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Article LEIBNIZ AND SPINOZA. ← Page 9 of 25 →
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Leibniz And Spinoza.
unaccountable ; there are persons towards Avhom we find ourselves irresistibly attracted , others from Avhom AVC feel ourselves as decidedly repulsed ; they may not intend it , they do not intend it ; Ave may have every reason to look on them as Airtuous and excellent , and they may have reason to regard us in the same light ; but there is a total Avant of sympathbetween us
y , and often there is something more than a mere Avant of sympathy . NOAV , there is nothing more practically foolish than to treat these feelings as though they Avere mere prejudices ; those who attempt to force then' inclinations , and become intimate Avith the persons against Avhom Nature Avarns them , invariably suffer for their folly . It does not folloAV that because
I have no sympathies in common with A . B . that , therefore , I am to look on him as though he were worse than the rest of mankind ; far from it ; he may be a much better man than I am myself , but we do not suit , we could not work Avell together ; oil is good , and water is good , but they Avill not mix neverthelessand they mustthereforebe used separatel the Avorld is
, , , y ; quite Avide enough for A . B . and myself ; Ave can find friends independently of each other , and if Ave are wise we shall do so . Erom friendship the Abbe proceeds to a still more delicate subject , the virtue , modesty , and sincerity of Aromen , and here
the Avretched infidel , abbe as he was , becomes more intolerable than ever ; poor dears , he will hardly alloAV them the shadow of a good quality : their virtue is but their care of their reputation , their modesty is but coldness of temperament , and their constancy is but the continuance of caprice . Of course , Leibniz has here a fair field , and could hardly fail to overthrow his
opponent ; but in so doing he displays a great knovdedge of the Avorld ; he observes , that education has far more to do with these virtues than is sometimes alloAved : take two women , alike in temperament , alike in intellectual power , and alike in conscientious feeling , but let one be brought up in an indifferent coterie at Naples or Viennaand another in Avhat is really the best
, society in England , and there Avould be , doubtless , many subjects on Avhich the thoughts of the one Avould be absolutely unintelligible to the other , and yet both may be in essentials virtuous . Again , as to the case of reputation , this is a good motive , though it ought not to be the sole one ; and as to coldness of temperamentit is just as fair to deny the merit of
, female virtue on this ground , as it would be to say that temperance is no virtue in any man , because some men do not care for "Vine . Female virtue has , however , three safeguards , pride , religion , and affection . The care of reputation is of little avail where error may be indulged , and yet reputation be preserved , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Leibniz And Spinoza.
unaccountable ; there are persons towards Avhom we find ourselves irresistibly attracted , others from Avhom AVC feel ourselves as decidedly repulsed ; they may not intend it , they do not intend it ; Ave may have every reason to look on them as Airtuous and excellent , and they may have reason to regard us in the same light ; but there is a total Avant of sympathbetween us
y , and often there is something more than a mere Avant of sympathy . NOAV , there is nothing more practically foolish than to treat these feelings as though they Avere mere prejudices ; those who attempt to force then' inclinations , and become intimate Avith the persons against Avhom Nature Avarns them , invariably suffer for their folly . It does not folloAV that because
I have no sympathies in common with A . B . that , therefore , I am to look on him as though he were worse than the rest of mankind ; far from it ; he may be a much better man than I am myself , but we do not suit , we could not work Avell together ; oil is good , and water is good , but they Avill not mix neverthelessand they mustthereforebe used separatel the Avorld is
, , , y ; quite Avide enough for A . B . and myself ; Ave can find friends independently of each other , and if Ave are wise we shall do so . Erom friendship the Abbe proceeds to a still more delicate subject , the virtue , modesty , and sincerity of Aromen , and here
the Avretched infidel , abbe as he was , becomes more intolerable than ever ; poor dears , he will hardly alloAV them the shadow of a good quality : their virtue is but their care of their reputation , their modesty is but coldness of temperament , and their constancy is but the continuance of caprice . Of course , Leibniz has here a fair field , and could hardly fail to overthrow his
opponent ; but in so doing he displays a great knovdedge of the Avorld ; he observes , that education has far more to do with these virtues than is sometimes alloAved : take two women , alike in temperament , alike in intellectual power , and alike in conscientious feeling , but let one be brought up in an indifferent coterie at Naples or Viennaand another in Avhat is really the best
, society in England , and there Avould be , doubtless , many subjects on Avhich the thoughts of the one Avould be absolutely unintelligible to the other , and yet both may be in essentials virtuous . Again , as to the case of reputation , this is a good motive , though it ought not to be the sole one ; and as to coldness of temperamentit is just as fair to deny the merit of
, female virtue on this ground , as it would be to say that temperance is no virtue in any man , because some men do not care for "Vine . Female virtue has , however , three safeguards , pride , religion , and affection . The care of reputation is of little avail where error may be indulged , and yet reputation be preserved , and