THE PHILOSOPHIC TEMPER 



believe that the love of truth, displayed either 

 overtly or covertly by the teacher, could ever be 

 a substitute for this, and I gravely question the 

 assumption that such a love of truth may be taken 

 for granted as a necessary ingredient of the teach 

 er s temper. 



On the contrary, I humbly subscribe to the opin 

 ion of Spencer that the love of truth, or the philo 

 sophic temper, is one of the rarest of virtues. 

 Who does not know the struggle within himself 

 when, as in controversy, the love of truth is in 

 conflict with self-esteem, with the love of appear 

 ing to be on the side of truth? Is not the diffi 

 culty with which men acknowledge themselves to 

 be wrong notorious, yet is not such acknowledg 

 ment just exactly a homage to truth ? Yet, if we 

 loved truth as we think we do, the mere demon 

 stration of our error would be unable to cause any 

 emotion of chagrin, for the emotion of joy on hav 

 ing found truth, our heart s desire, would utterly 

 possess us. 



And, finally, I think it may easily be shown 

 from our present educational system that the great 

 majority of us prefer convenience and ease to 

 truth. Many recent writers have urged that the 

 time has now come for the facts of organic evolu 

 tion to be taught in schools. It seems a reason 

 able proposition, does it not? Organic evolution 

 is infinitely more certain since it depends upon 

 evidence of a totally different order than is the 

 truth of any alleged historical fact. It has been 



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