Belloc's Dictum

"Intelligence may be measured by the capacity of separating categories."

Last night, an old friend preparing for a debate e-mailed for some ideas on how to approach certain aspects of the notions of tradition & infallibility.

While doing some research, I came across a passage (unrelated to the subjects under discussion) from Hillaire Belloc that was a favorite of mine long ago. Here it is.

.... But in our approach to the task of convincing the sceptic we must begin by distinguishing between two kinds of Scepticism which do not merge one into the other by gradual degrees, but which are totally distinct in kind, and which may be called, the one "the Scepticism of the Intelligent," the other "the Scepticism of the Stupid."

The Scepticism of the Stupid is that denial of an unaccustomed statement which is based upon an undefined, but none the less real, belief that the hearer is possessed of universal knowledge. It is a common error in our day, and I touch on it elsewhere in this book. The test of this kind of Scepticism (which, like other manifestations of stupidity, presents a formidable obstacle to human conversation) is the misuse of the word "reason".

When a man tells you that it "stands to reason" that such and such a thing, to which he is unaccustomed, cannot have taken place (or be so), his remark has no intellectual value whatever. Not only would he be unable to analyse his "reasons" for rejecting the statement, but he would, if pressed, be bound to give you motives based upon mere emotion. For instance, if a man tells you it "stands to reason" that a just God could not allow men to lose their souls, he suffers from the Scepticism of the Stupid.

The Scepticism proceeding from intelligence is of an exactly opposite nature. Intelligence may be measured by the capacity of separating categories. Thus, a man who distinguishes between the office and the person is more intelligent than the man who does not. The man who distinguishes between the functions of an office in exercise and in quiescence is more intelligent than the one who does not. The man who distinguishes between the two meanings of a word often used in two senses is more intelligent than the man who does not.

One test of intelligence being, then, the power to separate distinct categories, the corresponding test of stupidity is inability to do so, and I say that stupid Scepticism, like stupid anything else, is the despair of the intelligent believer who tries to deal with it. He may approach it with rhetoric, or with appeals to what is the fashion, or in any other irrational way. He may even approach it with bribes. He may approach it with that very modern weapon, perpetual repetition, after the fashion of the "slogan" upon which the masters of salesmanship depend. But all these methods are so basely unworthy of high controversy on the ultimate truths, that I would rather not contemplate them....

From "The Approach to the Skeptic" in Essays of a Catholic.

I see that the essay has been quite considerably "adapted" at Catholic Answers.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 12/06/04 07:53:57 AM
Categorized as Religious.