Quote of the Day: Evasion Without the Bad Sense to Disguise Itself

This is from HERETICS by GK Chesterton, published in 1905. Allow me to quote the whole paragraph, merely to astonish the modern reader that modernity, and the central ideas of modernity, are actually Late Victorian, and even at that date were dismissed with deserved joviality by Chesterton, a man saved from accusations of being modern only because he speaks of eternal things. And eternal things, it must be remembered, are always up to date, even while modern things are alway behind the times and passing away.

There is, indeed, one class of modern writers and thinkers who cannot altogether be overlooked in this question, though there is no space here for a lengthy account of them, which, indeed, to confess the truth, would consist chiefly of abuse.

I mean those who get over all these abysses and reconcile all these wars by talking about “aspects of truth,” by saying that the art of Kipling represents one aspect of the truth, and the art of William Watson another; the art of Mr. Bernard Shaw one aspect of the truth, and the art of Mr. Cunningham Grahame another; the art of Mr. H. G. Wells one aspect, and the art of Mr. Coventry Patmore (say) another.

I will only say here that this seems to me an evasion which has not even bad the sense to disguise itself ingeniously in words.

If we talk of a certain thing being an aspect of truth, it is evident that we claim to know what is truth; just as, if we talk of the hind leg of a dog, we claim to know what is a dog.

Unfortunately, the philosopher who talks about aspects of truth generally also asks, “What is truth?” Frequently even he denies the existence of truth, or says it is inconceivable by the human intelligence.

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