The Science of Mind

Thought a knowledge of the value of a subject is not necessary to its successful pursuit, yet it imparts to our inquiries peculiar zest. We shall never fully understand the advantages connected with any science, till we have mastered it; and it is thus natural that each should praise his own favorite pursuit, experiencing daily the enjoyment and power it confers. Nor is this commendation usually, in itself considered, excessive; it is chiefly at fault, as it disparages other investigations, in themselves possessed of rival claims. As the fashion of thought in our time is to underrate philosophy, a brief space bestowed to urging its importance will not be misemployed.
We shall not enlarge on the pre-eminent mental discipline it gives, the acuteness of analysis, the steadiness of attention, the breadth of principles. All study imparts more or less of this training, and some are willing to believe that metaphysics bestows an unprofitable subtility of intellect, a gymnastic dexterity of thought, more fit for show than service, more likely to mislead than guide their possessors. There are certain peculiar and pre-eminent considerations on which we would chiefly rest our estimate of philosophy.
The facts which it furnishes are most intimate to our own actions, to the mastery and ordering of our own thoughts, and to the influence we are to exert over others.
It is indeed possible, that there should be healthy and successful intellectual action, a wise play of the emotions and of the moral nature, without understanding them. So may there be physical health without hygiene; yet who will deny an influence of the knowledge of the laws of life in the government of life? To pick up a few facts so personal, so of our very selves, as those which pertain to mind, cannot but be of the highest moment in ordering our action. Indeed, every man who has any claims to general knowledge is a philosopher, however much he may deny it, and however false and limited his conclusions may be. It is not a question whether there shall be philosophy among men; this there must be, if men are to think and act at all; but whether this philosophy shall be a true or false one. Yet we do not wish to dwell on the value even of the facts which mental science gives, their direct practical worth in affording rules for intellectual training, and for influence over others; but rather to point out certain broader relations of philosophy, which make its acquisition yet more imperative.