THE STABILITY OF TRUTH. 653 



the sun moves and the earth is stationary, and science that the 

 earth moves and the sun is comparatively at rest. How can we 

 del ermine which of these opposite statements is the very truth 

 till we know what motion is ? If our idea of motion is but an 

 accidental result of our present senses, neither proposition is true 

 and both are true; neither true philosophically; both true for 

 certain practical purposes in the system in which they are re- 

 spectively found." 



Again, if we are to allow the revision of the generalizations of 

 science by the addition of acceptable but unverified doctrines, we 

 must allow the right of similar revision by rejection. Mr. Wallace, 

 for example, would be justified in adding to the certainties of 

 organic evolution his idea of the special creation of the mind of 

 man. The old notion of the separate existence of the Ego, which 

 plays on the nerve cells of the brain as a musician on the keys of 

 a piano, would still linger in psychology. The astral body would 

 hover on the verge of physiology, and a strong plea would go up 

 for the reality of Santa Claus. 



I have a scientific friend who finds it necessary to exclude by 

 force, from his biological beliefs, all that is unpleasant in the 

 theories of evolution. And he has the same right to do this that 

 Prof. Haeckel has to insist that any scientific beliefs, for which 

 science has yet no warrant, are a necessary part of the orthodoxy 

 of science. 



For Haeckel is not content to speak for himself, asking toler- 

 ance by tolerance toward others. His belief is no idiosyncrasy of 

 his own. He speaks for all. Every honest, intelligent, coura- 

 geous scientific man, he tells us, so far as he is truthful, compe- 

 tent, and brave, shares the same belief. His confession of faith is 

 nothing if not orthodox. He says : 



" This monistic confession has the greater claim to an unpre- 

 judiced consideration in that it is shared, I am firmly convinced, 

 by at least nine tenths of the men of science now living ; indeed,! 

 believe, by all men of science in whom the following four condi- 

 tions are realized : (1) Sufficient acquaintance with the various 

 departments of natural science, and in particular with the modern 

 doctrine of evolution; (2) sufScient acuteness and clearness of 

 judgment to draw by induction and deduction the necessary 

 logical consequences that flow from such empirical knowledge; 

 (3) sufficient moral courage to maintain the monistic knowledge, 

 so gained, against the attacks of hostile dualistic and pluralistic 

 systems; and (4) sufficient strength of mind to free himself by 

 sound, independent reasoning from dominant religious prejudices, 

 and especially from those irrational dogmas which have been 

 firmly lodged in our minds from earliest youth as indisputable 

 revelations." 



