INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
tioning of what has been taken for granted destroys the feeling of standing on solid ground, and produces a condition of bewildered fear.
A third reason which makes men dislike novel opinions is that vested interests are bound up with old beliefs. The long fight of the church against science, from Giordano Bruno to Darwin, is attributable to this motive among others. The horror of socialism which existed in the remote past was entirely attributable to this cause. But it would be a mistake to assume, as is done by those who seek economic motives everywhere, that vested interests are the principal source of anger against novelties in thought. If this were the case, intellectual progress would be much more rapid than it is.
The instinct of conventionality, horror of uncertainty, and vested interests,
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