h faith. We may say that he _feels_ a truth blindly, but does not
see it.

Let us take another illustration. If there is one thing that we feel
to be as sure as the existence of the external world, it is that there
are other minds more or less resembling our own. The solipsist may try
to persuade us that the evidence for such minds is untrustworthy. We
may see no flaw in his argument, but he cannot convince us. May we
ignore him, and refuse to consider the matter at all?

Surely not, if we wish to substitute clear thinking for vague and
indefinite opinion. We should listen with attention, strive to
understand all the reasonings laid before us, and then, if they seem to
lead to conclusions really not in harmony with our experience, go
carefully over the ground and try to discover the flaw in them. It is
only by doing something like this that we can come to see clearly what
is meant when we speak of two or more minds and the relation between
them. The solipsist can help us, and we should let him do it.

We should, therefore, be willing to consider seriously all sorts of
doctrines which may at first strike us as unreasonable. I have chosen
two which I believe to contain error. But the man who approaches a
doctrine which impresses him as strange has no right to assume at the
outset that it contains error. We have seen again and again how easy
it is to misapprehend what is given in experience. The philosopher may
be in the right, and what he says may repel us because we have become
accustomed to certain erroneous notions, and they have come to seem
self-evident truths.

90. DO NOT HAVE TOO MUCH RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY.--But if it is an error
to refuse to listen to the philosopher, it is surely no less an error
to accord him an authority above what he has a right to demand. Bear
in mind what was said in the last chapter about the difference between
the special sciences and philosophy. There is in the latter field no
body of doctrine that we may justly regard as authoritative. There are
"schools" of philosophy, and their adherents fall into the very human
error of feeling very sure that they and those who agree with them are
right; and the emphasis with which they speak is apt to mislead those
who are not well informed. I shall say a few words about the dangers
of the "school."

If we look about us, we are impressed by the fact that there are
"schools" of philosophy, somewhat as there are religious sects and