"Personality is lower than partiality"

Goldwin Smith’s assertion, “Personality is lower than partiality,” prompts a comparison between two ways personal bias can color human judgment: through our own ingrained traits, and through favoritism. Personality, in this context, refers not to one’s identity or character as a whole, but rather to the interference of individual egos, vanities, or temperaments in one’s reasoning and actions. Partiality, meanwhile, describes preference or bias toward certain people, groups, or viewpoints. Both can distort truth, fairness, or justice, yet Smith ranks personality as the more limiting force.

Partiality often arises from external attachments, such as loyalty to friends, factions, or one’s nation. It reflects a conscious or at least recognizable inclination, sometimes justifiable by circumstances or explained by emotional bonds. An individual exhibiting partiality may still reflect or question the grounds of their bias, possibly transcending it through self-awareness or moral effort. Partiality, therefore, can be reined in or corrected by appeal to reason, principle, or duty.

Personality’s distortions are subtler and more pervasive, originating within the self. They cloud thought unconsciously, stemming from pride, vanity, resentment, or personal ambition. When someone’s perspective is “lowered” by personality, their judgments revolve around personal interests or feelings, making objectivity nearly impossible. The self becomes the measure of all things; truth and justice bend around individual whims and insecurities. Unlike partiality, rooted in outer relationships, personal distortions are fundamentally solipsistic, rarely subject to honest self-questioning. Reason is not merely bent but stunted by the inward gaze.

Smith’s evaluation implies that while both tendencies are obstacles to impartiality, the sway of personality is more insidious. Societal advancement, discourse, and ethical progress depend on overcoming the domination of self—moving beyond personality toward the more external, and therefore more easily checked, errors of partiality. The path to objectivity and truth begins with self-scrutiny, rigorously policing not only our outward loyalties, but our inward egos as well.