Rational Thoughts on God, the World, and the Soul of Man

be a useful man. Should there be someone, however, who considers this a disgrace; he must keep his objections to himself. For how can he desire that one should say, for his sake, that one had asserted what he claims, when in fact it is not so? Whoever has a love for the truth cannot do this, even if he were ready to sacrifice his own honor to another who is greedy for vain honor. Truth is no respecter of persons original: "kein Ansehen der Person," a phrase meaning that truth does not care about social status or identity., and His Czarish Majesty Referring to Peter the Great of Russia, who famously requested membership in the French Academy of Sciences as a peer among scholars., in the most gracious letter sent to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, has rightly recognized that in the learned world there is a completely different hierarchy original: "Rang-Ordnung." than in civil life. Greater titles and positions grant no advantage in the realm of truth. Whoever sits at the head of the table in the realm of opinions must often consider it an honor there if he is permitted to sit at the bottom. Speaking the truth with such words as the matter requires is not contrary to modesty: for otherwise, modesty would have to do damage to the truth, which can in no way be. One virtue cannot be contrary to another.

He wishes to [receive] objections with [the condition...]

However, since I only pledge myself original: "anheischig mache," an old legalistic term for making a formal commitment or promise. to answer objections that the