WIST Quotations

A quotation from William Drummond

He, who will not reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares not, is a slave.

William Drummond of Logie-Almond (1770-1828) Scottish classical scholar, philosopher, diplomat, politician
Academical Questions, Preface (1805)

More about this quote: wist.info/drummond-william/273…

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Feb 13 at 11:09pmWeb
Show thread🇪🇷GötterdämmerungFeb 13

@wistquotes Nice tidy triangle, but Drummond forgot the fourth corner: the earnest.

He can reason, will reason, even dares to reason... till it costs him something. Then suddenly he "prefers not to" like cowardice is a lifestyle & silence is a virtue.

Show threadWIST QuotationsFeb 13
@Gotterdammerung I might lump that under an instance of the last clause, slavery to one's own fears, but your point is reasonably taken.
Show thread🇪🇷GötterdämmerungFeb 14

@wistquotes fair point. There is a real "slavery to fear" that fits Drummond's last clause.

My only tweak is that not all "daring not" is fear in the same way. Some of it is calculated comfort, like risk management pretending to be prudence.

The slave is constrained by punishment while the careerist is constrained by incentives. Both limit speech but one is coerced & the other is chosen. The difference matters even if the outcome (silence) looks the same.