Wells doubts absolute reasoning, but preserves practical inquiry
he has written a delicate piece of scepticism called "Doubts of the Instrument."
The identifiable work is ‘Scepticism of the Instrument’, published in Mind 13 (1904), pp. 379–393, and revised as the appendix to A Modern Utopia (1905). The appendix's headnote dates the original Oxford paper to 8 November 1903. The witness inspected here is Project Gutenberg's electronic text, not a collated first edition. Journal record; appendix.
Chesterton catches Wells's refusal to give classifications and deductions absolute authority. But ‘remove all reality’ overstates the position: Wells preserves practical checking and correction, while denying that these procedures yield final metaphysical certainty. His closing discussion also preserves personal moral commitments and common religious association, while denying their universally demonstrable force.
The disagreement therefore concerns whether limited, corrigible reasoning is intellectually sustainable, or whether it secretly depends on the unconditional authority Chesterton demands. Wells does not announce an intention to stop thinking. Chesterton treats the proposed limits on thought as consequences Wells cannot consistently contain. That is an argument against Wells, rather than a neutral summary of his essay.
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