On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
made , the objection remains in full force ; and still the pupil appears too much of a passive recipient . As his age advances fresh prejudices are conveyed into the mind through the medium of those before instilled : the veneration and respect he is taught to entertain for parents , masters , aged persons , priests , kings , and the like , are , during nonage , made the agents in corrupting his understanding and warping his judgment . *
Whilst in stain pupiltari , should we enunciate a doubt , or an inquiry implying one , we are stopped by our teachers , who tell us that the leading questions in morality and politics have been long settled by wiser heads than ours , and our only duty is to asssent . This is a wilful misrepresentation . How can those tilings be settled concerning which every variety of opinion exists in every nation ? Certain notions of certain men are conveyed to us as final decisions , which when we come forth into the world we find controverted . Then , as to the authorities being wiser than we ;
—how are we to know this ? Have we not minds , have we not reason ? and what more was possessed by those whose judgments we are to follow ?—Whether we possess them equally or not remains to be proved . We may chance to be wiser , or the contrary ; our conclusions may differ or be the same—may be as good , better , or worse . The result cannot be known until the subjects have been inquired into , and if inquiry be discouraged , what room is there for the operation of reason , or chance for the discovery of truth ? Besides , is it true that the
weight of wisdom and talent is always on the " orthodox" side of the question ? The notion of teaching an intellectual being to believe by any other means than demonstration , or good testimony , is an absurdity ; and to tell him that blind faith forms a part of his duty , is an insult to his understanding , and the dignity of truth . Such belief , if instilled , cannot be permanent in the mind of an active thinker ; it must either be confirmed or
destroyed by the future operation of his reason . In an inferior nature it may be lasting , but in this case it is a prejudice , and , as such , worthless . The weakness of any doctrine may be fairly presumed when it is made a principle to discourage , instead of inviting inquiry into its principles and foundation . But dogmatism cannot endure to be probed . The ueual degree of horror will be expressed at the doctrines faintly shadowed out in the foregoing hints . " What !
introduce scepticism into the education of youth !—scepticism upon points concerning which it is to the interest of society men should' be agreed !"— But men will not agree , especially
• ' * L'houfltod sent avant de r ^ ftechir ; il iniite bien plus qn'il ne jug * ; il e&t bien plu * men < £ par de » impreMion * qn « par la raiscn , voilala source despr £ iug £ a . jfti cyclop 6 dit—Ait ; Prtjugfo-
Untitled Article
816 Cursory Remarks on Prejudice .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/52/
-