Shaftesbury and Self-Truth
Found in: Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, vol. 1
Prior to these particular sentences Shaftesbury had been defending free thought and speech. Within that framework he gives a defense of ridicule as a tool of finding the truth.
Philosophy
Gravity is of the very Essence of Imposture. It does not only make us mistake other things, but is apt perpetually almost to mistake it-self. For even in common Behaviour, how hard is it for the grave Character to keep long out of the limits of the formal one? We can never be too grave, if we can be assur’d we are really what we suppose. And we can never too much honour or revere any thing for grave; if we are assur’d the Thing is grave, as we apprehend it. The main Point is to know always true Gravity from the false: and this can only be, by carrying the Rule constantly with us, and freely applying it not only to the Things about us, but to our-selves. (FROM: SECTION II)