The uses of debate : being the inaugural address, delivered 11th November 1904, at the foundation of the Women's Medical Society / by G. A. Gibson.

Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The uses of debate : being the inaugural address, delivered 11th November 1904, at the foundation of the Women's Medical Society / by G. A. Gibson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Houndsditch, Nature not interfering with her protest till then. False speech, definable as the acme of unwise speech, is capable, as we already said, of becoming the falsest of all things. Falsest of all things:—and whither will the general deluge of that, in Parliament and Synagogue, in Book and Broadside, carry you and your affairs, my friend, when once they are embarked on it as now ? ” Lastly, amongst methods comes another subject of vital interest, to learn in discussion the necessity of give and take. As might be expected, the rugged lexicographer had a somewhat crude idea of debate. You will find in Boswell’s “ Life,”to which reference has already been made, a terse summary of the worthy doctor’s views. “ Talking of oratory, Mr Wilkes described it as accompanied with all the charms of poetical expression. Johnson: ‘No, sir, oratory is the power of beating down your adversaries’ arguments, and putting better in their place.’ ” Here, you observe, there is nothing of the “ sweet reasonableness ” which the late Matthew Arnold was never tired of inculcating. Undoubtedly one of the great results of discussion as an educa- tive force is to teach perfect courtesy in listening to opinions that do not commend themselves to reason. Op- position is the very soul of debate, and Goethe puts the whole matter in a nutshell when he remarks to Ecker-