SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE METHODS 



which he is expounding. It is the man who by 

 long years of patient thinking has completely 

 mastered the system, and has it so thoroughly 

 elaborated in his mind that he can sit down 

 and write it out of the fulness of his knowledge, 

 without needing to look at books. And in such 

 cases it is no doubt desirable to shut one's self 

 up and allow nothing to distract the mind until 

 the work is accomplished. So far, Comte was 

 doubtless wise in doing as he did. But beyond 

 this point, there is no wisdom in keeping aloof 

 from contemporary matters. As soon as writ- 

 ing is done, reading should begin again ; every 

 conclusion should be carefully verified, and 

 every statement revised in the light of the new- 

 est science. Otherwise room is left for the sub- 

 jective method to enter, and opportunity is 

 given the mind to tickle itself with the belief 

 that it has reached finality on some points. 

 There is no safety for the thinker who isolates 

 himself, year after year, from the work which 

 his contemporaries are doing. Such a proceed- 

 ing, as Comte's experience is enough to show, 

 is fraught with grave dangers, both intellectual 

 and moral. The intellectual danger is that the 

 thinker will be left hopelessly in the rear of the 

 scientific movement of the age ; will lose, from 

 lack of the requisite stimulus supplied by open 

 criticism and argument, the habit of bringing 

 all his conclusions to the test of verification ; 

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