448 Proceedings. 



the lower races to rule over white men. Representative government was now 

 on its trial, and being strained almost to breaking point in the most highly 

 civilized nations. For the lower races it is an absurdity. If given to the 

 people of India, it could only be expected to prove their curse. 



Sixth Meeting : 5th October, 1887. 

 Dr. Hutchinson, President, in the chair. 



New Members. — Mr. W. W. Carlile, M.A., and Mr. J. 



Sinclair. 



Papers. — 1. " On Some Deep-seated Fallacies," by W. W. 

 Carlile, M.A. 



Abstract. 



Two fallacious tendencies in thought, which had indeed one source, 

 were : (1) the tendency to give an imaginary priority to the abstract over the 

 concrete ; and ('2) the tendency to personify general conceptions. The former 

 had been a common source of bad philosophy, bad educational systems, and 

 bad legislation. As an instance, might be cited the fact of a highly abstruse 

 metaphysical discussion being placed as introductory in the series of Science 

 Primers. Aristotle, on the contrary, had put " Metaphysics" in its right place 

 — after " Physics." The very prevalent practice in schools of teaching the 

 grammar of a language, even including the rules of syntax, before any know- 

 ledge of the language itself was obtained, was another. In the history of 

 language itself the true progress had been from the concrete to the abstract, 

 even the verb " to be" not having existed in many early languages. In 

 Jurisprudence, custom necessarily preceded Law, contrary to the pre- 

 valent opinion that an Act of Parliament could do anything. In 

 Constitutional History there had been a famous inversion. Locke had 

 placed the "social contract" at the dawn of history, instead of 

 placing it in its true position as the last result of English 

 development. Rousseau took up the fiction and preached it as truth, 

 and Europe took fire over it. However, it was to be observed that it was a 

 fiction only when in its wrong place — not as Sir H. Maine and Mr. W. S. 

 Lilly appeared to think, a fiction altogether. There was a parallel mis- 

 conception to this last in a wider sphere. Because the old view of the 

 connection between Reason and Nature seemed to be erroneous, therefore 

 it was argued that "the Universe was mindless." The great inversion, of 

 which all others were shreds and patches, was to be found in the " Timseus" 

 of Plato. It was the Darwinian theory read backwards. Similarly, in 

 Plato there was an inverted conception of the true process of thought. He 

 looked on abstractions as the only real existences, and held, consequently, 

 that "so long as a man is trying to study any sensible object, lie cannot 

 be said to have learned anything." The Platonic view of abstractions 

 became the Realism of the Middle Ages. This Realism, as Professor 

 Huxley pointed out, was rampant among us still, in the shape of the second 

 fallacious tendency referred to — the personification of general conceptions. 

 Professor Huxley regarded the tendency as liable only to mislead the careless 

 and ignorant; but it was doubtful whether even the most cautious thinkers 

 were not occasionally affected by it. Mr. Darwin, after describing the ball 

 and socket ocelli on the wing feathers of the Argus pheasant, denied that 

 the imitation of light falling on a convex surface which they exhibited 

 could be the result of "chance." In denying Chance, he necessarily 

 affirmed Intention. But where did the intention lie? That was the question 

 of questions. In Mr. Darwin's no doubt historically accurate account of the 

 phenomenon, there was no indication given as to where he thought the 



