ELEATIC SCHOOL 



Eleatic School. One of the 



chief pre-Socratic Greek philoso- 

 phical schools. It was founded by 

 Xenophanes of Colophon at Elea in 

 Lucania in lower Italy ; its other 

 chief representatives were Par- 

 menides and Zeno (both of Elea), 

 and Melissus of Samos. The kernel 

 of their doctrine was the unity and 

 unalterableness of Being (that 

 which really had a right to the 

 name of existence), the unreality 

 of Becoming (material changes), of 

 Plurality, and of sensual percep- 

 tions. The real nature of things 

 cannot be perceived by means of 

 the senses, but is only attainable 

 by thought. All that is given us by 

 the senses is mere appearance. 

 Since the senses show us only 

 plurality and the manifold, and 

 since the separate parts of the 

 world, such as it presents itself to 

 our senses, both differ in them- 

 selves and are subject to constant 

 change and movement, they as- 

 serted that Being was only one, 

 unchangeable, and immovable. 

 Only Being is ; non-Being is not ; 

 there is no Becoming. Starting 

 from the assumption that the idea 

 of real Being excludes anything 

 contradictory, the Eleatics argued 

 that Plurality, and above all Move- 

 ment, could neither be Being itself 

 nor found in connexion with Being. 



Election (Lat. electio, choice). 

 Term used in several senses, legal, 

 theological, and political. In Eng- 

 lish law a man has sometimes to 

 choose which of two courses he 

 will take. Thus, if A. B. sells me 

 first quality oats and delivers 

 second quality, I can either reject 

 them altogether or keep them and 

 pay for them, counter-claiming for 

 breach of warranty of quality. But 

 I cannot keep the oats and decline 

 to pay. If I do not forthwith reject 

 them I have elected to keep them. 

 Again, circumstances sometimes 

 arise where one has to choose, or 

 elect, whether one will retain the 

 benefit of a gift inter vivoa (among 

 the living), as, for instance, under a 

 marriage settlement or a deed of 

 appointment ; or give it up and 

 take a proffered benefit under a 

 will. Election implies knowledge ; 

 that is, a man can only elect where 

 he knows his rights. 



Election. Term used in theology 

 for the doctrine that God from 

 eternity has chosen certain persons 

 for eternal life. In the O.T. the 

 term elect is applied to the Israel- 

 ites, as the chosen people of God. 

 In the N.T. the members of the 

 Christian Church are called the 

 elect in 1 Peter 2, and in S. Paul's 

 epistles to Thessalonians, Colos- 

 sians, and Timothy. The Calvin- 

 istio view that God has elected 

 certain persons to be saved and 



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others lost, and this solely by His 

 own Will and irrespective of any 

 merit or demerit in the individuals, 

 was never held previous to the 

 Reformation. The usual view was 

 to identify the elect with the bap- 

 tized, in the sense that they had 

 been chosen and called to a Chris- 

 tian profession ; but to recognize 

 the possibility of falling away from 

 such a profession. Only those who 

 persevered in Christian living to 

 the end could be regarded as the 

 people whom God had foreknown 

 and chosen from the beginning as 

 His faithful followers. The Church 

 catholic has never maintained that 

 the election of the faithful implied 

 the condemnation of those denied 

 the opportunity of election. 



Election. In politics, and to 

 some extent in business, the 

 choosing of representatives. The 

 methods of election vary, but, gen- 

 erally speaking, a bare majority of 

 votes is sufficient to secure elec- 

 tion, although this may be either a 

 majority of the votes cast, or a 

 majority of those entitled to vote. 



The first elections were decided 

 by the casting of lots, a method in 

 force among the Greeks and 

 Romans, but modern ideas are 

 averse to this. Election by the 

 votes of the electors began with the 

 growth of the idea of representa- 

 tion. In the 12th century, and per- 

 haps earlier, the reeve and four men 

 represented the village communi- 

 ties of England on various occa- 

 sions, and in some rough manner 

 these four men were elected by 

 those for whom they spoke. The 

 system grew with the growth of 

 parliamentary institutions ; knights 

 of the shire, and burgesses for the 

 boroughs, were elected, as well as 

 other officials. Until quite modern 

 times the method was rough ; those 

 present just held up their hands, or 

 shouted, much as they do at a pub- 

 lic meeting to-day, and the sheriff 

 declared certain men elected. 



There isproof that the sheriffs ab- 

 used their power, declaring the elec- 

 tion of persons not rightly chosen, 

 and checks upon them were intro 

 duced. For parliamentary elections 

 there came in the method of open 

 voting on the hustings, and then the 

 present system, which is almost en- 

 tirely the creation of the 19th cen- 

 tury. It includes voting by ballot, 

 a careful enumeration of the votes 

 cast, and, if necessary, a scrutiny 

 and recount ; indeed, every pos- 

 sible device to secure that the 

 wishes of the voters prevail. 



Elections are divided into general 

 and bye. A general election is when 

 at a stated time all the members 

 retire, as on the dissolution of 

 parliament; and a bye -election is 

 when an election is necessary 



ELECTION 



through a death or resignation. In 

 elections for many local bodies, e.g. 

 town councils in England, it is cus- 

 tomary for one-third of the mem- 

 bers to retire every year, so there is 

 never a general election. County 

 councils, however, have a general 

 election every third year. 



A fundamental division is be- 

 tween direct and indirect elections. 

 In the former the voters them- 

 selves choose their representatives, 

 each voter having as many votes as 

 there are members to be elected. 

 Elections to the House of Commons 

 are the best known of this kind. In- 

 direct elections are when the elec- 

 tors choose certain men who, in 

 their turn, elect the actual repre- 

 sentative. The most notable exist- 

 ing instance of this kind is the 

 election of the American president, 



of electors. The Venetian republic 

 had an elaborate system of in- 

 direct election when choosing a 

 doge. The election of aldermen in 

 English boroughs and county coun- 

 cils is a somewhat different kind of 

 indirect election. They are chosen 

 by the directly elected councillors, 

 but the latter are not returned 

 solely, or even mainly, for this pur- 

 pose. In some countries members 

 of the Senate or second chamber 

 are chosen by indirect election. 



Elections at the best are but a 

 crude test of the people's will, so 

 vast are the numbers engaged, and 

 so great the possibili ties of manipu- 

 lation. It has actually happened 

 more than once that a minority of 

 electors have returned a majority 

 of the members to the British 

 House of Commons. To make this 

 impossible, and also to secure the 

 representation of minorities, vari- 

 ous proposals, proportional repre- 

 sentation and the alternative vote, 

 for instance, have been put forward. 



At elections of company direc- 

 tors a show of hands is usually 

 sufficient, but, under certain con- 

 ditions, those dissatisfied with the 

 decision can demand a poll. In 

 elections of this kind, unlike politi- 

 cal ones, the shareholders have 

 votes in proportion to their interest 

 in the company. A further device 

 prevails at elections of members to 

 clubs and societies. There a small 

 number of members can keep out a 

 candidate by voting against him : 

 this is called blackballing, from the 

 practice of using black balls for this 

 purpose. Election is the term 

 used for the choice of fellows or 

 scholars at the colleges of Oxford 

 and Cambridge. Professors are also 

 elected in most cases ; those ap- 

 pointed to choose them being called 

 electors. See Alternative Vote ; 

 Company Law ; Politics ; Pro- 

 portional Representation ; Vote. 



