RESISTENTIALISM
Snt,—Ventre undoubtedly marks an epcch in philosophy, but Mr. Jennings's account of him is incomplete. Has he a policy as well as a thesis? Does he tell• us what to do about resistential things? There are two kinds of policy now commonly pursued, both equally futile. One is god-like patience. This is said to be good for the character, but in my experience it merely encourages resistence. Thus, I have on my desk a paper-knife which for years I have coaxed, wheedled and reasoned with ; but nothing will cure it of hiding itself with impish ingenuity whenever I need it. Again, the kinder I am to my cat, the more he gets under my feet. It is no use pandering to this sort of behaviour. The other policy is toughness. Kick the cat, snap asunder the shanking mashie, gridd under heel the cup that always drips on your trousers—in short, show resistentia that you will stand no nonsense. But this is bad for the blood-pressure, leads to psychological imbalance and social ostracism and, in these days of purchase-tax, ends in destitution.
Ventre gives us no guidance in this dilemma. Besides, his analysis is faulty. All things are not resistential to all the people all the time. The trouble. with things is that they are too human. They suffer from moods and temperaments. The pipe which drew freely and sweetly on Monday draws foully, or not at all, on Tuesday. The pen which skimmed like a swallow over the paper yesterday crosses its nib and digs its toes in today—almost always allying itself with gritty substances under the little finger and foreign bodies under* the paper. Some things, it is true, like golf balls and bow ties, are resistential by nature and predestination ; but not all. Most of them just have their bad days, like the rest of us. Neither patience nor toughness will suffice for them ; what they need is psychological adjustment. Clearly, then, the school of Ventre is not enough. We need at least three sub-schools—that of activism, that of passivism, and a new investigation of inanimate endocrinology. If the philosophers and psychologists will seize these opportunities, we shall be getting somewhere.—Yours faithfully, C. K. ALLEN. Rhodes House, Oxford.
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