19th Century philosopher John Stuart Mill - So long as opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses instability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it. For if it were accepted as a result of argument, the refutation of the argument might shake the solidity of the conviction; but when it rests solely on feeling, worse it fares in argumentative contest, the more persuaded adherents are that their feeling must have some deeper ground, which the arguments do not reach; and while the feeling remains, it is always throwing up fresh intrenchments of argument to repair any breach made in the old.
1 comment:
"it gains rather than loses instability" ?
Am I just reading this incorrectly? Is this an argument 'for' or 'against' the strength of Feelings.
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