The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-18
Taking Sides for Ahrtman al
Ormuzd.

The word faith Is unfairly dealt
with in hat common usage which
gives it a restrictedly religious i'm
plication. In c~ommendable contrast
to this popular Gripping of an excel
lent vocable is Prof. GEORGE TRu NJ
TIL LApp's description of bis book
What Should I Believer (Longmans.
Green n Company as an inquiry
into the nature, grounds and value of
h faiths Of science. society,
morals and religion. The Yale pro-
fessor's series OF books on knowledge
ethics and belief, to be completed by
An inquiry into the sources and rea-
sonableness OF human hopes" is a
work Of which Americans may justly
be proud. Nothing could be more
blessedly remote from the dry and
Improbable ~profundity of modern
Teuton philosophy than these COM
mon sense foundations Of the Ques.
tons that occur and recur to every
mans mind. these travelling direc-
tons for the pilgrim between two
d~arknesses. Nor. on the other hand.
are they tinct with Bergsonian meta
physical romanticism or Maeter-
linckish mysticism In a word,
Prof. Ladd handles sensible questions
in a sensible way. and sensible people
will thank him for giving them a loaf
when they ask for bread. instead OF
the Belgian block with which so many
philosophers fool themselves and try
TO fool plain John Smith.
Society is based upon belief in the
stability Of the human environment.
Nature is not always kind to her chill
dren; but man would not be culti-
waiting the soil, digging mines. build
ing cities II ne did not believe in him
self as a reality and in the continued
operation OF the universal machinery
on its long demonstrated principles
the fruit from the seed. the ordered
succession of the seasons. light. heat,
gravity, and So on. Then, SOCIETY
depends upon mans faith in his fell
low a There are violations of the
faith: else law urts and jails would
not he needed. But in the main men
adhere To the moral system devised
by the commo intelligence reasoning
from the common experience, and be-
lieve in the intention OF the mass OF
mankind to conform to II.
After all said and done, the matter
OF belief narrows down. in every de-
partment OF interest, to determination
by the individual Of what is good
profitable, desirable and what is bad
injurious. undesirable. Belief and
conduct are inextricably related;
what we commend we seek, and what
we condemn We try TO avoid. Wher
we indorse the Ovidean line "videc
mel.ora p~rohoque. deteriora sequor,'
we testify to h power Of Ormuzl
against Ahriman. We are all natural
born Manicheans. The significant
thing in Prof. Ladd's philosophy
of belief is the way in which
he demonstrates its ndestructible re.
l~ationship to conduct. Good" con.
duct, that department which develop,
the happiest potentialities Of human
nature, is impossible unless the beliefs
are correct. Right living. then. usinl
the term In no cramped sense but ir
its broadcast bearing, il rooted in cor
rect believing. That may come easy
to some more fortunate than the gen.
eral, Those who are not endowed
with spontaneous correctness Of con,
duct n belief must. If they are de
termlned to make the most out o
life, begin the remodelling of theil
constitutions In the amendment OF
their faiths rather than in immed.at.
reconstruction OF their conduct. rrof
Ladd makes these things clear with
out the slightest suggestion OF cen
sorship or the Sunday school.