ABSTRACT
Coleridge's views on the way in which principles and ideas should be transmitted reflect his concepts of education and knowledge and his belief that both had fallen on evil days. Coleridge's proffered remedy claims to be more than another expedient, to be instead a general solution of a philosophical kind, an ideal to be carried into practice. It is interesting to observe that he is first goaded into public advocacy of thought based on principles by political events. For the purposes of discussion, his support of principles can conveniently be divided into three sections: his consideration of the usefulness of principles, and the relative uselessness of unargued opinions; his views on the most effective ways of communicating the principles, in other words, his views on education; and finally his exposition of the very specific kind of thinking which he believed to be necessary to provide a sure foundation for principles.
