But this gravitation of women's minds to the present, to the real, toactual fact, while in its exclusiveness it is a source of errors, is alsoa most useful counteractive of the contrary error. The principal and mostcharacteristic aberration of speculative minds as such, consists preciselyin the deficiency of this lively perception and ever-present sense of objectivefact. For want of this, they often not only overlook the contradiction whichoutward facts oppose to their theories, but lose sight of the legitimatepurpose of speculation altogether, and let their speculative faculties goastray into regions not peopled with real beings, animate or inanimate, evenidealised, but with personified shadows created by the illusions of metaphysicsor by the mere entanglement of words, and think these shadows the properobjects of the highest, the most transcendant, philosophy. Hardly anythingcan be of greater value to a man of theory and speculation who employs himselfnot in collecting materials of knowledge by observation, but in working themup by processes of thought into comprehensive truths of science and lawsof conduct, than to carry on his speculations in the companionship, and underthe criticism, of a really superior woman. There is nothing comparable toit for keeping his thoughts within the limits of real things, and the actualfacts of nature. A woman seldom runs wild after an abstraction. The habitualdirection of her mind to dealing with things as individuals rather than ingroups, and (what is closely connected with it) her more lively interestin the present feelings of persons, which makes her consider first of all,in anything which claims to be applied to practice, in what manner personswill be affected by it -- these two things make her extremely unlikely toput faith in any speculation which loses sight of individuals, and dealswith things as if they existed for the benefit of some imaginary entity,some mere creation of the mind, not resolvable into the feelings of livingbeings. Women's thoughts are thus as useful in giving reality to those ofthinking men, as men's thoughts in giving width and largeness to those ofwomen. In depth, as distinguished from breadth, I greatly doubt if even now,women, compared with men, are at any disadvantage.
If the existing mental characteristics of women are thus valuable evenin aid of speculation, they are still more important, when speculation hasdone its work, for carrying out the results of speculation into practice.
For the reasons already given, women are comparatively unlikely to fall intothe common error of men, that of sticking to their rules in a case whosespecialities either take it out of the class to which the rules are applicable,or require a special adaptation of them. Let us now consider another of theadmitted superiorities of clever women, greater quickness of apprehension.
Is not this pre-eminently a quality which fits a person for practice? Inaction, everything continually depends upon deciding promptly. In speculation,nothing does. A mere thinker can wait, can take time to consider, can collectadditional evidence; he is not obliged to complete his philosophy at once,lest the opportunity should go by. The power of drawing the best conclusionpossible from insufficient data is not indeed useless in philosophy; theconstruction of a provisional hypothesis consistent with all known factsis often the needful basis for further inquiry. But this faculty is ratherserviceable in philosophy, than the main qualification for it: and, for theauxiliary as well as for the main operation, the philosopher can allow himselfany time he pleases. He is in no need of the capacity of doing rapidly whathe does; what he rather needs is patience, to work on slowly until imperfectlights have become perfect, and a conjecture has ripened into a theorem.
For those, on the contrary, whose business is with the fugitive and perishable-- with individual facts, not kinds of facts -- rapidity of thought is aqualification next only in importance to the power of thought itself. Hewho has not his faculties under immediate command, in the contingencies ofaction, might as well not have them at all. He may be fit to criticise, buthe is not fit to act. Now it is in this that women, and the men who are mostlike women, confessedly excel. The other sort of man, however pre-eminentmay be his faculties, arrives slowly at complete command of them: rapidityof judgment and promptitude of judicious action, even in the things he knowsbest, are the gradual and late result of strenuous effort grown into habit.
