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4 The Rice Institute Pamphlet

of magic. As we know, those superficial or ingenuous souls
that are ignorant of this magic are terrified at it; so much so,
that one of their tiresome refrains against philosophy is that
it continually undoes its work, and that one philosopher
contradicts another: as though man did not always make
and unmake his houses, and as though the architect that fol-
lows did not always contradict the architect that precedes;
and as though it were possible to draw the conclusion from
his making and unmaking of houses and from this contra-
diction among architects, that it is useless to make houses!

The answers of the philosopher, though they have the ad-
vantage of greater intensity, also carry with them the dan-
gers of greater error, and are often vitiated by a sort of lack
of good sense, which has an aristocratic character, in so
far as it belongs to a superior sphere of culture, and even
when meriting reproof, is the object not only of disdain and
derision, but also of secret envy and admiration. This is the
foundation of the contrast, that many delight to illustrate,
between the mental equilibrium of ordinary people and the
extravagances of philosophers; since, for example, it is clear
that no man of good sense would have said that art is a
reflexion of the sexual instinct, or that it is something
maleficent and deserves to be banned from well-ordered re-
publics. These absurdities have, however, been uttered
by philosophers and even by great philosophers. But
the innocence of the man of common sense is poverty, the
innocence of the savage; and though there have often been
sighs for the life of the savage, and a remedy has been called
for to rescue good sense from philosophies, it remains a
fact that the spirit, in its development, courageously affronts
the dangers of civilisation and the momentary loss of good
sense. The researches of the philosopher in relation to art



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