Show SPENCER ON VERACITY SPENCER the noted philosopher expresses la in the boto jorae thou monthly for august oer I 1 bights on veracity mr spen a ikkei asly ar kable writer he deals sport drw in ia assertion bertion Mer tion which he falls to to ia by elaborate reasoning this the th result belu because h hia is statements are which hloch of matured mental analysis used eed b ha b e dols not appear to think tipon n the div ell 60 to the reader he relies ani ve rn i self evident of his I 1 on this basis he seems to etc belr the their unquestioned accept aa present article la Is not up to his hi usual standard as he says say but little lidle if anything beyond what ordinarily observant and intelligent people are aware of his hia opening sentence Js ie a sweeper here it in ie complete truthfulness is one of the rarest of virtues ja 1 such a statement as that is strikingly true if not specially comforting if truthfulness is viewed from the stand point of fine lines many persons who pride themselves on their freedom from falsehood will have a little of their self appreciation eliminated I 1 it t in eludes overstating a matter for the purpose of giving it an intensity that does not belong to it or understating in order to modify it below its real standard of importance then there are the cases innumerable in which people are influenced to deviate from precise truth by personal nal considerations such as the desire to inflict injury the desire to gain a material advantage to escape punishment or other threatened evil the desire to got get favor by saying things that please asserting reasserting re be the idea embraced in the opening sentence mr spencer says in mankind at large the love of truth for truths sake irrespective of ends Is in but little exemplified 21 the writer of the article in question furnishes numerous examples of human races among whom untruthful ness was a conspicuous trait and others comparatively few in number with whom telling the truth was a prominent virtue the whole paper indicates idi oates cates that mr spencer did not d differ much from the psalmist david when the latter said all men are liars the philosophers deduction to is to the effect that untruthfulness prevails most moot among peoples who are subject to coercive governments there is no system of rule that equals that of this country in its embodiment of the genius of freedom in the face of this fact and of the inference of mr spencer the american people are credited with having ability to evade the more exact lines of truthfulness beyond bayon d most other inhabitants of our globe their reputation is in to the effect that their ingenuity in this respect amounts to adroitness which enables them to escape the odium which attaches to blunter departures from correctness this tendency la Is so strong in the ordinary american mind that most of the humorous literature of ef the countr country is composed of pure it will hardly be denied that the exaggeration in earnest keeps steady pace with the disposition to magnify for fun this object lesson comports comforts com ports with mr Spen spencers cerPs theory that freedom from coercive rule and truthfulness walk hand band in hand to operate in unison with a high standard of personal truthfulness ought to be one of the chief objects of every man |