-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE BENEFITS OF LITERATURE. ← Page 2 of 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Benefits Of Literature.
Men , who turn' their attention to the boundless field of inquiry , and still more who recollect the innumerable errors and cap _ rices of mind , are apt to imagine that the labour is without benefit , and endless . But this cannot be the case , if truth' at last have any real existence . Errors will , during the whole period of their reign , combat each otherprejudices that have passed unsuspected for ages
; , will have their era of detection ; but , if in any science we discover one solitary truth , it cannot be overthrown . Such are the arguments that may be advanced in favour of Literature . But , even should we admit them in their full force , atid at the same time suppose that truth is the omnipotent artificer by which mind can infallibly be regulated , it would yet by no means
sufficiently follow , that Literature is alone adequate to all the purposes' of human improvement . Literature , and particularly that literature by which prejudice is superseded , and the mind is strung to a firmer tone , exists only as the portion of a few . The multitude , at least in the present state of human society , cannot partake of its illuminations . For that purpose it would be necessary , that the general system of policy should become favourable , that every individual should have leisure for reasoning and reflection , and that
there should beno species of public institution , which , having ialsehood for its basis , should counteract their progress . This state of society , if it did not precede the general dissemination of truth , would at least be the immediate result of it . But in representing this state of society as the ultimate result , we should incur an obvious fallacy . The discovery of truth is a pursuit of such vast extentthat it is scarcely possible to prescribe
, bounds to it . Those great lines , which seem at present to mark the limits of human understanding , will , like the mists that rise from a fake , retire farther and farther the more closely we approach them . A certain quantity of truth will be sufficient for the subversion of tyranny and usurpation ; and this subversion , by a reflected forcewill assist our understandings in the discovery of truth . ' In
, the mean time it is not easy to define the exact portion of discovery that must necessarily precede political melioration . The period of partiality and injustice will be shortened , in proportion as political rectitude occupies a principal share in our disquisition . When the most considerable part of a nation , either for numbers or influence , becomes convinced of the flagrant absurdity of its institutions , the
whole will soon be prepared tranquilly , and by a sort of common consent , to supersede them .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Benefits Of Literature.
Men , who turn' their attention to the boundless field of inquiry , and still more who recollect the innumerable errors and cap _ rices of mind , are apt to imagine that the labour is without benefit , and endless . But this cannot be the case , if truth' at last have any real existence . Errors will , during the whole period of their reign , combat each otherprejudices that have passed unsuspected for ages
; , will have their era of detection ; but , if in any science we discover one solitary truth , it cannot be overthrown . Such are the arguments that may be advanced in favour of Literature . But , even should we admit them in their full force , atid at the same time suppose that truth is the omnipotent artificer by which mind can infallibly be regulated , it would yet by no means
sufficiently follow , that Literature is alone adequate to all the purposes' of human improvement . Literature , and particularly that literature by which prejudice is superseded , and the mind is strung to a firmer tone , exists only as the portion of a few . The multitude , at least in the present state of human society , cannot partake of its illuminations . For that purpose it would be necessary , that the general system of policy should become favourable , that every individual should have leisure for reasoning and reflection , and that
there should beno species of public institution , which , having ialsehood for its basis , should counteract their progress . This state of society , if it did not precede the general dissemination of truth , would at least be the immediate result of it . But in representing this state of society as the ultimate result , we should incur an obvious fallacy . The discovery of truth is a pursuit of such vast extentthat it is scarcely possible to prescribe
, bounds to it . Those great lines , which seem at present to mark the limits of human understanding , will , like the mists that rise from a fake , retire farther and farther the more closely we approach them . A certain quantity of truth will be sufficient for the subversion of tyranny and usurpation ; and this subversion , by a reflected forcewill assist our understandings in the discovery of truth . ' In
, the mean time it is not easy to define the exact portion of discovery that must necessarily precede political melioration . The period of partiality and injustice will be shortened , in proportion as political rectitude occupies a principal share in our disquisition . When the most considerable part of a nation , either for numbers or influence , becomes convinced of the flagrant absurdity of its institutions , the
whole will soon be prepared tranquilly , and by a sort of common consent , to supersede them .