Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Whately advises an orator, when deep-rooted prejudices are to be overcome, not to make a refutation stronger than is barely sufficient, and adds this illustration: in driving wedges into a block of wood to split it, too hard a blow will throw out the wedge.

Political doctrines have always been subjects of illustrative comparisons. In Burke's hands, they are sometimes buried under a load of similes and metaphors; see § 105.

In Political Economy, the law that demand follows supply is illustrated by saying, "the two find their level."

In subjects of the third class above mentioned—Ethics, Criticism, Character, Philosophy of History—where generalities are still found, but of a vague character, interest is sought after, no less than instruction, and the illustrations are still more addressed to the feelings.

It has been a constant endeavor to combine ethical instruction with the interest of poetry. So criticism, in literature and in art, instead of being a severe and cold enunciation of principles, is itself decorated with the figures of imagination. Both the one and the other have been repeatedly chosen as the subjects of poems.

67. Although at the risk of repetition, we shall here make a general remark applicable to the expository use of both examples and metaphors addressed to the feelings.

It is naturally desired to soften the rigors of scientific exposition by elements of pervading human interest.

The sources of interest proper to science are chiefly these: the attainment of trustworthy knowledge for the purposes of life; the sense of power imparted by the great and commanding generalities; and the feelings touched by the special objects of science as objects of sense--the stars, the geological up-building of the earth, the mineral forms, and the variety of vegetable and animal life. There is also the excitement of narrative and plot in the history of science, and in watching the course of discovery. The united effect of these influences is not suffi

cient for inducing men in general to undergo the labor of the abstruser sciences. Hence the endeavors to widen the sphere of attractions by other charms,—those that form the distinction of Poetry.

Plato made the first attempt on a grand scale to relieve the severity of philosophical discussion with touches of general human interest. He adopted the form of the Dialogue, to introduce the action and re-action of personalities, as in the Drama. Before commencing the discussion of a question, he brings the speakers forward in a scene, with minute circumstantials of time and place, such as we witness on the stage. (See, as examples, the Charmides, the Cratylus, and the opening of the Republic.) The following short specimen, from the Dialogue called Phædrus, serves as the introduction to an inquiry into the truth of mythology :—

"Phædrus. Dost thou see that very tall plane-tree?

Socrates. Certainly I do.

Phædrus. There is shade there, and the wind is not too strong, and there is grass to sit, or, if we like, to lie down.

Socrates. Lead on, then.

Phædrus. Tell me, Socrates, is it not from some place here, they say that Boreas carried away Oreithyia from the Ilissos? Socrates. So they say.

Phædrus. Should it not be from this spot? For the waters seem so lovely and pure and transparent, and as if made for girls to play on the bank.

Socrates. No, it is two or three you cross over to the Temple of Agra. an altar of Boreas.

stadia further down, where There you find somewhere

Phædrus. I was not aware of this; but tell me, by Zeus, O Socrates, dost thou believe this myth to be true?"

In the Platonic Dialogues, sublimity, pathos, poetic beauty, humor, are produced by turns, as in a poem; while their avowed purpose is to ascertain philosophic truth. The cross-questioning operation of Socrates is exhibited upon a great variety of opponents; and the debate is interrupted by dramatic displays of personal feeling.

68. The chief scope for extraneous interest is in the choice of examples and illustrations.

Among the Platonic arts of exposition we must include ex

LIMITS OF ILLUSTBATTON.

203

amples and similes, which often excite other emotions than those belonging to science. The painful effect of the crossquestioning of Socrates, is compared to the shock of the torpedo. Again, Socrates represents himself as seeking the good of his fellow-citizens, and not captivating them by showy arts; and hence, if brought to trial for his conduct, he would be like a physician arraigned by the confectioner before a jury of children.

The ass of Buridan, held in suspense between the equal attractions of two bundles of hay, is an immortal illustration of the equipoise of motives in the human will. The humorous representation of George II., in 1741, quoted from Carlyle on p. 170, is an extension of this figure.

Paley's famous simile of the pigeons, in illustration of the nature of private property, is calculated to gratify the invidious. sentiment felt towards the holders of property by those that have none,- —an emotion altogether extraneous to science. Locke's affecting illustration of the fading of our recollections is given in Extract II.

The sentiment of wonder is often appealed to.

The antiquarian interest of Geology is highly stimulating. Slight occasions of personal feeling will arise in the driest expositions. An allusion to a great discoverer, an expression of esteem or of contempt, of approbation or of disapprobation, of sympathy with the learner's difficulties, will impart unction and give a passing relief to the tension of the mind.

69. With regard to the employment of illustrations for expository ends, the conditions and limitations already prescribed, under Figures of Similarity (p. 26), are fully applicable.

If the illustrations are sought exclusively for the sake of clearness, that is, if the ends of feeling and fancy are set aside, there is little danger of a wrong choice; the suitability must be evident to any one that attends to the matter. It is under the pressure of the extraneous motive of general human interest, that darkening illustrations are resorted to.

In the best scientific writings, illustrations of a highly figurative nature are brought in only at considerable intervals; the exposition being chiefly made up of iteration, example, &c.

The due medium is thought to be realized in many of the Dialogues of Plato, although in regard to some the critics of his own country, whose taste on such a point was consummate, have charged him with excess.

The following short paragraph from Dr. Whewell has been praised as a specimen of philosophic style. It begins with a statement, follows up with an example, and closes with a happy illustration.

"The type-species of every genus, the type-genus of every family, is, then, one which possesses all the characters and properties of the genus in a marked and prominent manner. The type of the Rose family has alternate stipulate leaves, wants the albumen, has the ovules not erect, has the stigmata simple, and besides these features, which distinguish it from the exceptions or varieties in its class, it has the features which make it prominent in its class. It is one of those which possess clearly several leading attributes; and thus, though we cannot say of any one genus that it must be the type of the family, or of any one species that it must be the type of the genus, we are still not wholly to seek the type must be connected by many affinities with most of the others of its group; it must be near the centre of the crowd, and not one of the stragglers."

The next extract is a paragraph from Mr. Samuel Bailey, expounding the great principle of the remission or alternation of pleasures. It proceeds by iteration, examples, and illustrations, and will reward a careful study.

"Wit and humor, it must be allowed, may be sometimes out of place, and sometimes carried to excess. This, however, is a liability which they share with other excellent things, and cannot be brought as a specific objection against them, although it may be against the works in which they appear. Enjoyment of every kind must, of course, have intermission; and the more exquisite the pleasure, the more is a suspension required. We sicken at perpetual lusciousness: we loathe the unvarying atmosphere of a scented room, although 'all Arabia breathes' from its recesses. 'The breath of flowers,' as Bacon beautifully observes, 'is far sweeter in the air, when it comes and goes like the warbling of music, than in the hand.' Even the rich illustrations which fancy scatters over the page of the orator or the poet, may be crowded on each other too fast. In eloquence, in fiction, in poetry, in every

CALLING ATTENTION TO DIFFICULTIES.

205

work intended to yield high and permanent pleasure, the body of the work must undoubtedly be something solid, something addressed to good sense or earnest feeling. The figurative decorations must appear no more than elegant foliage, or beautiful convolutions, surrounding the steadfast columns of thought and sentiment. Poets of mere imaginative power, however dazzling, who have not possessed considerable strength of intellect, have never been able to keep a high place in public estimation. For B while we are pleased to rise above the earth, and wing our way through the atmosphere of fancy; but we soon grow weary of an excursion which is all flight. In defiance of Bishop Berkeley, we must have a world of solid matter to alight and repose on."

70. Y. By calling attention to the special difficulties of the matter expounded.

It may be of the greatest use to show the precise difficulties that an exposition is intended to meet; an interest is aroused, and the ingenuity is put on the alert to judge of the attainment of the end proposed. Paley, in the preface to his Moral Philosophy, remarks :—

"Concerning the principle of morals, it would be premature to speak; but concerning the manner of unfolding and explaining that principle, I have somewhat which I wish to be remarked. An experience of nine years in the office of a public tutor in one of the universities, and in that department of education to which these chapters relate, afforded me frequent occasions to observe, that, in discoursing to young minds upon topics of morality, it required much more pains to make them perceive the difficulty, than to understand the solution; that, unless the subject was so drawn up to a point, as to exhibit the full force of an objection, or the exact place of a doubt, before any explanation was entered upon,— in other words, unless some curiosity was excited before it was attempted to be satisfied, the labor of the teacher was lost. When information was not desired, it was seldom, I found, retained. I have made this observation my guide in the following work: that is, upon each occasion I have endeavored, before I suffered myself to proceed in the disquisition, to put the reader in complete possession of the question; and to do it in a way that I thought most likely to stir up his own doubts and solicitude about it."

The Socratic cross-questioning operation resulted in a painful sense of ignorance, which was the best preparation for the attainment of real knowledge.

71. VI. The Proof of a principle indirectly contributes to its exposition.

« AnteriorContinuar »