"The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have been wrong must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong"
About this Quote
Herbert Spencer draws a line between two common temptations: to scoff at the masses for their historical mistakes, and to sanctify popular opinion as a reliable compass. History does show that crowds can be wrong about big things, from cosmology to politics. Yet he insists that popular judgments are rarely total failures. They are often mixtures of error and practical sense, reflecting the rough wisdom of experience. Customs and common beliefs, even when mistaken in principle, tend to persist because they work well enough to solve everyday problems, keep social cooperation going, and reduce risk in uncertain environments.
This perspective fits Spencer’s evolutionary view of society. Knowledge and institutions develop through cumulative trial and error. Majorities gravitate toward norms that are serviceable under prevailing conditions, though they may misinterpret why those norms work or cling to them too long. Minorities supply the sharp corrections, the leaps of insight that reveal hidden flaws or point to better arrangements. Progress happens when reformers identify the kernel of function inside a flawed tradition and redesign around it rather than razing everything in contempt.
The lesson for modern debates is a method rather than a verdict. Treat consensus as a provisional map, not a sacred text or a punchline. Ask what problem an entrenched practice was solving, what tradeoffs it managed, and under what limits it delivers reliable results. Much of science advances this way: older theories are not pure falsehoods but approximations that hold under certain ranges, like Newtonian mechanics within everyday speeds. Politics and policy benefit from the same humility, avoiding both populist fatalism and elitist iconoclasm.
Spencer’s claim invites a double discipline: skepticism toward the majority’s confidence and respect for the partial truth embedded in its habits. The interplay of common sense and uncommon insight, of stability and critique, is how societies learn without destroying the ground they stand on.
This perspective fits Spencer’s evolutionary view of society. Knowledge and institutions develop through cumulative trial and error. Majorities gravitate toward norms that are serviceable under prevailing conditions, though they may misinterpret why those norms work or cling to them too long. Minorities supply the sharp corrections, the leaps of insight that reveal hidden flaws or point to better arrangements. Progress happens when reformers identify the kernel of function inside a flawed tradition and redesign around it rather than razing everything in contempt.
The lesson for modern debates is a method rather than a verdict. Treat consensus as a provisional map, not a sacred text or a punchline. Ask what problem an entrenched practice was solving, what tradeoffs it managed, and under what limits it delivers reliable results. Much of science advances this way: older theories are not pure falsehoods but approximations that hold under certain ranges, like Newtonian mechanics within everyday speeds. Politics and policy benefit from the same humility, avoiding both populist fatalism and elitist iconoclasm.
Spencer’s claim invites a double discipline: skepticism toward the majority’s confidence and respect for the partial truth embedded in its habits. The interplay of common sense and uncommon insight, of stability and critique, is how societies learn without destroying the ground they stand on.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|
More Quotes by Herbert
Add to List
