Chapter Ii

Suspicion of the authority of tradition is the very signature of the Age of Reason, and particularly, of the Enlightenment. In the last chapter we saw how the suspicion to which tradition was subjected led to a profound misunderstanding of its very nature. If tradition is not merely doctrines or beliefs transmitted from the past, but the very context in which they are interpreted, then the effort to subordinate tradition to reason will necessarily diminish the understanding of tradition. A part of tradition, that aspect of it which can be deliberately examined, will take the place of the whole. The dimension of tradition which operates in an unconscious and pre-conscious way will be consigned to the realm of prejudice. It is pre-judgmental in that it comprises ingrained ways of thought which, many would say, need to be fully illumined by reason if they are not to hinder the search for truth.