Indeed, after an
enormous strain of the constructive intellect, a man may be in no humour
to have his work carped at, even to improve it. In the region of fact,
in observation and experiment, there must be a mass of individual and
unassisted exertion. The use of allies in this region is to check and
confirm the accuracy of the first observer.
Again, an inquirer, by dint of prolonged familiarity with a subject, may
be his own best critic; he may be better able to detect flaws than any
one he could call in. This is another way of stating the superiority of
a particular individual over all others in the same walk. Such a
monarchical position as removes a man alike from the rivalry and from
the sympathy of his fellows, is the exception; mutual criticism and
mutual encouragement are the rule. The social stimulants are of avail in
knowledge and in truth as well as everything else.
A comparison of the state of speculation in the golden age of debate,
with the state of the sciences in the present day, both metaphysical and
physical, shows us clearly enough, what are the fields where polemic is
most profitable. I set aside the struggles of politics and theology, and
look to the scientific form of knowledge, which is, after all, the type
of our highest certainty everywhere.
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