Pagina 583 de 1391

In the pursuit of knowledge we are always pressing forward to

something beyond us; and as a false conception of knowledge, for

example the scholastic philosophy, may lead men astray during

many ages, so the true ideal, though vacant, may draw all their

thoughts in a right direction. It makes a great difference

whether the general expectation of knowledge, as this indefinite

feeling may be termed, is based upon a sound judgment. For

mankind may often entertain a true conception of what knowledge

ought to be when they have but a slender experience of facts. The

correlation of the sciences, the consciousness of the unity of

nature, the idea of classification, the sense of proportion, the

unwillingness to stop short of certainty or to confound

probability with truth, are important principles of the higher

education.