That apology would seem sufficient, but we must know what these
labours and studies are, before we can perceive the _depth_ of it. And
if we have the patience to follow him but a step or two further, we
shall find ourselves in the way of some very direct and accurate
information, as to that. For we are coming now, in the order of the
work we quote from, to that very part, which contains the point of all
these labours and studies, the _end_ of them,--that part to which the
science of nature in general, and the secret of this art of tradition,
was a necessary _introduction_. [For this Art of Tradition makes the
link between the new Logic and the application of it to _Human_ Nature
and Human Life.]
Thus far, this art has been treated as a means of simply
_transferring_ knowledge, in such forms as the conditions of the
Advancement of Learning prescribe,--forms adapted to the different
stages of mental advancement, commencing with the lowest range of the
common opinion in his time,--starting with the contemporary opinions
of the majority, and reserving 'the secrets of knowledge,' for such as
are able to receive them. Thus far, it is the Method, and the Organ of
the tradition of which he has spoken. But it is when he comes to speak
of what he calls the _Illustration_ of it, that the convergency of his
design begins to be laid open to us, for this work is not what it may
seem on the surface, as he takes pains to intimate to us--a 'mere
muster-roll of sciences.'
It is when he comes to tell us that he will have his 'truth in beauty
dyed,' that he does not propose to have the new learning left in the
form of argument and logic, or in the form of bare scientific fact,
that he does not mean to appeal with it to the _reason_ only; that he
will have it in a form in which it will be able to attract and allure
men, and make them in love with it, a form in which it will be able to
force its way into the will and the affections, and make a lodgement
in the hearts of men, long ere it is able to reach the judgment;--it
is not till he begins to bring out here, his new doctrine of the true
end of rhetoric, and the use to which it ought to be put in
subordination to science, that we begin to perceive the significance
of the arrangement which brings this theory of an Illustrated Art of
Tradition into immediate connection with the new science of human
nature and human life which the Author is about to constitute,--so as
to serve as an introduction to it--the arrangement which interposes
this art of Tradition, between the New Logic and its application to
Human Nature and Human Life--to POLICY and MORALITY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account