I

THE PROPER MENTAL ATTITUDE

The first essential is that the student should have the proper mental attitude. That attitude should not be one of subservience, of blind believing, but should be one of mental courage and determination. His object is to understand the subject, not simply to read a book. If the book is a proper one for him to read, that is to say, if he has the proper preparation, and requisite mental power, then he is capable of mastering it. He is to master the book, the book is not to master him. He is to learn what the writer of the book thinks in matters of opinion, but he is never to accept such views blindly, and is to believe them only when he sees them to be true. Many students accept blindly as truth whatever they see on a printed page that they are required to read. To do this, even if what is read be remembered, is to study by rote; it makes a routine, rule-of-thumb man, who merely imitates or copies. He should realize that nothing is true simply because it is in a book, but should accept it only when it passes the test of his own understanding. Mental courage, therefore, is essential for a proper method of study, without which the student will become little more than a parrot. He must possess self-confidence, a consciousness of his power to master the subject, and a firm determination to master it. Of course, nobody should read a book that he is incapable of mastering or unprepared to understand. A suitable preparation and sufficient mental power are of course essential, and are here assumed. The point is that the sense of his own power and the determination to use it should be constantly in his mind.

Students are of course frequently, if not generally, limited in the time which they have available for any given lesson, and they may not be able to follow out completely the methods recommended in this paper. It may therefore be necessary for a student frequently to accept a statement which he reads, although he is not at the time able to see the reason for it. In all cases, however, he should endeavor to perceive whether it is a mere fact or definition, or whether it has a reason, and if he cannot at the time understand the reason he should accept the statement only tentatively, making a note of it as something which he must return to and study further if he wishes thoroughly to master the subject.

(a) THE STUDENT MUST DISTINGUISH CLEARLY BETWEEN READING AND UNDERSTANDING.—Reading alone, no matter how extensive, or how retentive the memory, will not give wisdom or power.

"Who reads
Incessantly, and to his reading brings not
A spirit and judgment equal or superior
Uncertain and unsettled still remains,
Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself."

No doubt every one finds himself at times reading merely words or phrases without understanding them, reflecting about them, or translating them into terms which are intelligible to his understanding. Such reading is worse than useless; it leads to actual mental injury. Whenever we find ourselves doing this we should therefore arouse ourselves, make an effort of will, and concentrate our attention upon the subject, insisting upon understanding it. If for any reason we are unable to do this, we should close the book, take some exercise or recreation, or at any rate do something else, for we are not at the moment fitted for study. We might as well eat sawdust and deceive ourselves with thinking that we are taking nourishment. It is not what is read or what is remembered, but only what is understood, that gives power,

"In this quest of knowledge ... there are two faults to be shunned—one, the taking of unknown things for known, and giving an assent to them too hastily, which fault he who wishes to escape (and all ought so to wish) will give time and diligence to reflect on the subjects proposed for his consideration. The other fault is that some bestow too great zeal and too much labor on things obscure and difficult, and at the same time useless."—Cicero: de Officiis.

(b) THE STUDENT MUST CLEARLY DISTINGUISH MERE FACTS FROM CONCLUSIONS OR OPINIONS.—Mere facts, some of which may be the result of laborious investigation, may be accepted without verification, if the authority is good. When the student reads that the river Nile rises in Equatorial Africa, flows in a northerly direction through Egypt into the Mediterranean sea, he cannot verify this statement nor reason out that it must be so. It is a mere fact and a name, and he simply accepts it, perhaps looking at the map to fix the fact in his mind. So, too, if he reads that the atomic weight of oxygen is 16, or that a cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 pounds, he cannot be expected to perform the experiments necessary to verify these statements. If he were to do this throughout his reading, he would have to make all the investigations made in the subject since man has studied it, taking no advantage of the labor of others.

Very different are conclusions or opinions deduced from facts; and logical conclusions are very different from mere opinions. The facts may be sufficient to prove logically a certain conclusion. On the other hand, the facts may simply give reasonable ground, or appear to give reasonable ground, for a certain opinion, though they may fall far short of demonstration. The student must, therefore, discriminate constantly between mere statements of facts, necessary conclusions which follow therefrom, and mere opinions which they seem to render reasonable.

Some conclusions also, like those of mathematics or logic, may be arrived at by the unaided reason without the previous accumulation of facts deduced from experiments or observation. Such truths or conclusions should be distinguished from those which are based upon facts, experiments or observation. If the student reads, therefore, that the sum of the angles of a plane triangle is equal to two right angles, he should see that this is not a mere fact, but an inevitable truth, the reason for which he should perceive, and not accept simply because he reads it.

The continual exercise of this discrimination, which comes from an attitude of mental courage and independence, is an essential of proper study.

(c) THE STUDENT'S MIND SHOULD BE A CONTINUAL INTERROGATION POINT.[[1]]—He should always ask himself, regarding any statement which he reads, whether there is a reason for it, and if there is, whether it is inherent in the nature of things, so that he might independently arrive at it, or whether it follows from facts which the writer has observed. For instance, there is at first sight no reason why a cubic foot of water should weigh 62.4 pounds. It simply does and that is all there is to it; it does, because it does. But if he reads that a cubic foot of water at one point on the earth's surface weighs less than it does at another point, or that in the Northern Hemisphere the wind in a storm revolves around the storm center in a direction contrary to the motion of the hands of a clock, he should perceive that these facts, if true, have a reason for them, and he should endeavor to perceive that reason.

It must be observed at this point that, strictly speaking, there must be a reason for any truth, even for what we may term mere facts, excepting those which are mere definitions. There is some reason, lying in the constitution and arrangement of its atoms, why a cubic foot of water at a given spot and at a given temperature weighs 62.4 pounds. But there is no reason why New York is 90 miles from Philadelphia; those two points 90 miles apart are simply so named or defined. Many truths which are accepted as mere facts, the explanation being unknown, in the course of time are explained by the progress of science. Thus, for many years the fact that a magnetic needle pointed toward the North was a mere unexplained fact, but later the reason was discovered. The same is true of the fact that the pollution of drinking water by sewage may cause typhoid fever. The point is that the student must continually discriminate, continually inquire, and, as he reads, keep a list of points, the reason for which he cannot then discover, but which he perceives must have a discoverable reason. He should not go too deeply into this, but should preserve his sense of proportion; for if he follows every possible line of inquiry back to its source he will progress but slowly. Thus, if he is studying descriptive astronomy and reads that the sun is ninety-two million miles from the earth, or that Jupiter has nine moons, or that the star Sirius is moving away from the earth with a velocity of eleven miles per second, or that the moon always turns the same half toward the earth, he should perceive that he cannot at that stage try to get back of these facts, but he may well make a note of them as questions to be later examined, if not as to the cause, at least as to how the fact is ascertained.

It does not follow that he should never leave the subject until he has found a reason, for it may depend upon facts or principles of which he is not at the moment informed; but if such is the case, he should accept the fact tentatively, but make a mental note that it is something which clearly must have a reason which he is capable of perceiving, and which he will look up at some future time. In studying his book he may well make a list of such questions to ask the teacher or to look up later.

Students must of course proceed in a systematic way, and a student who has not studied physics cannot be expected to perceive reasons that depend upon the laws of physics, and yet without a knowledge of physics he may still perceive that a statement is not of a mere fact, but of something that must have a reason. To primitive peoples nature was a closed book. The simplest phenomena were beyond their understanding, and they, therefore, imagined deities of whose personal activities these phenomena were supposed to be manifestations. With the progress of science many phenomena once mysterious and looked upon as facts have become easily explained. The intelligent student, however, can generally distinguish between statements of the different kinds which have been described, and he should constantly endeavor to explain or seek the reason for new statements by relating them to the body of knowledge which he has previously gained. Unfortunately, the average student reads only to accept what is written, whether fact, conclusion, or opinion, perhaps memorizing it verbatim under the impression that by so doing he is learning; he does not examine or reflect upon it, and often even accepts as facts what are explicitly stated to be mere expressions of opinion. Thus palpable mistakes, or even typographical errors, which a careful student should detect at once, are often accepted and believed. It is for this reason that it is so easy to deceive most people, at least for part of the time. They do not think for themselves, and all that is necessary to make them believe what you say is in some way to get them to think you are an authority.

(d) REGARDING FACTS WHICH HE DOES NOT THEN INVESTIGATE THE REASON FOR, HE SHOULD ASK How THEY ARE ASCERTAINED.—This will draw his attention to methods of observation and experiment, or to the technique of the subject. How, for instance, is it ascertained that New York is 90 miles from Philadelphia, or that the sun is ninety-two million miles from the earth? It is always possible to ascertain, at least in a general way, how a fact is ascertained, though it may not be possible to determine the reason for the fact. This applies not alone to physical sciences, but to questions of an economic, historic or sociological character. If we read that at the Battle of Gettysburg 3072 Union soldiers were killed, we do not inquire why; such a question is clearly meaningless; but we may well inquire how this was ascertained, whether by counting the dead upon the field or by the roll call, etc.; or if we read that following the issue of large quantities of paper currency during the Civil War, the amount of gold in the country decreased, we may in this case also inquire how it was ascertained, and we may further perceive that this is a fact for which there must be a reason, and we may then or later ascertain why it is true.

(e) THE STUDENT MUST TRAIN HIMSELF TO BE CONSTANTLY ON THE WATCH FOR EVIDENCE OF RELIABILITY IN THE WRITER HE IS STUDYING, IN ORDER THAT HE MAY GET A CORRECT IMPRESSION AS TO WHETHER HIS STATEMENTS OF FACT MAY BE ACCEPTED, AS WELL AS HIS CONCLUSIONS AND OPINIONS.—Many writers are careless, some are entirely unreliable, and some wilfully distort. Not only are the opinions sometimes expressed entirely unwarranted by the facts, but often statements of mere fact, such as those of statistics, may be grossly perverted, sometimes intentionally. Erroneous conclusions or opinions which are the result of illogical reasoning from correct facts may be discovered by the student who himself knows how to reason, but perversions of fact may escape detection, if not traced back to original authorities or observations, which the student may not have time or opportunity to do. Statistical results, or statements made in books on economics, history, and sociology, are particularly liable to distortion, intentionally or unintentionally. Indeed by selecting certain statistics and excluding others, almost anything depending upon statistics may be proved.

The importance is thus obvious of being able to detect signs of reliability and accuracy, and of discarding a writer who cannot be depended upon. It is also important to make it a rule to ask whether any result when reached appears to be reliable in the light of common sense. Sometimes a suggestion of error will be observed if the subject is looked at in this light, which if traced back will lead to the discovery of some mistake in observation or some error in reasoning.

Evidence of unreliability shown by a writer may generally be discovered, if care is exercised. His temperament, age, environment, training, religion and other facts will contribute. One who is dogmatic or abusive in stating what are obviously mere opinions which cannot be demonstrated, or who is intolerant of those who reach different conclusions, is obviously by temperament untrustworthy. A writer who in a single instance can be shown to have intentionally distorted facts should, of course, be at once and forever rejected;[[2]] one who has distorted facts unintentionally may perhaps be forgiven once. So a writer who, in a matter not capable of mathematical demonstration, and to some extent a matter of opinion, sets out to prove a preconceived idea, shows himself in general not possessed of the qualities which should inspire confidence.

By these and other tests the student should constantly be on the watch to form his opinion of the credibility and reliability of a writer or experimenter whose work he is studying. He may thus guide himself as to the books which he should pursue carefully, remembering the dictum of Bacon that "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested," except that very few, if any, are to be literally swallowed without digestion. By careful observance of the injunction to study constantly the credibility of a writer one may become what may be termed a discriminating student.

(f) ANOTHER ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF A PROPER ATTITUDE OF MIND IS CAUTION.—Always realize the possibility of error both in another and in yourself. Be on your guard against intentional or unintentional deception. As Bacon said, "Read not to contradict and to confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider."[[3]] The author you are reading may have made a mistake, or may be trying to mislead you. "When we think of the difficulty of finding the way, when we are most desirous to go right, how easy to mislead those whom we wish to go wrong!" Be, therefore, always suspicious of your author, and subject all his statements to the test of your own intelligence.[[4]]

(g) STUDY WITH AN OPEN MIND, AND WITH NO PRECONCEIVED IDEAS.—Cultivate the scientific attitude of mind, which means, first to formulate clearly a problem, then to get together all the pertinent facts, and then to draw the logical conclusions. Be ready to accept gladly any logical conclusion from the facts, even if unpalatable. Truth is, or should be, the sole object of study.[[5]]

(h) BE MODEST INTELLECTUALLY, YET SELF-RELIANT. TRAIN YOURSELF TO LOVE CORRECTION.—Remember these sayings from wise men:

"Whoso loveth correction loveth knowledge;
But he that hateth reproof is brutish."
—Proverbs.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth correction;
But he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured."
—Proverbs.

"The beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of one's faults."
—Epicurus.

"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck
Shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy."
—Proverbs.

"Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee;
Reprove a wise man and he will love thee."
—Proverbs.

"Be not wise in thine own eyes."—Proverbs.

"The true beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline."
—Wisdom of Solomon.

"Censure and criticism never hurt anybody. If false they can't hurt you unless you are wanting in manly character; and if true, they show a man his weak points, and forewarn him against failure and trouble."—Gladstone.

"If there's anything worse than knowing too little, it's knowing too much. Education will broaden a narrow mind, but there's no cure for a big head. The best you can hope is that it will swell up and bust, and then, of course, there's nothing left. Poverty never spoils a good man, but prosperity often does. It's easy to stand hard times, because that's the only thing you can do, but in good times the fool-killer has to do night work."—Lorimer: Letters from a Self-made Merchant to his Son at College.

Intellectual modesty is quite consistent with self-reliance and mental courage.

The study of books too often leads to intellectual arrogance, which is the surest bar to real mental progress. Realize the limitations of your own knowledge; see clearly what you know and what you do not know, otherwise you will see the things you know out of proportion. Make sure, however, that you know the fundamentals. Socrates said that a knowledge of our ignorance is the first step toward true knowledge, and a Persian proverb says:

"He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child; teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him."

Ask yourself, which of these classes you belong to.

(i) REMEMBER THAT THE OBJECT OF STUDY SHOULD BE TO GAIN WISDOM, RATHER THAN KNOWLEDGE.—Facts are important and must be learned; but far more important is it to gain wisdom and to train the mind and judgment so that truth may be distinguished from error. As the poet says:

"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,
Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men;
Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

The above points all have to do with the mental attitude of the student, and may be summarized by simply stating that the student must be possessed of mental courage, self-reliance, discrimination, modesty, and caution, all in proper proportion.

[[1]] "He that questioneth much shall learn much."—Bacon.

[[2]] "Mendax in uno praesumitur mendax in alio."

[[3]] "There are always people ready to assume that things are what they are called, because it is much easier to deal with names than to examine facts."—Bryce: South America.

[[4]] "A wise man knows an ignorant one, because he has been ignorant himself, but the ignorant cannot recognize the wise, because he has never been wise."—Persian Proverb.

[[5]] "Table talk proves that nine out of ten people read what amuses them, rather than what instructs them, and proves also, that the last thing they read is something which tells them disagreeable truths or dispels groundless hopes. That popular education results in an extensive reading of publications which foster pleasant illusions rather than of those which insist on hard realities, is beyond question."—Spencer: The Coming Slavery.