MR. BALFOUR'S GIFFORD LECTURES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2007, 14 March 1914, Page 9

MR. BALFOUR'S GIFFORD LECTURES.

THE BASK W KNOWLEDGE

ANALYSED,

DEVELOpENT OF BELIEF.

Before a scarcely stiminished audience Mr. Balfour, iu his fifth Clifford Loci lure (delivered' on January 21) began the discussion of what he described as i>, move difficult a.nd eoroiaUcated toftie than tiie emotions* and nioral sentiments treated in tho last two lectures. Ho promised to avoid technical ■metaphysical terminology, but he ctmM not help asking them to took at familiar things from ;tn unusual angle: He prepesed to take our body of everyday beliefs and of scientific beliefs, to look at that body Uoth froni the casustl or s?cnetie point of view and from the logical and ratiooai aspect, and to plat© the results side by side. • A Personal Allusion, At this point Mr. Baifour made u pef-£oll9-1 remark lvliieJi deeply interested his audience. He ftad» lie said, heen eharged with having, ia writings published many years ago, attempted to promote scepticism m tlie interests of orthodoxy. It was not only incompetent and unfriendly critics who had accused him of showing how diffieu.lt- it is to aoce.pt ordinary and ekmeirtary ideas,. »fl order ta argtto that, as ktiowledso k beyond us, we had better accept tho beliefs that are most Agreeable t-o ns, and that, as ereritiiiHg is illusory,, we had better make our illfisions as pleasant ft-s possible. "!l'iiat," he' said, "has never been my vica', , ' His pka had always bcea - .iii the iuterests of rationality, and that it should be the object of those who approach knowledge frsft the. widest standpoint to iilace belief in the- utest reasonable fratnonwli.

Turning to Ms imraediftto Subjept, ho said tliat otio of tire difiiewtties* lies in the Cart that every one is willing to see other people's beliefs lit ,tJio double light to which ho na<i referred, but no one is willing apply the same test to his own. Wo all sec that our neighbour's beliefs arc the result of their experiences in childhood, their education, their general social gurrottitdings, and tha psychological '.atmosphere iii which they live. We ft-ll a-Erce- ttiat. historical causes, have k-fluenced tho development of belief iu historical times, but > we shrink from applying these caaom. of criticism to OMrselvcs. Our mvu beliefs, liko tho beliefs from which wemost- 'differ, are part of a capsai series and em bo geneticitJly explained, and their iustory goes back through the '•social history of the commnwiiv.

Mow, lie asked, does it'eome about that there is a comeideßce, Isetivoa-u a rational series which is a* lagieal jijstiil•eatieii of. beliefs and.a eaitsal series ift which reason does not-appear. till the latest stages , ; and tlieti .only. as one of a set of psj'clialowieal iufla'ences ? This qnestimi, ho saicl.hhd nevej , heo-n fated directly and fully. Cotild it- be aiiswcred bv a rofpronco to natural selection or to selection, in. some fprm ? It is trao tluit miyono.-ivho'ftjiefekes tho'ohar-ac tor of the world into which lie k born will jjerish, and that these who make light judgment have thu best- chance ef But it* is arbSti'rd''tb;iay'"thai-, man's poi-vefs' of discourse and ninn's insiglit, limited it- may be into dVeas'of tinte aiid Ep.u-e in whieh. he has no interest whatsoevei'''ean have been bred*, iirto us by the.■ijetessity.'.erobtaiaiitg feed and of* o-ttsting others in the striiggle , for existence. ■ ". '

". Criticism of the EuipiricSi The rest of tlie lectar© was devoted to a critias-ra of the -empirical .philosophy which assigas a privil«ged position to knoAVledge derived :froni esperience. Ho objected tto any -bisection of ledge,' and '■ ho drew attention to the fact that all phll-osfl'phical coStioversfes rage, and'always havo raeed, over tlie very question' as to wliat expeticiree BicattSi as to whdtjier We can infer from it. and as to what we sail infer from it.

Locke had ■written "one nnerriiig mark by which a lnaji inay know whetliM ho is a lpver of truth iu , earnest is by iiot ettSertiiiiiifip; a fteh'uf' in a- proposition with .greater assttraivee than the proofs, that it is > built upd-n will warrant." The woftis, "with greatrt assutaniee than the proofs that "it is ■built ttpon will WfirraiH , ," how -became Mi'. Bali'our's text,. Leslie.Stephen, he said, htid called tliis a platitude. Is it a platitude? Did leclte, did Leslie Stephen,-act upon it? Oeitld the wortd go on if everybody acted u»o-a it ? Ho appeated for a more ctiu'ragoous view, i!)Td. lie insisted that if tho "ivodcl werfi sitcldenly to begin to examino wijat w-e lielievo by the exact* amc-itnt of asWraiico which tho proofs will warrant, t;li.o H'hole possibility of cafrj'ine oil ptastiea.l or even speculative life would come to an -end. _

.He .aske-cj tljeiii to consider the pessibiJity of the education of youth on t-hqsa terms. Tho icsponeo' canio an. a laugh from the aud4eli.ee; and Mr. Balfotir went an to point out that when wp como to years of -discretion' we find ourselves possessed of a body of beliefs aiid sjnffements ..which , iiave been' instilled into us. and wiiicll wo hold without any r-ca-:.soit at all. • ;

ißemhideg fiiem that what lie had hi wind was not religion or pliifasoiiliiv, but wjiat is halted common sense, he asked if the} , wauld advise a young mail BOt.to cuter into practical life imiil :!ig had- niado «p lik uiiad about these var> ious .propositions and the exact grees of assurance with which lie con.ld hold thsta. It VfohM be hidicrtras -to start in life without acceptink many propositions about which it is easy' to argue, but which oven philosophers holsl with greater assurance) than the facts warrant. Let tliem read Locke's own efforts to get outside the- circle of sensations'and imprasakiistotlvo external work}, in Wlifeh lie firmly believed. Let thfflii tarn to psyeiielogy for the Wiclence of eaeb other's existence. He did MOt want to .Ui.M.o.v or to pussklo niiyene, or to suagfi-st a steiJt-real view; ho"only asked thorn: to J'ace thn facts about knowledge in a s-otaitific spirit. . futiirs Lectures.. In eoncJusiou, Jlr.. Batto-nr indicated ttie results at which he to arrive in the next h'v-ojeetutes. Re hoped to show that there are iiievttable. processes of thought, whielt nre aiot logical, and further that i\m% arc probable Wliofs of profound importance for practical life. For himself he ■utterly re-jcrteiil my schorao knq\vledK<5■ Imilt simply up&n a priisri doctriitcs, and he equally fejcctecl the ompii'iftil system which bpW sway in Great Britain wlifen he was .voting, and which is still largely iicce.pteil 'hv ordinary efludated rae.M aftd bv men of scieiice." Heheliered that a eoitfjisiou hetwcM'i causes aud vitiates the whole process of onWrica! iliought, and 1-«j would try to shnft : tiltou when we jook at ■ scientific .knowlpdsio genetically, we find that there ii.i'e ten* dencies rumiing thrawjih. the. wkaie length of this "great and Spkiwlid iiiskn'.v which it is imiKissihlo to attriluite ti .any principle accented I>y a, priori p'liikisophv or iiy evnuCrieal piiilosophvi Ifc. hoped to prove that all their ten.deueios and., inferences wiiicl*, tlioiigh they are mdcjienttont ©f swmd reasoning, QV« liot t-CiiitraVJ , to'it, JIiXVP \iiOK)(liTfi our liiidy of kji.oiv-lciliic. imd that ivilhflufc them vm slwttkl not jmjsscss mt besty of kiioft'leflgei