![]() Shallow with the kindly, sensible shallowness of the eighteenth century, he thought of individuals as real people, not as trivial bubbles on the surface of the river of History, not as mere cells in the brawn and bone of a social organism, whose soul is the State. Bentham, on the contrary, had no pretensions to tiefness. That was why he ended up as the idolater of the Prussian state, as the spiritual father of those Marxian dogmas of history, in terms of which it is possible to justify every atrocity on the part of true believers, and to condemn every good or reasonable act performed by infidels. The German philosopher was proud of being tief, but lacked the humility which is the necessary condition of the ultimate profundity. ![]() ![]() He was responsible for so much less harm.” And of course Schweitzer was perfectly right. Many years have passed since then but I remember very clearly the expression of affectionate amusement that appeared on Schweitzer’s face, as he looked at the mummy. To this odd shrine (so characteristic, in its excessive unpretentiousness, of that nook-shotten isle of Albion) I paid my visit of curiosity in company with one of the most extraordinary, one of the most admirable men of our time, Albert Schweitzer. This little old gentleman is Jeremy Bentham, or at least what remains of Jeremy Bentham after the dissection ordered in his will-a skeleton with hands and face of wax, dressed in the clothes that once belonged to the first of utilitarians. His hair is grey and hangs almost to his shoulders his wide-brimmed straw hat is like something out of the illustrations to an early edition of Paul et Virginie he wears a cutaway coat (green, if I remember rightly, with metal buttons) and pantaloons of white cotton, discreetly striped. When the door of this miniature house is opened, a light goes on inside, and those who stand upon the threshold find themselves confronted by a little old gentleman sitting bolt upright in a chair and smiling benevolently into space. ![]() Somewhat bigger than a telephone booth, somewhat smaller than an outdoor privy. AT THE TOP OF THE MAIN STAIRCASE in University College, London, there stands a box-like structure of varnished wood. ![]()
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