The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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26o
APPENDIX
reacting on imperfect realities so as to bring about
a clearer result."
Consequently, truth is synthetic in
its nature, and not merely analytic.
Such, then, is Pragmatisn or Humanism in brief
summary. Let us note also briefly its merits and its
defects.
II
One great merit is its insistence on or recourse to
Experience (widely interpreted), and the necessity of
recognizing the emotional and volitional sides of human
nature, no less than its rational or intellectual side.
That we attend only to what interests us, and that what
interests us serves some end or purpose, is a common
place of modern psychology. We think with a view to
an end ;
and we believe, in great part, because our
Human needs do certainly
belief works out in practice.
lie at the root of cognition and of belief, no less than of
conduct ;
and we think and believe in a particular way
so long as that way satisfies us or ministers to our
desires only, in estimating our desires, we must take
the whole man into account and not merely a part of
him ;
we must view him totus, teres atque rotundus. A
belief, for the most part, is not a simple but a complex
thing. If it is
grounded in the intellect, it is affected also
by feeling, association, and interest or conation ;
and
the strength of it, in the case of any firm conviction, is
only partially accounted for by pointing out its ration
ality : it is the result of many co-operant factors. The
forces that play upon us, moulding this way or that, are
very diverse, and they
all have a practical bearing.
it is "wisdom"
Consequently, rather than "know
ledge that determines belief, o-o<j>ta
more than eTmm^ ;
and faith enters in, for there is
always a venture in
belief
we trust, where we cannot see.