A few remarks are deemed requisite on this topic. A pre-judgment is an
assumption, that a proposition or statement is true or false, before the
facts, bearing upon the case, have been heard. Such assumptions are
generally classed under the term prejudice. Thus it is said of
individuals, that they are prejudiced in favor or against certain
persons, sentiments, or causes. The real meaning of such statements is,
that individuals have made assumptions in one direction or another,
prior to a hearing of the facts of the case, and irrespective of such
facts.
INTELLECT NOT DECEIVED IN PRE-JUDGMENTS.
It is commonly said, that such prejudices, or pre-judgments, blind the
mind to facts of one class, and render it quick to discern those of the
other, and thus lead to a real mis-direction of the Intelligence. This I
think is not a correct statement of the case. Pre-judgments may, and
often do, prevent all proper investigation of a subject. In this case,
the Intelligence is not deceived at all. In the absence of real data, it
can make no positive affirmations whatever.
So far also as pre-judgments direct attention from facts bearing upon
one side of a question, and to those bearing upon the other, the
Intelligence is not thereby deceived. All that it can affirm is the true
bearing of the facts actually presented. In respect to those not
presented, and consequently in respect to the real merits of the whole
case, it makes no affirmations. If an individual forms an opinion from a
partial hearing, that opinion is a mere assumption of Will, and nothing
else.
THE MIND HOW INFLUENCED BY PRE-JUDGMENTS.
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