I’ve been working through Sir Arthur Clutton-Brock’s The Ultimate Belief (New York, 1916). This quote from the first chapter is gold:

To them philosophical questions are all open questions; and they believe that this is so because of the failure of philosophy to prove anything. But it is not philosophy that has failed; rather it is men who have failed to do that by which alone they can be convinced. Philosophy is a science, and its truths can only be confirmed by experiment. But, whereas to confirm a truth of botany it is necessary only to make experiments upon plants, to confirm a truth of philosophy we must make experiments upon ourselves. Thus, if philosophy tells us what we ought to value, we can only test the truth of it by valuing that which it tells us to value. We must make an experiment in valuing; and we must make it in action as well as in thought or feeling. If, for instance, a man values money more than anything else, he will act in accordance with his values; his one object in life will be to get money. So, when philosophy tells him that there are other things more valuable than money, he must alter his whole way of living, if he is to test the truth of that philosophy by experiment; and this he will often refuse to do.

I’ve been exploring the concept of evaluative thinking as a potential bridge between intellectual virtues and critical thinking. Evaluative thinking encompasses components of critical thinking such as reasoning, analysis, and evaluation, but it extends further to include valuing and making judgments. To excel in this, we need to be anchored in certain virtues and universal principles that guide our thinking. Without this grounding, we risk making temporary value decisions based on the urgency of the present, a dangerous temptation.

The quote above illustrates this point well. If we aim to foster a love of learning and virtue, we must teach what it means to possess these intellectual character qualities—and we do so by helping individuals put these values into practice.

Teaching students that valuing epistemic goods such as truth, wisdom, and understanding is a worthwhile pursuit that also involves imparting the intellectual character traits necessary for this task. The difficulty with this is that it challenges our modern sensibilities and time preferences for immediate reward. The payoff of intellectual character takes time, the virtues of humility, patience, and courage. We are often tempted to run away from these universal goods towards temporary solutions that are less comprehensive and fulfilling. We have a hard time sticking around for an answer.

Clutton-Brock continues:

That is why certain truths of philosophy, though they may have been confirmed by experiment in the lives of all good and wise men, are not universally accepted. There is a philosophy which might say of itself:

“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:37)

We know what answer Pilate made to these words.

He asked: “What is truth?” (John 18:38), as Bacon says, would not stay for an answer.

If he had listened to the answer and believed it, he would have been forced to alter his whole way of life. Rather than do that he believed that truth was not to be found. But truth remains truth, even though men ask what it is and will not stay for an answer; and to those who hear it and act upon it it proves itself to be truth.

To nurture a love of learning and to echo the Teacher, “Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight” (Proverbs 4:7), requires the kind of intellectual character that possesses the resolve to stick around for an answer.