the verbal forms of dogmatism, I am very far from laying claim to any
dogmatic authority. More than that, I would desire categorically to
repudiate such a claim.

For I do not conceal from myself that, if I took up such a position, I
should wantonly be placing myself at the mercy of my reader. For he
could then, by merely refusing to see in me an authority, bring down
the whole edifice of my argument like a house of cards.

Moreover I am not blind to what would happen if, after I claimed to be
taken as an authority, the reader was indulgent enough still to go on
to read what I have written.

He would in such a case, the moment he encountered a statement with
which he disagreed, simply waive me on one side with the words, "So
you say."

And if he should encounter a statement with which he agreed, he would
in his wisdom, censure me for neglecting to provide for that
proposition a satisfactory logical foundation.

If it is far from my thoughts to claim a right of dictation, it is
equally remote from them to take up the position that I have in my
arguments furnished _proof_ of the thesis which I set out to
establish.

It would be culpable misuse of language to speak in such connexion of
_proof_ or _disproof_.

Proof by testimony, which is available in con-nexion with questions of