Passive Resistance

On Passive Acceptance

Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls.

It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man.

Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life.

It causes man to seek and to accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position.

Bertrand Russell

myth

The Origin of Myths by Bertrand Russell

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.


Bertrand Russell