genius or talent in works of fiction, does not necessarily imply exceptional power of political judgment. But, be this as it may, where averages are in question, exceptions obviously do not count.
The underlying assumption of the suffrage movement may therefore be taken to be the average equality of the sexes as regards intellectual value.[1]
An initial difficulty exists in proving theoretically the intellectual inferiority of women to men, or even their relative unsuitability for fulfilling functions involving a special order of judgment. There are such things as matters of fact which are open to common observation and which none think of denying or calling in question unless they have some special reason for doing so. Now it is always possible to deny a fact, however evident it may be to ordinary perception, and it is equally impossible to prove that the person calling in question the aforesaid evident fact is either lying (or shall we say “prevaricating”), or even that he is a person hopelessly abnormal is his organs of sense-perception.
At the time of writing, the normal person who
- ↑ I believe there are some Feminist fanatics who pretend to maintain the superiority of the female mind, but I doubt whether this thesis is taken seriously even by those who put sit forward. In any case there are limits to the patent absurditie which it is worth while to refute by argument.
