Ethical Functions of Scientific Study — Chamherlin. 385 
opinion. Conjectures, assertions, opinions, current impressions, 
pre-conceived notions, accepted doctrines, all alike are pushed 
aside to give free scope to untrammelled inductions from care- 
fully sifted evidence. 
4. It is a further canon of creative scholarship that conclu- 
sions are to be withheld when evidence is insufficient. It is as 
important to withhold assent, when the proof is inadequate, as 
to yield assent when it is ample. The measure of acceptance in 
any case is precisely the measure of the evidence . In this re- 
gard the law of scholarship stands opposed to the law of action. 
Given two courses to be pursued upon which insufficient evidence 
sheds an uncertain light, the man of action, when action is re- 
quired, will choose that course towards which the balance of 
evidence, however slight, inclines. The scliolar, when scholar- 
ship is required, merely balances the evidence, determines the 
measure and direction of preponderance, and there rests his 
judgment. If 51 per cent, of such probabilities as there maybe 
indicate that the one course is the true one, against 49 per cent, 
indicative that the other course is the right one, even though 
the total of indications be small, the law of action, when action 
is imminent, demands that the former should be chosen, and 
faith summoned to take the place of knowledge. But the law 
of scholarship demands that the evidence be simply evaluated 
as 51 to 49, and the judgaient there rested with no conclusion 
and but slight tendency to belief, since 51 per cent, of such 
evidence as there is is far less than what there should be to 
justify an induction. The habit of withholding conclusions is 
therefore an essential factor in the trustworthy determination 
of knowledge. 
5. A fifth and supreme characteristic of typical scientific 
study, is a judicial attitude of the mind. The supreme endeavor 
is to present a disposition of absolute fairness toward all evidence 
and all inductions. Belief and unbelief are alike unto it. 
Whatever evidence demands, that it accepts; whichever way 
the balance of evidence inclines, to that it leans. There is no 
resistance to the leadings of evidence; there is no pressing of 
evidence to give it greater or less than its intrinsic weight. All 
lines of inquiry are pursued with equal avidity; all phenomena 
are welcomed with equal cordiality. The mind opens itself 
on all sides to all avenues of truth with equal impartiality. 
