The need of tolerance has been greatly increased by the rise of a social
system which aims to be intelligent, recognizes change as rational, and
seeks to guide it by discussion. Under an older régime, as in the Middle
Ages, the prevalent doctrine was that there could be but one right way
of thinking and that others must be suppressed. And in a society not
organized for discussion there was more truth in this than the modern
reader of history is apt to admit. A thousand years ago freedom of
religious teaching, for example, would probably have resulted in
doctrinal and moral anarchy. Innumerable conflicting sects would have
sprung up, and there was no general organization of thought vigorous
enough to keep them within limits or maintain a voluntary unity. In
this, as in many other fields, we can dispense with a compulsory
discipline because we have developed one which is spontaneous: formerly,
if there was to be a moral whole it had to be authoritative. Even now
this is more or less true of unenlightened populations, and it is only
along with a campaign for enlightenment that we can safely demand
freedom of speech.
It is essential to the intelligent conduct of society that radical
groups, however small and unpopular, should develop and express their
views. Their proposals do good by forcing the discussion of principles
and so leading to an illumination otherwise impossible. The large and
moderate parties have a conforming tendency and usually differ but
little in principles, if indeed they are conscious of these at all. But
the radical programme is a challenge to thought, and can hardly fail to
be educative. For some time past the Socialists have been of the utmost
service in this way, and round their searching theories of human
betterment discussion has largely centred. I have often been impressed
by their value as a factor in clarifying the minds of college students.
Such theories are like the occupation of an advanced post by a
detachment of an army: they push forward the line of battle even if the
position occupied does not, in the long run, prove tenable. We easily
overlook the fact that an honest project is seldom wholly wrong, and
that even if it is there may be profit in discussing it.
The value of partial isolation as a factor in social intelligence is not
often recognized in a democracy, where, under the sway of the
brotherhood idea, we commonly assume that we cannot see too much of one
another. But if we are to have a rich organization of thought, including
many types of men, each good of its kind, we must have a corresponding
diversity of environments in which these types of men may get their
nurture. The culture of individuality, the need of which we are
beginning to recognize, cannot go far except as we also foster
distinctive groups. We need many kinds of family, of school, of church,
of community, of occupational and culture associations, each with a
tradition and spirit of its own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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