How to Observe: Morals and MannersMartineau, Harriet
Science
How to Observe: Morals and Manners
Martineau, Harriet
Manners and customs; Observation (Psychology); Social psychology -- Methodology
the explanatory and apologetical notes are duly inserted in new
editions of geological works, and nothing more can come of the mistake.
But it is difficult to foresee when the British public will believe that
the Americans are a mirthful nation, or even that the French are not
almost all cooks or dancing-masters. A century hence, probably, the
Americans will continue to believe that all the English make a regular
study of the art of conversation; and the lower orders of French will be
still telling their children that half the people in England hang or
drown themselves every November. As long as travellers generalize on
morals and manners as hastily as they do, it will probably be impossible
to establish a general conviction that no civilized nation is
ascertainably better or worse than any other on this side barbarism, the
whole field of morals being taken into the view. As long as travellers
continue to neglect the safe means of generalization which are within
the reach of all, and build theories upon the manifestations of
individual minds, there is little hope of inspiring men with that spirit
of impartiality, mutual deference, and love, which are the best
enlighteners of the eyes and rectifiers of the understanding.
Above all things, the traveller must not despair of good results from
his observations. Because he cannot establish true conclusions by
imperfect means, he is not to desist from doing anything at all. Because
he cannot safely generalize in one way, it does not follow that there is
no other way. There are methods of safe generalization of which I shall
speak by-and-by. But, if there were not such within his reach, if his
only materials were the discourse, the opinions, the feelings, the way
of life, the looks, dress, and manners of individuals, he might still
afford important contributions to science by his observations on as wide
a variety of these as he can bring within his mental grasp. The
experience of a large number of observers would in time yield materials
from which a cautious philosopher might draw conclusions. It is a safe
rule, in morals as in physics, that no fact is without its use. Every
observer and recorder is fulfilling a function; and no one observer or
recorder ought to feel discouragement, as long as he desires to be
useful rather than shining; to be the servant rather than the lord of
science, and a friend to the home-stayers rather than their dictator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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