And though we may gradually
master for ourselves many phases of that larger environment, there
always remains a vaster one that is unknown. To that we still relate
ourselves through authorities. Where all the facts are out of sight a
true report and a plausible error read alike, sound alike, feel alike.
Except on a few subjects where our own knowledge is great, we cannot
choose between true and false accounts. So we choose between
trustworthy and untrustworthy reporters. [Footnote: See an
interesting, rather quaint old book: George Cornewall Lewis, _An
Essay on the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion_.]
Theoretically we ought to choose the most expert on each subject. But
the choice of the expert, though a good deal easier than the choice of
truth, is still too difficult and often impracticable. The experts
themselves are not in the least certain who among them is the most
expert. And at that, the expert, even when we can identify him, is,
likely as not, too busy to be consulted, or impossible to get at. But
there are people whom we can identify easily enough because they are
the people who are at the head of affairs. Parents, teachers, and
masterful friends are the first people of this sort we encounter. Into
the difficult question of why children trust one parent rather than
another, the history teacher rather than the Sunday school teacher, we
need not try to enter.
Pages:
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236