Note 404 — SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND LOGICAL PROOF (continued 2)

Usually, but wrongly, called ‘dispassionate’ or ‘disinterested’. What is wanted is, not that the inquiring mind should take no interest in the conclusions it considers, but that, though it cares keenly and even passionately for one of them, it should yet be capable of sufficient self-control to consider fairly the case against the conclusion it favours. This mental attitude is probably best secured by caring more for truth than for a party victory, and is denominated a ‘disinterested love of truth for its own sake’. But even so we love what we deem the truth, because it is the best thing to believe, and better (on the whole and in the end) than anything else that is propounded.