Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-01-05
The FALSE AND TRUE
Ed. Howe, the AtchisOn PhilOs-
Opher, Discusses Philosophy.
A Man Can Get Along With Just Lit
tie Science and Philosophy Ii
That Little Is Right.
ed Howe's Monthly

ment l do not deserve. L nave nad
false opinions about many things, and
candidly acknowledge many errors.
believe the most ordinary man may
know the truth if he wishes to know
| it, and it is better to know the truth
about anything than not to know it.
We are all fools, to greater or less
extent; the wisest men simply accept
evidence that has been piled up noun
tain high.
/ know a woman who pronounces
the word unique" in this fashion:
Unique. Why should not this wo-
man, having the word properly pro-
nounced, look it up, to see if she has
been wrong, and, because of error,
made herself absurd? And, from that
start, why should it not occur to her
that she may have other erroneous
recommendations? Is there any reason
why the woman should insist upon
her error, and try, Intellectually and
foolishly, to bring the world around
to Unique? Why is not U-neek, the
truth, better than Unique, the error?
1t is, and every other truth is better
than error.
| l have been Inundated and dam
aged by error until l welcome the
truth about everything. When wire
less telegraphy was new 1 did not be-
lieve messages could be sent hundreds
of miles without wires. But l have
myself sent wireless messages from a
ship at sea, and know my friends on
land received their messages. My mind
somehow naturally resents the wire
less telegraphy idea, but l would be a
greater fool than l am not to believe
| in it.
| And | will accept any other thing
l do not believe on equally good evil
dence, for the reason that | cannot, nor
can any man, afford to deny the truth;
as matter of selfishness, to say moth
Ing of principle. Suppose l had bet
Gas l once publicly offered to do, with
great show of stupidity that mes
sages could not be sent without wires.
would have been punished for my
ignorance; and that is the penalty all
men must pay for ignorance. 1t is
the inevitable law; no one can get
away from it. In the controversy
about wireless biography. Marconi
was able to prove that l was the fool.
No doubt you are saying that some
man is a fool because he has an opin-
ion opposed to yours. Possibly you
are the fool. If you are, acknowledge
your error, because folly is disagree
able, dangerous and expensive.
You many have a philosophy suffi-
cient for your needs, since philosophy
is nothing more than willingness to
accept the experience of yourself and
others. There are many things you
cannot know, that no one knows; and
you usually know enough for all prac-
teal purposes.
| / have never seen printed philosophy
that was not, in some respects ridic-
ulous; that of Neitsche is buried in
eighteen volumes. 1t is possible to
write sufficient system of philosophy
in a hundred pages; l myself could
write such a system. l could do it in
fifty pages, or less, for the reason that
| would only state the essentials, and
permit everyone to work his own way
from this base.
The trouble with every philosopher
of note is that he has no sympathy for
the average mind. Neitsche is pig
headed, and mean and offensive; he
says that when majority of the peo-
pie agree with him he will know he is
wrong. This is a catchy sentence,
but nonsense; when the people refuse
to accept any system of philosophy
that system is wrong. 1t is natural
law that the majority shall rule, and
this rule holds good in mental as we'll
as physical matters. If majority of
the people decide, after years of eX-
perience, that a certain principle of
| life is true, it is true. And the ma
jority of men deny not essential prin-
ciple Neitzsche contends for. Neitz-
sche knew more than the average man
but his natural gift made him vain,
and vicious, and a cad He may be
| likened to a vain coXcomb who, born
with a fine head of hair, wrote that
bald men are fools, and that he will
have nothing in common with them.
| Very naturally bald men will despise
such a man as this.
The basis of all philosophy and ex-
perience is:
For your own sake be as fair, as
temperate, as polite, as useful, as in
dustrious, as sensible, as you possibly
can; in everything, ask yourself these
questions:
Is it fair, is it polite, is it the best
l can do? Is it too my interest? Do
know as much as | might know? Have
| acquired as much useful informa-
ton (education) as | might have ac-
quired? Am | pursuing a course that
is wrong, and therefore damaging and
dangerous? Am l able to consider in
/ telligently and fairly the questions
that concern me most vitality? Am
doing my duty?
With this much of basis, any man
may become his own philosopher and
succeed according to his talents. And
there is not today, on the face Of the
earth, a sane man who will deny the