Heaven forbid that I should be flippant, but it appeared to
me to be a wanton waste of good human energy that men should spend years
and years in the perfection of so barren an exercise, when their own
civilisation presented problems by the hundred which cried aloud for
solution and would have paid the solver handsomely; but people know their
own affairs best. If the youths chose it for themselves I should have
wondered less; but they do not choose it; they have it thrust upon them,
and for the most part are disinclined towards it. I can only say that
all I heard in defence of the system was insufficient to make me think
very highly of its advantages.
The arguments in favour of the deliberate development of the unreasoning
faculties were much more cogent. But here they depart from the
principles on which they justify their study of hypothetics; for they
base the importance which they assign to hypothetics upon the fact of
their being a preparation for the extraordinary, while their study of
Unreason rests upon its developing those faculties which are required for
the daily conduct of affairs. Hence their professorships of
Inconsistency and Evasion, in both of which studies the youths are
examined before being allowed to proceed to their degree in hypothetics.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249