Article March 1, 1975 Issue

Appreciation Is True Criticism

MARK NATHANS

Criticism is often associated with harsh and captious faultfinding, whereas appreciation is generally regarded as a wholly admirable quality.

No two words, it would seem, could be less compatible. Yet these terms are actually complementary. A critic is one who evaluates, and appreciates the worth of what he judges. As Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health, "Motives and acts are not rightly valued before they are understood." Science and Health, p. 238;

How easy it is to be censorious when faced with an action, a statement, or a work of art that at first seems incomprehensible to us! But is it not worth the effort to appreciate the motive or aim, the quality, of whatever may seem to incur our censure? Only in this way can we obey the scriptural injunction, "Judge righteous judgment." John 7:24;

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