COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



The iconoclast, who has the welfare of man- 

 kind nearest his heart, will indeed probably 

 blame us as too conservative, — as lacking in 

 robust and wholesome aggressiveness. And he 

 will perhaps find fault with us for respecting 

 prejudices which he thinks ought to be shocked. 

 Our reply must be, that it is not by wound- 

 ing prejudices that the cause of truth is most 

 efficiently served. Men do not give up their 

 false or inadequate beliefs by hearing them 

 scoffed at or harshly criticised : they give them 

 up only when they have been taught truths with 

 which the false or inadequate beliefs are incom- 

 patible. The object of the scientific philosopher, 

 therefore, will be to organize science and extend 

 the boundaries of knowledge. 



If he obtains a fresh morsel of truth, he will 

 proclaim it to the world without dread of con- 

 sequences, and let it bide its time until societ)^ 

 comes, of its own free will and intelligence, to 

 accept it. But while feeling it unnecessary, and 

 often unadvisable, to urge his views upon others, 

 no craven fear of obloquy will prevail upon him 

 to conceal them when it is desirable that they 

 should be stated. He will state them without 

 mental reservation, and, above all, without fear 

 of any possible harm that can come from the 

 unhampered quest of truth. There is nothing 

 more reprehensible than the secret dread of 

 ugly consequences with which so many writers 

 370 



