New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-03

80, for truth without clear KNOWLEDGE that 1t Is
Ing iU - consider all beliefs open 10 criticism;
such "a Tho value of authority as neither
10 a,sr nor less than as much as IL can prove
g0o,f 70 be worth. The modern spirit Is not the
ltse r, (which always denies. delighting only In
spL.m still less is it that which builds
u,,es in the air rather than not construct; II Is
r, enirit which works and VIII work without
ma una" ard without rest gathering harvest after
mas ~ truth into It's barns and devOuring
rror with unquenchaole iire.
Tho desire to render full homage TO those who
,oro gone before him has always been a char
.,o-istic of Mr.. Huxley. He abounds in
s,,novledgments of the debt of science and OF
IN modern thought to Aristotle. He makes his
s % Socrates as the first agnostic." whose
,..,otod greatness was founded on intellectual
81 moral characteristics Of the same order as
hosa ~ Descartes, on the same unwillngness 10
.oLa ANYTHING for truth without a clear knOw
edge that it is such. That he should fail to do
aoual Justice to Plato is but natural. Emerson
a,,.,des mankind into Platonists and Aristotle
uons and insists on the necessity and inevita
b,oness Of the distinction:-one or the other You
rcust be whether you will no; always sup
nosing that you have certain degree Of cere-
bral activity at the service Of spiritual and
scientific inquiry. The two classes not only
different and clearly differentiated but antagonis
tc Neither as a rule. can see the merits OF the
other Mr. Huxley is an AristOtean. as most Of
his fellow scientists are and ! suppose, must be.
Wherefore he will not admit Plato to be true
disciple OF Socrates Wherefore again he de-
,cr.bes the Platonc philosophy as probably the
erandest example Of the unscicntific use OF the
Imagination extant. the enemy Of clear thinking
a philosophy of empty assumptions. empty on
account of the thinkers failure 10 criticise his
assumptions. So the whole. Platonism is 10
him only splendid folly. All this is 50 wide OF
the mark as to leave the Platonist aghast. and
10 provoke more remark on the essential
limitations Of scientific thought Mr. Huxley
has emancipated himself from some of them:
no, from all. His attempt at sharp discrmi-
nation between Socrates and Plato is an instance
OF failure. Yet what he now for the first time
saws Of socrates is admirable in two points. and
extremely Huxleian. I mean, first, the remark
that Socrates so constantly and Systematically
shocked authority and shook traditional secur-
ity that the fact of his being allowed to live for
seventy years if one comes to think Of it. is
evidence Of the patient and tolerant disposition
Of his Athenian compatriots which should oblit
crate the memory Of the final hemlock." The
second is passage which strongly commend
70 those Americans who seem disposed to enforce
upon each individual the opinions Of the ma
jority. or TO impose penalty upon independence
Of thought.
That which it may be well fer us not to forget
Is that The first recorded judicial murder ~
scientific thinker was not compassed and effected
BY a desp0t nor by Priests but brought about by
eloquent demagogues. 10 whom, Of all men,
thorough searchings of the intellect are most
dangerous and therefore most hateful
The dcmagogue eloquent or otherwise. is dan
gerous because. and in Sc far as. he leads the
people as the dictionary definition says. by
specious and deceitful arts. and leads them the
way they should no; 60. II he lef, the Democracy
to itself the Democracy would come out all right
IN the end. But he will not. He does. as Mr..
Huxley hints teach them to distrust and to per-
secute whoever honestly tells them the simple
truth. This hint has more efficacy here in Eng
lard than anywhere else for never was there
country or a time when the demagogue had
greater hold upon the popuace, or when the
populace. suddenly intrusted with political
power, half trained and half educated, was more
completely at the mercy of the demagogue.
If, however il be supposed that this master Of
metaphysics would send everybody
to thinkers OF another race, his Preface 10 the
admirable volume on Hume will set that error
Itsni. lie mas lDNe justice 10 NUM- DuN iOt u
Hume only lie says to English readers:
If you are animated by the rare desire for
real knowledge; II you want to get clear con-
ccpt!On Of the deepest problems set before the
intellect Of man, there is ~ need. So far az can
see for you t. go beyond the limits of the Eng
lish tongue. Indeed. Il You are pressed for time,
three English authors will suffice. namely
Berkeley Hume and Hobbies.
II you will lay your minds alongside the works
II those great Wrters-nOt with the view II
merely ascertaining their opinions, still less for
the purpose II indOlently resting on their author
ity. but 10 the end Of seeing for yourselves how
far what each says has It's foundation in right
reason-you will have had much sound pho-
sophica training is good for any one but
expert. And YOU will have had the furth.r a l.
vantage Of becoming familiar with the manner
in which three ~ the greatest masters OF the
English language have handled that noble instru-
mCnt OF thought.
This and other passages which | have
quoted will serve 10 show how much new matter
Mr. Huxley has packed into these brief Prefaces
some Of which must be reckoned among the best
examples Of a method which Is equally pregnant
and attractive. q. W. >