. in tho
| State OF Massachusetts. According to the
! announcement OF these latest cultivators of
thc Socratlc method. they will pursue their
search for Truth in Dr. PuLLMAN's "church
| sdio0s," on Fifty seventh street, west Of the
| Eighth avenue. 1t Is an interesting and
| suspicious circumstance that tho homo of
| the revived clcnch Is not many blocks away
| from tho spot made famous by tho labUrs
| OF n very different sort OF truth seekers,
namely the thcosophs and theo-frcshincn
| of the Olcott-B!avatskian school of adopts.
| 1t appears that tho members OF the New
| York Socratic Club propose to mako room
| for positive knowledge" In this town by ode
| stroying erroneous opinions and vain con-
cets." The aim is laudable, but the contract
| is large, and We shall watch the efforts of
| the young enthusiasts-for wo tako it for
! granted that they are young-with perhaps
more curiosity than hope. They are UNI
| doubtCdly correct In the assertion that
| there's too much talking, too much writing
OF stuff. mere stuff" and that "maudlin SON.
/ timentalism and canting hypocrisy cncrvate
| the native forces and misdircct the efforts OF
tho young and aspiring" Besides. as they
say, the pathway leading TO "the goal of
| Truth" Is encountered "by the conceit OF
| fools and brass Of knavcs.'
AUaipct IN moral nj opiIc ~
which the Socratic Club complains, the dia-
lcctic mode OF procedure is in fact an effective
weapon. 1t has been employed with excel
lent results by some OF the wisest philoso-
| pliers who ever lived. 1t consists. In brief,
OF catching your fool by the buttonholc, and,
having thus pinned his attention, PLYING
| him with sharp questions until no becomes
ridiculous even in his own eyes, and keeping
1t up till he Is 30 overwhelmed with
confusion that he Is ready to alb
jure his folly. The principal difficulty
in tho practical application OF tho method
lies in the astonishing fact that the victim
sometimes stubbornly insists on assuming
that he is the philosopher and the one to ask
all the sharp questions. This puts the So
cratic dialectician in an altogether false posi-
ton, and no remedy forthls flaw In the method
has yet been discovered. Furthermore, the
fool occasionally succeeds In breaking away
from the philosophers clutch and retircs I'M
convicted and uncOnvertod. Perhaps the
disciple OF SOCRATES is advised to hire
hall; perhaps his efforts In the cause OF
moral and intellectual reform ore evadcd by
some other illogical and disrespoctiul re-
joinder. rendering abortive. OF course, the
most ingcniously prepared elench.
One thing in the programme OF the Fifty
seventh street philosophers greatly sur
prises us. Their plan OF campaign against
the erroneous opinions and vain conceits OF
the town is evidently based on the expecta-
tion that the fools and brassy knaves and
maudlin sentimentalists and canting hypo-
critics OF New York will go in q body on
Thursday evenings to Dr. PULLMAN's church
| salons to be catechsed and to have their ig-
norance exposed by the Socratic method.
We fear that the club will DO disappointed in
this respect; Its machinery will remain idle
for want OF raw material. The dialectlcian
who waits for his quarry to seek him out Is
likely to have a long rest for his jaws How
ever ready the philosophers may DO to cut
windbags and to puncture soap bubbles, we
are afraid they are doomed to sit In tho
salons and strain their eyes In vain up and
down Flfty-seventh street and along the
Eighth avenue for fools who will never ap-
pear on the horizon.
SOCRATES himself proceeded with q much
better understanding OF human nature. III
stead OF sending out general invitation to
the unwise to come and he instructed, and to
tho mistaken to come and have their notions
rcfutcd, and to humbugs to como and DO cx-
posed, he secured Athens continually and
tackled his fools wherever he found them
In the streets. In the places OF amusement
and public parks, in the suburbs. and oven