Illusions

I hope to be able to show you that my subject, illusions is important and that it embraces all the activities of the human mind, from perception to dreams from sentiments to intelligence from politics to science itself. We shall have to determine the part played by illusions in the life of man, to what extent they are dangerous and whether on the contrary they are not, in certain cases, alutary. In our opening lecture we shall examine the nature of illusions, taking as examples some of the illusions of the senses and of the sentiments; in the second lecture, the illusions of intelligence and at that point we shall seek to define the role that science may play in dissipating in part, these illusions; in our third and final lecture we shall study those voluntary illusions known as the fine arts, for it is obvious that when he sees a play or reads a novel the spectator or the reader seeks an illusion which he recognizes as such, in which he does not believe, but which he often finds of greater value than truth itself.- Author