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while education is thus dogmatic . Remember that other sects educate their children in tenets essentiall y differing from those you have chosen , pursuing their mode with equal positiveness . ( And , however , you may arrogate the titles of " national , " " established / ' " orthodox , " and such like , you are in the eye of
reason and philosophy only a sect . ) Thus future disputes , instead of being calculated to elicit truth , are mere party contests , where philosophy is forgotten in the rancour of prejudice , and general principles buried under a worthless mass of petty details . Scepticism , when not carried to absurdity , is really the only means of advancing wisdom , for by repressing doubt we voluntarily impose limits to our understanding . A
philosopher was asked how he had gained wisdom ; "I gained it , " he replied , ' by imitating the blind , who never move a step till they have tried with a stick the ground upon which they are to trust themselves . " Much unnecessary alarm has been excited by the word scepticism , in conseqnence of ignorant persons associating it with Atheism , and other terms repulsive to the orthodox ; but , when it is considered that scepticism is
simply suspension of judgment , not only its innocence but utility will be sufficiently apparent . Scepticism is the surest antidote against prejudice—the most faithful ally of philosophy , and yet the received systems of education are based upon abhorrence of scepticism and encouragement of dogmatism . * The power of the understanding , as constituted , and the nice shades of individual distinction cannot be ascertained—or at
least in the present state of the science of man are not known until time develope them . Yet it is not the less absurd to imagine fixed rules and maxims adapted to the infinite variety It seems as if the derivation alone of this formidable word would be sufficient to dissipate the superstitious horror entertained against it . It comes from the
Greek ZxiTrro ^ ti , to contemplate , consider , examine attentively , to speculate . Surely this is innocent enough ! It is true the l ' yrrhonists of old had the appellation o 7 axf «" n » 3 ) bestowed upon them , but in relation only to the suspension of judgment , which formed the ground-work of their system . Tbev might carry it a * s far as they pleased , and deny everything—thev mi ^ ht remain in doubt all their
lives upon vvery subject , but that is no reason we should do the same Any superstructure of belief or knowledge may be built upon scepticism . Present doubt is no disqualification for future credence . 1 reject the definitions of the term found in the dictionaries of Johnson , Bailey , and Webster , as being € * nhirersal doubt "— ' the doctrines and opinions of the sce ptics , ' and embrace the far more reasonable one of . . Lord Shaftesbuiy , viz ., " That state or frame ot mind in which
every one remains on every subject of which he is not certain . f" I prefer the last for a very obvious reason . It is rather more than probable that the verb Xxfore / uxt , to contemplate—was in existence in the Greek language before the name © 7 r * f «» Tix « j was given to the Pyrrhonists , and 1 do not see the propriety of deriving a general term from a particular sect . Dry den somewhere associates the word , and very
properly , with diffidence : "I lay by n > y natural diffidence and scepticism for a while , " &c . But such is the ignorance of prejudice that many persons actually conceive scepticism synonymous with atheism . Jt appears to me obvious , that scepticism , when carried into universal doubt , —the oufrtf o { i £ *~ --is itself a prejudice nd a dogma , * ' I will not believe" is but the converse of "I will belie re /'
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Untitled Article
Cursory Remarks on Prejudice . 317
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 317, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/53/
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