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LOTZE'S SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY
PART II
METAPHYSIC
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.G.
METAPHYSIC
IN THREE BOOKS
ONTOLOGY, COSMOLOGY, AND PSYCHOLOGY
HERMANN LOTZE
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
EDITED IJY
BERNARD BOSANOUET, M.A
Second Edition, in two Volumes
VOL. II
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1887
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
BOOK II.
Cosmology.
CHAPTER V.
THE THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY.
MOI
174. Matter homogeneous, or heterogeneous with common pro-
perties? i
175. Limitation of the problem 2
17*5. Descartes and Spino/a on Consciousness and Extension . 4
177. Schilling and Ilcgel ; problems attempted by the latter . 8
178. Kant does not connect his views of Matter and of Space . 9
170. Why Kant explained Mailer by Foicc 12
180. * Force ' involves relation between things . . . i?
181. ' Force ' as a property of one element a figuie of speech . 16
12. Kant rightly implies activity on the part of Things, not
meie sequence according to Law . . . . .21
183. Kant's two forces a mere analysis of the position of a thing . 23
184. Still a mechanical system offerees essential, and several may
attach to each element . . . . . . .26
185. Force can only act a distance . . . . . . 2S
186. Idea of 'communication' of Motion 31
187. Space no self-evident hindrance to action . . . .34
CHAPTER VI.
THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER.
188. Pritna fade grounds in favour of Atomism . . . 3$
189. Lucretius, difleiences in the Atoms 41
1HO. Consequences of the Unity of an extended Atom . . -43
191. Notion of unexteiided Atoms Herbai t . . . -47
1 92. Herbart's view modified -the Atoms not independent of each
other 50
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAG re
193. Is Matter homogeneous or of several kinds? . . -53
194. Homogeneous Matter not proved by constancy of Mass . 56
195. Connexion of the elements with each other in a systematic
unity 58
196. Plurality in space of identical elements merely phenomenal . 60
197. Self- multiplication of Atomic centres conceivable . . 63
CHAPTER VII.
THE LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS.
198. The square of the distance, difficulties in the radiation of
Force .......... 66
199. No mechanical deduction of a primary Force . . 70
200. Alleged infinite attraction at no distance .... 70
201. Herbart's view of the ' Satisfaction ' of Force, not conclusive 72
202. Philosophy desires one primary law of action ... 76
203. Affinity would naturally correspond to the Distance itself . 77
204. Attempt to account for Square of Distance .... So
205. Can Force depend on motions of acting elements? . . 82
206. Does Force require time to take effect at a distance? . . 83
207. Causation and Time Reciprocal action .... 86
208. Idealism admits no special Laws as absolute ... 88
209. Conservation of Mass ........ 89
210. Constancy of the Sum of Motions ..... 91
211. Absorption of Cause in Effect ...... 94
212. Not self-evident that there can be no gain in physical action 94
213. Equality and Equivalence distinguished . . . .98
214. Equivalence docs not justify reduction to one process . . 101
215. * Compensation ' in interaction of Body and Soul . . . 102
216. The Principle of Parsimony 104
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE.
217. Deductions of the forms of reality impossible . . .109
218. Possibility of explaining natural processes in detail on the
view of subjective Space 1 1 1
219. Success the test of the methods of physical science . .114
220. Mechanism the action of combined elements according to
general laws 115
221. Mechanism as a distinct mode of natural activity a fiction . 118
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PACT.
222. The planetary system, light and sound . . . .122
223. Electricity and Chemistry should not be sharply opposed to
Mechanism 124
224. Motives for forming the conception of a Vital Force . .128
225. Vital Force could not be one for all Organisms . . .130
226. Difference between organic and inorganic substances proves
nothing about Vital Force 131
227. A ' Life-principle ' would have to operate mechanically . 132
228. Mechanical aspect of Organisms . .... 135
220. Mechanical view indispensable but not exhaustive . .137
230. Purpose implies a subject God, the soul . . . .138
231. Von Baer on purpose in * Nature ' ..... 141
232. Unity of world determines all modes of action . . . 144
233. The mechanical order need not exclude progress . . .145
234. Is there a fixed number of Natural Kinds ? .... 150
235. Criticism of the question ' Is real existence finite or infinite?' 151
236. Development of the Cosmos only its general principles a
question for Metaphysic . . . . . 157
237. Actual development of life a question for Natural History 158
Conclusion. ......... 160
BOOK III.
P s y c h o To g y .
CHAPTER I.
THE METAPHYSICAL CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL.
Introductory. Rational and Empirical Psychology . .163
238. Reasons for the belief in a 'Soul.' I. Freedom is no reason 165
239. 2. Mental and physical processes disparate . . . 166
240. Disparateness no proof of separate psychical substance . 168
241. 3. Unity of Consciousness . . . . . . .169
242. Unity of the conscious Subject 171
243. The subject in what sense called ' substance* . . .173
244. Kant on the Substantiality of the Soul . . . .176
245. What the Soul is; and the question of its immortality . . 180
246. Origin of the Soul may be gradual 182
247. Ideas of psychical and psycho-physical mechanism .186
248. Interaction between Body and Soul 187
249. Idea of a bond between Body and Soul .... 190
250. The Soul not a resultant of physical actions . . .191
x TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PACK
251. Meaning of explaining the Soul as a peculiar form of com-
bination between elements 194
252. Consciousness and Motion in Fechner's ' Psycho-Physik ' . 195
CHAPTER II.
SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS.
253. The physical stimulus of sensation 199
254. The physiological stimulus of sensation . . . .201
255. The conscious sensation ....... 204
256. Adequate and inadequate stimuli of sense .... 205
257. The connexion of various classes of sensation . . . 207
258. Weber's Law 210
259. Hypotheses as to the reason of Weber's Law . . .212
260. The so-called chemistry of ideas 214
261 . The disappearance of ideas from consciousness. The checking
of ideas 217
262. The strength of ideas 219
263. Dim ideas 221
264. The more interesting ideas conquer 223
265. Association of ideas 226
266. Ilerbart's theory respecting the reproduction of a successive
series of ideas 228
CHAPTER III.
ON THE MENTAL ACT OF ' RELATION.'
267. Simple ideas and their relations 232
268. The necessary distinction between them .... 233
269. Psycho-physical attempts to explain ideas of relation . . 234
270. Herbart's theory of the psychical mechanism . . . 237
271. The truer view respecting simple ideas and ideas of relation
expressed in Ilerbartian language 240
272. The referring activity as producing universal conceptions . 241
273. Attention as an activity of reference 242
274. Attention and the ' interest ' possessed by ideas . . . 244
CHAPTER IV.
THE FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE.
275. The subjectivity of our perception of Space .... 247
276. How is the perception of spatial relations possible ? . . 248
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
277. Distinctions depending on Space cannot be preserved as such
in the Soul 251
278. A clue needed for the arrangement of impressions by the Soul 253
270. The * extra-impression' as a clue or ' local sign* . . . 254
280. Does the local sign ' arise in the same nerve-fibre as the
main impression ? . . . . . . . 256
281. ' Local signs ' must be not merely different but comparable . 259
282. ' Local signs ' must be conscious sensations . . . .260
283-7. On the local signs connected with visual sensations . 263-276
288-0. Local signs connected with the sense of touch . . 276-280
290. How these feelings are associated with movement . . 280
CHAPTER V.
THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY.
291. The 'scat' of the Soul 283
292. The Soul not omnipresent within the body .... 284
293. No reason to suppose that it has an action graduated ac-
cording to distance . . . . . . .285
294. No suitable place can be found for it on the hypothesis that
it acts by contact only 287
295. It must act directly and independently of Space, but only at
certain necessary points 288
296. Which these points are is determined from time to time by
the activities which go on in them 291
297. Our ignorance of the special functions of the central nervous
organs i .... 293
298. Ideas of a 'Sensorium commttne* and ' Motor ium commune* 295
299. The organ of language ....... 297
300. How the soul initiates action 299
301. Reproduction of the right concomitant feeling . . . 300
302. Application of this view to the organ of language . . 303
303. Phrenology 304
304. The connexion of Consciousness with bodily states . . 306
305. Does memory depend on physical traces left in the brain ? . 310
306. Loss of memory ......... 313
307. Existence of the soul during unconsciousness . . . 315
Conclusion 318
INDEX 321
CHAPTER V.
The theoretical construction of Materiality.
174. THE elements of Real Existence have hitherto been
spoken of only in so far as regards the positions occupied by
them in Space and the changes in those positions ; as regards
the form and nature of that which takes up and changes its
positions, we have been silent. This latter question, which
at the point we have now reached we shall be called on to
consider, is usually stated as the theoretical construction of
Matter. If I were to give this name to the following in-
vestigations, it could only be with the reservation that I
understand the philosophical problem which is commonly
Designated by it in a changed sense. For this Matter, the
construction of which is required, is not a ready-made fact
open to observation. Real Existence as known to us in
Space consists merely of an indefinite number of indi-
vidual objects variously distinguished by inherent differences
in their sensible qualities. At the same time, however, we
learn by observation and comparison of these objects to
perceive a number of common properties in which they all,
to a greater or less extent, participate. They are all alike
extended in space; all alike show a certain tendency to
maintain their positions against any attempt to change them;
they all oppose a certain vis inertiae to any efforts to move
them. These common properties of things, which are con-
sistent also with the most manifold differences, may be
classed together under the generic name Materiality, and
Matter would then be a general term standing for anything
which participated, to whatever extent, in the above-men-
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. B
2 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
tioned modes of behaviour. The problem of philosophy
would be to determine what is the subject of which these
are the attributes, and under what conditions there arise in
their successive grades the forms of existence and of action
which we comprehend under the name of ' Materiality.'
A general consideration of these questions must have re-
gard to two possible modes of answering them. Conceivably
the Real Existence which appears to us under forms of
action so homogeneous, may be not merely of like, but of
quite identical nature throughout, and may owe the differ-
ences which characterise it to subsequent accessory con-
ditions. But it is equally conceivable, that Beings originally
distinct, and such as cannot be comprehended in the totality
of their nature under any one notion, should yet be bound
by the plan of the world, in which they arc all included, to
express their own inmost and heterogeneous Being, where
they come into mutual relations, in a language of common
currency, i.e. by means of the properties of matter.
175. I shall not now attempt to determine, whether the
present age with its more extended knowledge of nature has
discovered grounds decisively favouring the first of these
suppositions what is certain is, that the ancients, who first
propounded this view, proceeded on no such sufficient
grounds. The conception of an attribute admitting of
being applied to things differing from each other, they
hastily transformed into the conception of -a real identical
subject underlying the varieties of phenomena. This
example has unfortunately been very generally followed by
Philosophy in subsequent times, and the days are still quite
recent when the most strenuous attempts were made to con-
struct this universal substratum, though even if it had been
shown to exist, it would have been most difficult, if not
altogether impossible, to deduce from it the different material
bodies to the explanation of which it was supposed to be
necessary. In any case, this universal matter could not
have been adequately determined by reference to those pre-
Chap.V.] PLACE OF MATTER IN REAL WORLD. 3
dicates which constitute its materiality. For, all of tl.em,
extension, reaction, vis inertiae, denote merely the manner
or mode in which a thing behaves or is related. They do
not in any way touch the nature of that to which these
changes of behaviour are attributed.
There are two ways in which it may be attempted to get
the better of this difficulty. As we are under no obligation
to lay claim to universal knowledge, so it may simply be
granted, that Matter is a real determinate thing, but known
to us and intelligible only in respect of its behaviour. This
is roughly the point of view which is adopted by Physical
Science. Science distinguishes that which is extended and
operative in space from the empty environment in which it
appears. But it leaves the original nature of this substratum
undefined, or ascribes to it only such general characteristics
as are forced upon it by the analysis of individual objects.
By so doing, Science gives up the attempt to construct a
theory of a universal matter, preferring rather to examine
into the nature of phenomena singly, whilst assuming the
existence of a common basis underlying them. On the
other method, if we attempt to deduce the general properties
of matter from the nature of the real thing of which they
are predicates, we are met by a well-known difficulty. We
convinced ourselves, when treating of ontology, that to look
for the essence of a thing in a fixed quality and then to re-
present the modes of its activity as consequences derivative
from this, was a method which could never be successful 1 .
We saw, that all those forms of insight which seemed to
explain the inner nature of things were only possible because
they were nothing but forms of vision, appearances such as
a consciousness may present to itself. What lay at the
bottom of such perceptions, in external reality, always con-
verted itself into some kind of activity or process or mode
of relation. And however strong may be the impulse to
attribute these living processes to some subject, we had to
1 (Cp. Bk. I. Chap. 2, 22.]
B2
4 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
give up the attempt to explain the marvellous fact of active
being, by representing its activity as the mere predicate of
an inactive subject. Similarly, in the present case, it would
be labour mis-spent to attempt to describe the reality under-
lying the forms of material existence previous to and in-
dependent of these its manifestations. There does however
still remain something to be done, viz. to determine the place
which this inaccessible substratum occupies in the sum-total
of existence. At any rate we must be clear as to whether
we mean to regard it as something absolutely original and
specific, standing in no connexion with other forms of
reality, or as itself, no less than its properties, an intelligible
part of the order of the universe. The attempt to explain
the origin of matter mechanically is now regarded as im-
possible ; no theory of a universal matter can show how the
existence of matter first became possible and then actual.
All that can be done is to indicate the manner of its exist-
ence and its place in the order of the world. Not until the
nature of matter had been thus explained, and so could be
taken for granted, could the attempt be renewed to derive
individual phenomena by mechanical laws from the universal
fact of matter.
178. There has never been a dearth of such attempts ; I
shall content myself with a brief mention of only a few;
confining myself to those which stand in the closest relation
to existing opinions on the same subject. According to
Descartes, extension and consciousness constituted together
the two ultimate facts of perception, both being equally
clear and neither admitting of being merged in the other.
Having made this discovery, Descartes proceeded with a
light heart to treat also the res extensa and the res cogitans
as equally simple and clear. He considered that these were
the two original elements of the world, and he maintained
that they had no further community of nature than such as
followed from their having both sprung from the will of the
creator, and being involved in a relation of cause and effect,
Chap. V.] SPINOZA. 5
which the same will had established. Doubtless, an advance
was made upon this view by Spinoza, in so far as he con-
ceived of conscious life and material existence not merely as
springing from the arbitrary will of the creator, but as two
parallel lines of development, into which, by reason of its
two essential attributes, the one absolute substance separated
itself. At any rate, it was established that the material
world does not proceed from any principle peculiar to itself,
and of undemonstrable origin : the Reality underlying the
forms and relations of matter in space is the same as the
Reality, which in the intelligible world assumes the form of
Thought.
But I cannot convince myself that Spinoza got further
than this point towards a solution of the questions now
before us. Though insisting on the necessary concatenation
of all things, even to the extent of denying every kind of
freedom, he hindered the development of his view, by in-
troducing barren logical conceptions of relation, the meta-
physical value of which remained obscure. A logical
expression may often be found for the content of a con-
ception by enumerating a number of attributes co-ordinated
in it. All that this really means is that every such deter-
mination a is imposed upon the single object in question
by the given condition/, with the same immediate necessity
with which in another case the determination b would follow
upon the occurrence of </. But we cannot tell in what con-
sists the unity of a substance, which apart from all such
conditions exhibits two original disparate sets of attributes,
leaving it open as to whether these are eternal forms of
Being (essentia\ and as such help to constitute the nature
of the substance, or whether we are to understand by them
merely two modes in which the nature of this substance is
apprehended by us. The fact that in respect to the infinite
substance every influence of external conditions must be
denied, makes it all the more necessary that the inner rela-
tions which are contained in its essential unity, issuing as
6 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
they do in such very different modes of manifestation,
should be explained and harmonised. The striking pecu-
liarity of the circumstance that Thought and Extension
should be the attributes thus colligated, is not explained
away, it is only hidden from view by the suggestion that
besides these attributes, there are an infinite number of
others, which though inaccessible to our knowledge are yet
co-ordinated together in the nature of the absolute after the
same incomprehensible fashion.
Again, every individual existence in the material world
may be logically subsumed under the universal attribute
which is called by the not very appropriate name extension,
as species or subspecies ; but, in the merely formal concep-
tion of absolute substance, there is nothing whatever to
determine why out of the infinitude of possible modifica-
tions of the absolute substance which are logically conceiv-
able, one should exist in reality and another should not or,
supposing it to be held that in the infinite unexplored
totality of existence all these numberless possibilities as a
matter of fact are realised, there must still be some reason
why the events in the limits of our own experience take
place in the order in which they do and not in another.
Those two attributes of the infinite substance would, if left
to themselves, be able to develope merely the system of all
possible consequences derivable from them ; but such is not
the reality which we find before us ; in order to arrive at
that we need either a plurality of underived existences, or a
simple plan capable of being the reason why of the possible
consequences of those principles some occur often, others
but rarely, and in all such infinitely various combinations.
Once more, it is true that no modification of the one
attribute can be derived out of a modification of the other,
and therefore thought cannot be derived from extension nor
extension from thought. But the logical impossibility of
deriving one from the other analytically cannot invalidate
the possibility of their synthetic combination in actual
Chap.V.] EXPLANATION OR SCHEME? 7
reality, except on a view which treats logical subordination
as if it were the same with dependence in fact, and confuses
a condition with a cause. The necessary admission that in
Being there are elements which cohere and mutually affect
each other, though in thought they are incommensurable,
cannot be replaced by the wearisome repetition of the
assertion, * ordo et connexio rerum idem est atque ordo et
connexio idearum.' Whatever reference this proposition
may be supposed to have, whether to the parallelism of the
forms of Being in the totality of the world, or to the com-
bination of physical and psychical functions in the life of
each individual, as long as consciousness and extension
have admittedly no common term, there can be no common
term between the order and connexion of their respective
modifications. Their alleged identity can only be under-
stood in the restricted sense that always and in every case
the modification b of the attribute B corresponds with the
modification a of the attribute A, and that the change of a
into a is followed always by a corresponding change of b into
/3. But there is no proof that the correspondence which is
exhibited as a matter of fact between a - and b # rests on
any identity of nature ; or, in other words, that the transition
between two modifications of the one attribute is or expresses
or repeats the same thing in a different form as the corre-
sponding transition in the other. I cannot, therefore, dis-
cover that Spinoza has advanced the explanation of the
material world in its relation to the spiritual. Instead of a
metaphysical theory, what he gives is scarcely more than a
logical classification. According to this, material and
spiritual existences may be ranked under two disparate
categories, which, both as real determinations in the nature
of the absolute, and in all that is produced from it, are, not
indeed by any inner necessity, but always as a matter of
fact, combined. It is quite possible that we may not be
able to make any advance worth speaking of beyond this
point \ but, in that case, we must admit that we have arrived
8 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
at a result which is worth almost nothing, and we shall not
feel bound to make any profession of enthusiasm on account
of such a trifling addition to our knowledge.
177. I shall touch only briefly on the kindred speculations
which our own idealist philosophy has developed more
recently. Schelling contented himself at first, as Spinoza
had done, with the recognition of that Law of Polarity,
which as a fact constrains the absolute to develope itself
under the twofold form of Ideality and Reality. He
interested himself more, however, in showing the constant
presence of these two elements in every phenomenon, and
explained the manifold differences of things as arising from
the preponderance of one or other of them. But it soon
became evident (as would have appeared even more clearly
if his demonstration had been successful) that he intended
to regard this duality not as a mere fact, but as a necessary
process of differentiation involved in the original nature of
the Absolute. At a later period, he was dominated, as was
Hegel, by the thought of a development within which the
material world appears as an anticipation of the higher life
of the Spirit. Of this development Hegel believed himself
to have discovered the law.
It would be impossible, without going to extreme length,
to give a representation of the governing purpose of HegePs
account, which should be at once faithful to the original,
and at the same time adapted to our present habits of
thought. I shall confine myself, therefore, to attempting to
show that he has confused two classes of questions which
ought to be kept distinct. After satisfying oneself that the
purpose of the world is the realisation of some one all-com-
prehensive idea, and after being further assured that the
arrangement of the forms of existence and activity in a fixed
system is required as a means to this realisation, one may
proceed to ask, what is the place of matter in such a system ?
what necessary and peculiar function is served by it ? It
would then be natural to speak first of matter in its most
Chap.V.] KANT'S CONSTRUCTION OF MATTER. 9
universal form, i. c. materiality as such ; and we mighfc hope
to find that the same inner process of development, follow-
ing which the original idea of matter breaks itself up into
certain definite postulates of existence, necessitated by the
correspondence of the idea with the whole sphere of reality,
would be followed in like manner by the concrete forms
which different objects assume in filling in the common out-
line, and that these would be similarly developed. No one
now believes in the pleasant dream that this project is realis-
able, still less that it has been realised. Still, there is nothing
unintelligible in the notion itself. What troubles us is the
obscurity of the connexion between this project and the
second of the problems I alluded to, that of showing how
the postulates dictated by the Idea are satisfied both in
existence as a whole, and in the complex course of actual
events in particular. As regards the former point, it may
be sufficient to bear in mind that the self-developing idea is
no mere system of conceivable possibilities of thought, but
itself living reality. The same reflexion cannot, however,
as often it is wrongly made to do, serve the place of a system
of mechanics, determining in reference to each concrete
existence in Space and Time why precisely here and now
this rather than some other manifestation of the idea should
necessarily be realised.
178. More in accordance with the scientific views at
present held is the teaching of Kant. I can remember how
a few decades ago the student used to hear it said that of
all Kant's epoch-making works the deepest were those which
treated of the Metaphysical basis of Natural Science.
While admitting the worth of what Kant has written on this
subject, I cannot value it quite so highly. I lament, in the
first place, the gap which separates the results of these
speculations from those of the Critique of the Reason. The
ideal nature of space which is asserted in the Critique is
here left almost out of account ; the construction of matter
is attempted exclusively from the ordinary point of view,
io THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book H.
according to which there is a real extension, and there must
be activities adapted to fill it. I lament no less what has
previously been observed by Hegel, viz. that there should
remain such uncertainty as to the subject to which the
activities thus manifesting themselves in Space, and so con-
stituting matter, are to be attributed. That this subject is
what moves in Space, and that it is the reality which under-
lies our sensations, these seem to be the only determinations
of it which are not derived from what the properties of
matter show themselves to be by their subsequent effects.
Who or what this is that is thus movable or real remains
unexplained. Taking into consideration the fact that Kant
used to speak of things in themselves in the plural, it seerns
probable that his thoughts on this subject did not pass
beyond the conception of an indefinite multiplicity of real
elements, an obvious hypothesis, which was likely to re-
commend itself to him for the purposes of Physical Science.
This view is confirmed by his mode of deriving the differ-
ences of individual existences from combinations of the
two 1 primary forces in varying degrees of intensity, which is
his invariable explanation of matter as a phenomenon.
Now these differences of combination would have nothing
to stand upon if they are not based on specific differences
of nature in the real elements which they combine. Al-
though, therefore, it is not explicitly laid down that the Real
elements are originally distinct, still this interpretation is
quite as little excluded, and it may be admitted that what
Kant is endeavouring to explain is not a universal matter,
but rather the universal form of materiality, together with
the special manifestations which are developed within this
form in consequence of the characteristic nature of the
Reality which the form contains. But, supposing this to be
admitted, we should still be at a loss to explain how this
real existence is related to Space, in which it thus makes its
appearance. If we refer back to the Critique of the Reason,
1 [I. e. attraction and repulsion.]
Chap. V.] KINDS OF MA TTER. 1 1
we find one thing settled, but only in the negative. True
Being can neither be itself extended, nor can the relations
in which it is expressed be other than purely intelligible
ones. The problem would then have been to show how the
elements of Real existence are able to present themselves
to our consciousness 1 in which alone space is contained
in such a way that they not merely take up definite positions,
but also have the appearance of being extended in Space,
Kant never really handled this question. The forces of
attraction and repulsion which he mentions can only be
understood on the supposition of certain definite points
from which they are put in operation by the ultimate ele-
ments. Moreover, if Space which is continuous is to be
continuously filled with matter, differing indeed in degrees
of density, but still such that no smallest particle of it can
be absolutely driven out of Space even by the greatest
pressure, and if matter is to an unlimited extent divisible
into parts which still remain matter, there seems to be
nothing left for our imagination but to conceive of extension
in Space and impenetrability as original and fixed charac-
teristics of the real substratum, which thus becomes the
basis of further enquiry. But in that case, what we should
have would be neither a universal matter nor the universal
form of materiality. The latter would be merely assumed
as the common characteristic in real elements otherwise
diverse, in order that it might serve as a basis for investiga-
tion into the relations subsisting between different material
existences. This result would not be very unlike that which
is soon reached by the ordinary reflexion upon Nature.
Different kinds of unknown elements are assumed, which
owing to causes also unknown we come upon, each of them
in numerous specimens, at different points in Space. At
these different points each fills a certain volume with its
presence; their presence is manifested by the changes of
position which they originate, and by the resistance which
1 [' Anschauung.']
1 2 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIALITY. '[Book II.
they offer to any attempts coming from without to remove
them from their occupancy or to lessen its extent. In other
words, we think that there are many different kinds of
matter which are distinguished for us by the different co-
efficients which we are compelled to assign in each of them
to the action of certain forces or inherent tendencies
common to them all.
179. The application of this conception of force in order
to explain the fundamental qualities of matter has always
been regarded as the most valuable advance of Kant's
Philosophy of Nature, though to some it has seemed to go
further than experience would warrant. Kant himself does
not appear to me to have allowed the motive clearly enough
to emerge which led him to this view, though there can be
no doubt as to what it was, and we may trace it thus. He
mentions 1 Lambert's account of Solidity as a necessary
property of all material existence. According to Lambert,
it follows from the very conception of Reality, or, in other
words, it is a consequence of the Law of Contradiction,
that the mere fact of the presence of a thing in Space makes
it impossible that any other thing should occupy the same
position at the same time. Against this it was contended
by Kant that the I^aw of Contradiction could not by itself
keep back any part of matter from approaching and making
its way into a position already occupied by some other part.
This objection is not quite fair. We should not expect the
physical impossibility referred to to be produced by the
Principle of Contradiction, but only in accordance with that
principle and by the fact of solidity which for practical
purposes, we assume as an attribute of Real Existence.
And why should we not make this assumption if there is
nothing at variance with it in experience ? It is no sufficient
reason against doing so to urge, as Kant does in the course
of his c Proof of this ' Precept No. i ' of his * Dynamic, 1
1 [Kant. Metaphysische Anfangsgriinde der Naturwiss. Dynamik.
Lehrsatz I. Anmerkung. (Werke ed. Rosenkranz. 5. 344.)]
Chap.V.] FORCE AND SOLIDITY. 13
that to make way into a position is a motion and that in
order for there to be a decrease or cessation of motion there
must be a motion proceeding from an opposite quarter, or
rather a something which can produce such a motion, a
motive force. For the view of atomism according to which
the smallest particles of matter are possessed of solidity,
though it would admit that motion makes its way up to the
surface of a body, would not admit that it makes its way
into the body ; yet, according to this view, the effects of the
impact communicated would not vanish without producing
an effect at the surface of the solid matter, but would be
distributed from one atom to another, or to several atoms,
and so become imperceptible. Whatever difficulties may
attend the explanation of the phenomena by this method,
at any rate a closer investigation than has been entered on
by Kant would have been required in order to exhibit
them.
Again, what Kant adds in his note is not to me convinc-
ing. He admits that in constructing a conception it is
allowable to assume any datum to start with, e.g. solidity,
without attempting to explain what the datum itself is.
This, however, he says, gives us no right to affirm that the
hypothesis is altogether incapable of being explained by
mathematics. It seems to him that such a view would only
hinder us in the attempt to penetrate to the first principles
of science. But supposing we were willing to go so far
with Kant as to assume the force of expansion, to which he
gives precedence, would this be more than a datum, which
could be used certainly to explain subsequent manifesta-
tions, but was itself taken for granted and would not admit
of being deduced from the nature of real existence as such ?
The point at which a man will declare himself satisfied in
this matter really depends in each case on his individual
taste. There could be no real necessity to follow Kant in
assuming something more than solidity as a fact pure and
simple, unless it could be shown that solidity itself is either
14 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TER1ALITY. [Book II.
impossible or inadequate. Now the question whether it is
impossible must for the present be left out of account ; in-
adequate, however, it certainly is. The fact that no visible
body is of unvarying extension, but all are susceptible of
compression r expansion, would, it is true, apart from
Kant's assumption of a continuous plenum in space, form
no immediate disproof of the solidity in question, though
this obviously implies the allegation of unvarying volume.
The atomic theory, postulating empty spaces between its
solid elements, would have a different explanation for the
varying size of substances. But all the phenomena of
elasticity, in which bodies resume their former shapes so
soon as the external agencies which determined them to
change have ceased to operate, prove beyond question that
there must lie in the very nature of real existence conditions
capable of producing states of Being which as yet are not.
The form and extension, consequently, which an object of
sensible perception assumes, cannot attach to it as an
original and fixed property, but are rather a varying state of
its existence, determined by inner conditions inherent in its
Being. Sometimes, the object is permitted to appear in its
true form, sometimes it is hindered from doing so ; in the
latter case, however, i.e. where the inner states of Being are
prevented from giving themselves expression, they make
known their existence by the resistance which they offer to
the adverse influences. These inner determinations may
be spoken of as forces^ in order to distinguish them from
properties. It will then be seen not to be enough to ascribe
solidity, as a property, though it were only to the smallest
particles of matter. The atoms themselves must have
certain moving forces attaching to them, in order to make
the ever-changing volume even of composite bodies in-
telligible.
Thus we may say provisionally that Kant regarded as
fundamental in this problem of Science that principle which
we cannot dispense with even though we prefer the other
Chap.V.] QUALITY AND FORCE. 15
principle; but which may very well help to explain that
other principle. This solid matter was not a fact open to
observation ; it was not so even as applied to the smallest
particles ; it was an hypothesis. Hence, it could be denied,
and every occupation of space not merely by large visible
bodies, but by their smallest elements, could be regarded
as a perpetually changing state produced by the force of
expansion, according as its action was free or impeded.
Stated in a few words the case stands thus. If every
material existence, remaining always indivisible, occupied
the same space at one time as at another, solidity might be
predicated of it as an original quality which it must not be
attempted further to explain. But, now, inasmuch as
extension, though a character indelebilis, is not a character
invariabilis of matter, the extension which a thing has at
any moment is the result of conditions which though present
at that moment may vary at other moments ; one of these
conditions lies in matter itself, and offers a resistance,
though not an insuperable one, to those which come from
without.
180. I wish to dwell for a moment longer on the differ-
ence to which I have referred between a fixed quality and
a force. We have been long convinced that what we
ordinarily call properties of things are really only modes
which they assume, or manifestations which become known
to us as the result of their interaction. Things do not have
colour except as seen by us, and at the moment when in
combination with waves of light they stimulate the eye.
They are not hard, except in relation to the hand which
attempts to move or pierce them. As a matter of fact, then,
we should be at a loss to point to an indubitable instance of
what we mean by a quality of a thing. All we can say is,
that we are clear ourselves as to what we mean. By a
quality is meant that which a thing is for itself and inde-
pendently of any of its relations to other things. Hence,
in order to exist, a quality neither requires these other
l6 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. ookll.
things, nor is interfered with by them. A force, on the
other hand, is not, like a quality, something belonging to
things as such. In order, therefore, for a thing to be what
it is, we do not attribute to it any force of being ; though
we do speak of its having a force of self-conservation, in
opposition to certain conditions which we assume to be
capable of changing it. Our conception of a force, there-
fore, involves the thought that the character of a thing is
neither unchanging, nor yet on the other hand determinable
to an unlimited extent from without. Rather, it implies
that when the two things meet, they both undergo a real
change, the change of the one depending on the nature of
the other, but each at the same time by its own nature for-
bidding a change without limits or one which would amount
to a surrender of its essential Being. If qualities attach to
things in their isolation, forces can only belong to them in
consideration of their relation to each other; they are, in
fact, conditions which enable one thing to affect another
and to place itself to it in different relations. It is in this
sense that Kant speaks of the forces which fill space ; they
belong to the separate parts of matter, and are brought into
activity by these parts in their mutual relations ; their appro-
priate effects they either succeed in producing, or else show
to be present by the resistance which they offer to other
forces tending to hinder them. Here, however, it may be
objected that Kant did not confine himself to the exposition
of this process, but that taking this for granted as a uni-
versally presupposed fact, he imported into the discussion
considerations of quite a different order, attaching to the
term 'Force/ which he selected. I do not believe that
Kant himself is liable to the charge here made against him ;
but the popular view of nature which was suggested by his
doctrines, has given rise to a number of false opinions, and
these therefore we shall now proceed to examine more at
length.
181. It is no doubt most useful to be able to express the
Chap.V.] FORCE DEPENDENT ON RELATION. 17
import of an intricate relation between several connected
points, by means of a single word ; at the same time, there
is danger in doing this. After the word has been called
into existence, not only are we able to combine it with other
words, but we are led to suppose that every such grammatical
combination has something real corresponding with it in
fact. Thus, we speak first of all of force, and then of the
force of matter. The use of the genitive in this instance,
implying as it does that matter is possessed of force, or, that
force is exercised by matter, has suggested these interminable
questions concerning the nature of force as such, and its
relation to matter of which it is a function. Such questions
cannot be easily answered at once, when stated in this form.
To understand, however, the applications of which this con-
ception of force admits, we have only to observe the ordinary
usage of Physical Science. Physics makes no mention of
Force in itself, but only of its effects, i.e. of the changes to
which it gives rise, or which it hinders. It is moreover
against the Law of Persistence that an element should of
itself modify its own states; the impulse to change must
come from some other element. Thus, an element a is not
possessed of a force/ until a second element b is presented
to it on which it may take effect. The force is really pro-
duced in a by the relation to b ; and it changes to q or r if
either the nature of the second element or the relation of a
to it is changed. Now, observation shows that there is
nothing impossible in the attempt to determine the nature
of the elements, the relations in which they may stand to
each other, and the changes which they undergo in conse-
quence of these relations. We can understand how, when
elements containing specific amounts of generic properties
enter into specific forms of some general relation, there are
general effects which follow and vary proportionally accord-
ing to definite laws. The proposition, a is possessed of the
force /, when all that it implies is fully stated, in the first
instance merely conveys the assurance that whenever a is
METAPHYSIC, Voi- II. C
1 8 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIALITY. [Book IK
brought into a specific relation m with a given element b,
changes of state will be experienced both by a and by b
which will go together to form the new occurrence, of fixed
character and amount, n. Having arrived at this result we
may then go on to speak of this fixed determinate force in
another way, as if, i.e. it were present in a in an ineffective and
indeterminate form, its definite effect being supposed to
depend on subsequent conditioning circumstances, e.g. the
nature of the elements b or c which come into contact with
0, the peculiarity of the relation m or n into which a is
brought, the presence or absence of some third circumstance.
To all these causes the actual realisation of the result IT or K
might be ascribed. Even this mode of statement, however,
expresses no more than a presumption as to what will neces-
sarily happen in a given supposed case. It follows in
accordance with the general law which connects the changes
of things with one another, that the circumstances being
such as they are, no other result could have happened.
Each of the elements, in virtue of its own nature, contributes
to this result, and it is an allowable mode of statement first
of all to represent them as containing severally and indi-
vidually all the required conditions, and then to rectify the
error of such an assumption by adding that the force poten-
tially inherent in each element cannot become active until
the element enters into some specially determined relation.
As a matter of fact, it is this special relation which gives
rise to the force. If we desire a definition of force, we may
say that it is that quantitatively and qualitatively determined
result, which may or must ensue, whenever any one element
enters into a specific relation with any other. It is only for
convenience of speech that this future result, which under
given conditions we are justified in expecting, is antedated
as a property already present though inoperative in the
element. This being understood, there can be no harm in
thus speaking of a force as being asleep and awaiting the
moment of its awakenment, according as the conditions,
Chap.V.] FORCE BELONGS TO WHAT? 19
which together with the specific nature of the element
constitute all that is necessary to produce the result, are
present or absent. We shall perhaps make .the matter
clearer, if we adduce other instances besides those of
physical forces with which we are more immediately con-
cerned. Thus, it is the same conception of force which we
have in view, when we speak of the powers of the mind, the
revenue-yielding power of a country, or the purchasing
power of money. In this last case, no one seriously
believes that the current coin contains some latent property
which gives it its value. The possibility of obtaining a
given quantity of goods in exchange for so much money
depends on highly complex relations which men enter into
for purposes of traffic ; and the value of the money changes
not owing to any change in the substance of the metal, but
to a change in some one of the conditions by which the
value of the money is for the time being determined. There
would be no power of purchase in money if there were no
market in which to exchange it. Similarly we are quite
justified in speaking of the Power of Judgment as a property
of mind. When we make an assertion in regard to any
given matter before us, which is what properly constitutes
a judgment, it is certainly our intellectual nature that is
called into exercise ; at the same time, however, it would be
nonsense to speak of a power of judgment, which belonged
to us before we came to make use of it, or one which was
constantly being exercised without reference to any distinct
object-matter. It is impossible to say more than that we
are constituted by nature in such a way that the mind,
when it is acted upon by impressions from without, not
only receives the impressions singly, but reacts upon them
in that way of comparison of their different contents which
we call judgment. It is only at the moment when it is
exercised that the Power of Judgment is living and pre-
sent, and this applies not only to the reality of the activity,
but also to its nature and content; these likewise being
c 2
20 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TER1ALITY. [Book II.
dependent on the conditions which bring them into existence
for the time being. We may say the same as regards the
conception of force which obtains in Mechanics. Thus
when we speak of centrifugal force, we do not mean that
this force is possessed by Bodies as such, when they are at
rest. We at once see that we are speaking of effects which
may or must take place when bodies are rotating or being
swung round. If we distinguish from these forces certain
others, such viz. as the attraction which bodies exercise
upon each other, and call the latter primary forces inherent
in the bodies as such, all that we mean is that the conditions
under which such forces arise are extremely simple and
always fulfilled. In order for two elements to be drawn to
each other by the force of attraction, all that is required
is that they should exist at the same time in the same world
of space. This one condition, however, is indispensable ; it
would have no meaning to say that an clement gravitated,
if there were no second element to determine the direction
of its motion.
We shall not, therefore, attempt to determine what actual
relation subsists between forces and the bodies which are
their substrata, believing as we do that the problem itself
results from a misunderstanding. No such relation exists in
the sense that a force can in any way be separated from the
body which we call its substratum. Its name ' force ' is
only a substantive-name employed to express a proposition,
the sense of which is, that certain consequences follow upon
certain conditions. What it signifies is neither a thing, nor
any existing property of a thing, nor again is it a means of
which a thing could avail itself in order to produce any
given result. It merely affirms the certainty that a given
result will happen in a given case, supposing all the necessary
conditions to be complied with. Nor can we ourselves
attach any meaning to those hastily-conceived maxims,
which are popularly held to express the truth on this subject,
such e.g. as that there can be no force without matter ; and,
Chap. V.I KANT'S IDEA OF FORCE. 21
no matter without force. These equally stale propositions
merely add a small grain of truth to the old error in a more
perverted form. It is rather true that there is no force
inherent in any matter, and no matter which by itself has
or brings with it any kind of force. Every force attaches
to some specific relation between at least two elements.
On the other hand no opinion is here expressed with regard
to the question as to whether it is possible for two elements
thus to be brought in relation without some force being
engendered. It is dangerous to attempt to lay down propo-
sitions by the way with regard to matters of fact, merely for
the sake of making a verbal antithesis.
182. If these considerations are regarded as conclusive,
the term force will be understood, not indeed in the sense
in which it is sometimes used, viz. as a Law according
to which things take place, but as an assertion in regard to
each single case to which the term is applied that we have
in that case an instance of the operation of the Law. Thus
understood, the term will not suggest any metaphysical ex-
planation as to why the particular facts must fall under the
general Law.
It is this sense which Physical science is content to adopt
when making use of the term. For the practical aim of
science, that of connecting events in such a way as will
enable us on the basis of present facts to predict the Future
or unriddle the Past, it is found amply sufficient to know
the general law of the succession of phenomena and by
inserting the special modifications of its conditions which
occasion prescribes to determine the nature of the result.
Science can afford to be indifferent as to the inner connexion
by which results are made to follow antecedents. It cannot
be maintained that this was all that Kant intended to be
understood by his conception of force. He everywhere
speaks as if he meant to explain extension not as a simple
consequence of the existence of matter, but rather as due to
the action of a force. This is a very different conception of
22 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. '[Bookll.
force from that according to which it is regarded simply as
the connexion of phenomena in accordance with Law.
Clearly he means by Force something which is active in the
strict sense of the word, something which, he believes, will
produce real changes of state ; whereas, the counter-theory,
confining itself within narrower limits, asserts only that they
follow each other in orderly succession. The popular view
of nature which based itself on Kant's doctrine imported
into the idea of physical force all those associations which
are suggested by reflexion on our own conscious activity.
In order for this doctrine not to seem to be at variance with
the observed facts of the outer world, it had to be toned
down, and, in spite of the manifold contradictions which the
idea involved, the activity was regarded as Will or Impulse
unconscious of itself. These latter-day developments of
Kant's view I shall for the present leave to take care of
themselves. It will, however, be understood after what
I have urged in the ontological portion of my work as
regards the relation of cause and effect, that this view which
has been made to bear so heavily on Kant, is one in which
I fully agree with him I agree with him in the general
recognition of an inner process and activity, in virtue of
which things are able to be that which, according to the
frequent expression of Physicists, it alone belongs to them
of right to be, viz. interconnected points serving as the basis
of ever-varying combinations, centres from which forces
proceed and to which they return, points of intersection
at which different converging processes meet and cross each
other in fixed succession. I do not regret that Kant should
have refused to put this view on one side. I regret rather
that he should not have brought us to closer quarters with
it. The general position for which I have already con-
tended does not require to be further elaborated in reference
to this special case of Physical causation. An element
a cannot produce the effect / merely because there is
a general law /, which prescribes that when a stands in the
Cha P .V.] KANT'S TWO FORCES, 23
relation m to , the result / shall follow. No doubt this
result does follow in the given case, i.e. we who are the
spectators see and know that it does so. But, in order for
the change itself to take place, in order for a to give birth
to an activity under these new conditions which it did not
previously produce, it must undergo an experience through
being placed in the relation m which otherwise it would not
have undergone, and, similarly, the effect / could never
be brought home to b, merely because the relation ;;/ existed
between b and a. The existence of the relation m must
have been felt by b before it could have been acted on.
Hence, the results which arise in each case are not con-
sequences of mere relations which subsist between a and b.
These relations, as we call them, are really inner states of
Being, which things experience as the result of their mutual
activity. It is not to be expected that this theory of an un-
ceasing activity of the inner life of things will be of much
real assistance in the explanation of each separate fact
of nature. It is a supposition, however, which it is neces-
sary for us to entertain if we are to cease to regard the
world from a point of view, which however useful it may be
for practical purposes is full of inconceivabilities, the view,
viz. that the elements of existence are without individuality
.and without life, endowed with reality merely because a net-
work of relations is established between them by the agency
of general laws. The usefulness of this latter point of view,
if considered merely as a half statement of the truth, I shall
not dispute, whilst at the same time I shall point out how
far it is applicable and justifiable, and when and where it is
necessary to recur to what actually takes place in the nature
of things.
183. Out of the multitude of opinions which offer them-
selves for consideration at this point I shall make mention,
first, of Kant's view, according to which there are two forces
necessary to every material existence, the force of attrac-
tion, by which things are made to cohere, and the force of
24 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIALITY. [Book II.
repulsion by which they are expanded; the two together
forming a standing element in the countless attempts at
explanation which have been made since Kant's time. I
must confess myself that I do not feel much interest in these
two forces. When the point is raised as to how it can be
that a given matter has definitely fixed limits of extension,
it is easy to see that there must be some reason why it is
what it is neither more nor less i.e. there must be an
attraction of the parts, which if it were allowed to work
alone would reduce the extension to nil, and there must
also be repulsion, which similarly, if it were the only prin-
ciple at work, would make the extension infinite. This is
simply a logical analysis which might be applied to the con-
ception of any real existence which has a definite magnitude
in space. The enquiry does not become metaphysical until
it deals with two further questions ; how, that is, these two
mutually opposed forces are possible, both attaching as they
do to the same subject ; and what that is which produces
and maintains them in such varying proportions as are re-
quired in order to give rise to the manifold differences of
material things in point of extension?
The first of these two questions has been made a subject
of investigation by Physics. It was considered that to as-
cribe to matter two equally original opposed forces would
involve a contradiction in terms. The attempt was therefore
made to assign the two forces to different subjects. The
mutual attraction of the parts proceeded from the ponderable
elements, the repulsion was regarded as confined to particles
of imponderable ether ; and thirdly, an interchange of ac-
tivities between the two classes of elements was admitted, in
order to explain those varying states of equilibrium between
attraction and repulsion which the facts required. Whether
this last result was secured by the hypotheses is for our
present purpose indifferent. It may be admitted that the
reasoning is logically sound, though the conclusion is only
necessary, if, in compliance with the usage of language, both
Chap.V.] POSITION PRIOR TO FORCE. 25
forces are conceived as original and essential attributes of
the subjects to which they attach. How the whole matter
may be regarded from a different point of view, for which
the course of my argument will already have prepared the
way, I shall now proceed gradually to unfold, ignoring pro-
visionally arguments derived from the alleged ideality of
space. Even if we adopted the ordinary view of the nature
of space, it would not really become any less difficult to
explain, why the mutual relation between two elements, be-
longing to the same world, should be one of absolute
repulsion, when this fact would seem rather to show that
the world to which they belonged was not the same ; nor
would it be less wonderful that two other elements, both of
them, similarly, supposed to belong to one and the same
world of extended matter, should be drawn towards each
other by such an absolute force of attraction, as that if there
were no counteracting principle, the whole possibility of
their extension would be annihilated. Once grant that the
world is a single whole, and not a mere confused aggregate
of existences, and it will follow that its component elements
cannot be governed by any abstract principles of attraction
or repulsion, driving them continually out of or into one
another, but must aim at the conservation of the whole
order, which, in accordance with the intention of the whole,
assigns to each one of them its place at each moment of
time. The force which proceeds from the collective mass
of the elements, is one which determines the position of
those elements and which, while it seems to reside in each
individual element, really sets itself against any deviation
from the law imposed on all. It sets limits to the nearness
or remoteness of objects as regards each other, appearing in
the one case as the force of repulsion, in the other, as that
of attraction ; in both cases acting as a corrective wherever
there is a tendency in the object to oppose the requirements
of the whole. I wish to see the order of our thoughts on
this subject reversed. We are accustomed to regard the
26 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
position of a thing as the result of certain forces acting upon
it. The first consideration, as I think, on the contrary, is
precisely the position which a thing occupies, as determined
by its nature and character, in the world-system, and the
first and only function which a thing as an individual has to
perform, seems to me to be to retain this position; while
attraction and repulsion we may represent to ourselves as
the two elements into which this self-conservation of things
admits logically of being analysed. In reality however what
happens is that the self-conservation assumes one or other
of these forms according as the needs of the moment give
occasion to it. We must postpone the consideration of the
question, as to what takes place in the inner nature of
things when the place in which they find themselves at any
given moment is out of harmony with the place marked out
for them. As a phenomenon in space, the tendency to re-
turn to an equilibrium must necessarily appear in its simplest
form, either as the approximation or as the separation of
two elements. Hence it is possible to refer all physical
processes to motive forces consisting of attraction or repul-
sion. But it is not the case that on all other occasions
things are empty of content, and that these forces attach to
them merely for the time being. Rather, like the gestures
of living beings, the forces are merely the outward expres-
sion of what is going on within.
184. Thus far, no doubt, the statement of our views has
conveyed the impression that we regarded the world like a
picture having fixed outlines, within which every single
point invariably occupies the same position and clings to it
with equal tenacity. Such a picture would be little in
accordance with the facts. We have long known that the
world is never at rest and that the picture which it presents
is for ever changing. Yet, the whole case is not stated even
when we have grasped this truth. Admitting that the
picture of reality is what it is at any given moment in virtue
of its essential connexion with the arrangement that pre-
Chap.V.] PLURALITY OF FORCES. 27
vailed the moment before and that which is to prevail the
moment after, the forces emanating from the different
points of space must still derive their power to act on each
separate occasion from the law which pervades the whole.
The connexion between the whole and the part is peculiar
to each case, and is very different from a mere instance
of the operation of law in general, such as is known to us
by observation and makes it possible to us to apprehend
the process of the world as the result of innumerable
individual forces working by invariable rules. I have, how-
ever, already 1 endeavoured to show that this plan or idea
cannot be made real in this off-hand way of itself and
without means; rather indeed that it presupposes uniformity
of action on the part of the elements, so that under like
conditions like consequences flow from them, quite inde-
pendently of the place which each occupies in the universal
plan. Hence, even assuming that the world is ceaselessly
in a state of flux, our view that the permanent tendency
of each thing is to maintain the place which belongs to it in
the system of the universe, and that this is what gives to it
its force, does not exclude the opposite or physical view
according to which the course of events in the world is
explained as due to varying combinations of constant forces.
I may add that the supposition of a number of forces
attaching to the same elements at the same time, but acting
in different directions, does not seem to me to be liable to
any of the objections which are commonly urged against it.
No doubt, it would be unintelligible as applied to two
elements working in isolation, but it is not so as applied to
elements between which a connexion has been established
owing to their belonging to one and the same world. We
may learn to comprehend this by the experience of our own
lives. Our actions are conditioned by many different
systems of motives, which operate on us at the same time.
The satisfaction of our physical wants may e.g. be incon-
67.]
2 8 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIALITY. [Book II.
sistent with the social good. What family-affection requires
of us may conflict with our duty as citizens, and within this
last sphere we find ourselves parts of many different institu-
tions whose claims it is not always easy to harmonise. A
like interpretation must be given of the world in which we
live. When we speak of a systematic connexion between
things, we do not mean a single uniform classification in
which we could find any given member by following out
one principle of division. Rather, there are many cross-
purposes at work, each of which requires that the elements
should be distributed exclusively with reference to its own
satisfaction. Each element may be stationed at the inter-
secting point of several different tendencies which unite and
divide the world. As long, therefore, as two elements are
considered as belonging to such a world, there is no reason
why their mutual activities should not be regarded as the
result of a plurality of forces acting simultaneously, and
differing entirely in the effects they produce in response to
each change in the circumstances of the environment;
owing to the different points of view under which they
bring the same set of circumstances, and to the consequent
variety of the reactions set up.
185. There still remains to be considered the question as
to whether it is allowable to speak of forces which take
effect from a distance, or whether those are not right who
regard the possibility of a thing's acting where it is not as
inconceivable. I cannot help adding to the two conflicting
views which are held on this question, a third one of my
own. It seems to me that motion can only be an effect
of forces acting at a distance ; to speak of action when the
elements are in close contact, I regard as a contradiction.
Let us suppose two spherical bodies of equal diameter and
density to be placed so as exactly to contain each other.
If, then, the nature of the materials of which the bodies are
composed is such as to admit of their reciprocal action, and
if we are to disregard all possibility of effects taking place
Chap. V.) ACTION BY CONTACT. 29
at a distance, it will follow that every point a of the one
body will produce an effect on the point b of the other body,
with which it coincides. Now, I do not dispute that the
two elements may be affected in a very real way by reason
of this coincidence at the same geometrical point But,
whether the effects thus produced are such as to intensify or
such as to diminish the condition in which the elements
find themselves, i.e. whether they tend to attraction or
repulsion, in no case can these inner occurrences result in
motion, a and b being already stationed at the same point
of space cannot by any attraction be brought nearer ; nor
could any force of mutual repulsion, however actively
manifested in other ways, avail to part them asunder, there
being no reason why the initial movement tending to
separate them should take any one direction rather than
another.
Nor need we confine ourselves to bodies perfectly co-
incident in extension. No matter what form the two
bodies assume, they would never be able to affect each
other's motions, if there were no distance intervening
between them; for those parts of the two bodies which
were coincident would admit only of being affected internally
by their mutual action, and thus there would be no external
motion. It makes no difference as regards this conclusion,
that effects are spoken of as taking place between contiguous
bodies, and that the ambiguity to which this mathematical
conception so easily lends itself, is made to yield a per-
plexing solution of a difficulty which is one of fact. If we
confine ourselves to the case in which the two bodies are
spheres, their volumes can only meet at one point. Now,
we must be sure that what we have in view is a real contact
of the bodies in question, and we must banish from our
minds all thought of there being any distance, even an
infinitesimal one, intervening between them. As long as
we have any such idea we have in principle admitted the
action of force at a distance, though without any reason
30 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIALI7 Y. [Book II.
restricting the distance to an infinitesimally small one ; a
conception which, besides other difficulties, it is, to say the
least, not easy to explain on physical principles. It is
equally inadmissible to substitute for a point of contact an
infinitely small surface, or, supposing the contact to be
between flat surfaces, to imagine that the layers which are
in contact and which thus produce the effect, can have any,
even the smallest conceivable degree of thickness. It must
be taken as settled that the bodies which are in contact
have their boundaries common or coincident, in the first
case, in a point without extension, in the second, in a surface
without thickness. Whatever way we may try to turn these
ideas, the fact will always remain, that real elements which
occupy the same position in Space will exercise no effect as
regards the production of motion, and such effect as does
take place will spring only from those parts of the bodies
which are really separated from each other by intervals of
Space. As for a contact which does not involve either
separation or coincidence at the same point in Space, the
idea is intelligible enough as applied to the whole volume
of each of the two bodies brought into contact, but it has no
meaning as applied to a possible interaction of single points
such as we have been here considering.
This same observation holds good as regards the attempt
to substitute, instead of forces operating between different
elements, a reflexive power of expansion or contraction, in
virtue of which a thing assigns to itself a greater or less
space of its own accord. If the ' thing ' here spoken of is
understood as a material existence extended and divisible,
this power of self-extension belonging to the whole must in
every case be capable of being finally referred to the
reciprocal repulsion of the parts, these being already dis-
tinguished in Space. If, on the other hand, the thing is
held to be endowed with this power in consequence of a
real metaphysical unity prior to its multiplication in Space,
we shall then have to face another enquiry, which is for the
Chap.V.] COMMUNICATION OF MOTION. 31
most part overlooked in these attempts to construct a theory
of matter, viz. this, How did this reality first get form and
extension in Space that form and extension which are
always presupposed, in order that forces of the kind
mentioned above may be furnished with points to which
to attach themselves ? This question we propose to con-
sider in the next chapter.
186. All that the above demonstration proves is that
mere contact of elements cannot produce motion, if,
however, it should be found to be equally inconceivable
that effects should take place at a distance, we shall be
compelled to deny that motion is a result of force in any
shape whatever, and our task will then be limited to the
attempt to conceive of physical effects as taking place
owing to the supply of motion already in existence being
perpetuated. But it soon appears that the expression,
communication or distribution of motion, though enabling
us to picture to ourselves results which are constantly
passing before our eyes, does not give any tenable con-
ception of the process to which the results in question are
due. Take, e. g. the familiar instance of the effects of
impact on inelastic bodies. Suppose b to be a body in
motion and a a body at rest, then, when b strikes against #,
we say that it communicates to it a certain part of its own
motion, and this, no doubt, is an extremely convenient way
of signalising the new fact which has taken place, in conse-
quence of the two bodies having been brought together.
We cannot, however, seriously suppose that the motion
produced the result by changing its place. If we may
repeat what has before been said 1 , it is for ever impossible
to conceive that a state q> by which a real thing b is affected,
should loose itself from , and pa'ss over to a ; yet this is
such a case ; before the motion could transfer itself from
the limits of b to 0, it would have to traverse,. no matter in
how short a time, a certain space intermediate between the
. l [ 56.1
32 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MATERIALITY. [Book II.
two, and during this time it would be a state which was the
state of nothing. The absurdity of this notion is here even
further increased by the fact that it is only by a free use of
language that we are able to speak of motion as a state at
all. Motion, in fact, is not a quality permanently attaching
to anything ; it is an occurrence merely, or a change which
the thing moved undergoes. Hence, the very conception
oT a motion, which is itself set in motion in order to pass
from one thing to another, is ipso facto impossible. But
/what should we have gained, supposing that this incon-
ceivability were a fact? If the motion has passed over
to a, it is now where a is, but that would not make it a
state of a, nor would it explain why it should ever move a.
Inasmuch as it was possible for the motion to become
detached from , either wholly or in part, why should it not
continue on its course according to the same law of Per-
sistence which it followed whilst on the way from b to a ?
Why should it not leave a at rest, and again become a
motion belonging to no one as before, and so on ad in-
finitum ? It results, therefore, that this theory fails to give
any reason for the motion of the body which receives the
impulse, and it gives only an obscure reason for the de-
creased motion of the body from which the impulse
proceeds. Of course, it will be argued that both these
facts are due to the impenetrable nature of bodies, which
makes it impossible for one of them to find a passage for
itself through the space occupied by the other. But this
impossibility taken by itself rather suggests a dilemma than
furnishes us with a solution of it.
If two bodies cannot both occupy the same position in
Space, and if nevertheless it is this at which one of them
aims, the question arises as to how these two conflicting
propositions are to be reconciled. How they are reconciled
as a matter of fact we see before us; we see motion
originated in the one case, and a corresponding decrease
of motion in the other. But we cannot suppose that this
Chap. V.] MOTION DUE TO DISTANT FORCES. 33
happy solution comes to pass of its own accord because
it is an ingenious idea; it must rather be the necessary
consequence of what the bodies are in themselves, and of
what they pass through at the time. If, further, we bear
in mind that in order adequately to estimate the result,
account must be taken of the mass of the two bodies, we
shall be led back to the conclusion that this impenetrability,
which the communication of motion requires, is an effect
produced by the conflicting tendencies of various forces,
which thus give rise to motions in opposite directions,
so that bodies at rest are supplied with motion which
before they were without, whilst the bodies set in motion
lose some of their velocity owing to the resistance of the
bodies at rest. But it is impossible to represent such a
repulsion as arising when the bodies are in contact, and not
before. For, if at the point of contact there is no inter-
penetration of the two surfaces, the contact instead of being
a real one becomes a mere geometrical relation; it can have
no influence on the bodies themselves, but only on the
limits by which they are bounded. If, however, we suppose
that the bodies do interpenetrate each other at the point of
contact, it will follow from our previous conclusions that the
forces proceeding from the two bodies can only affect each
other's motions at those points which are still separated by
an interval of space. Nor can it be said that the motion q,
which is communicated to a body at rest a by a body in
motion ^, determines what would otherwise be undeter-
mined, viz. the direction of the two bodies at the moment
of their divergence. For, from the mere fact that the
mutual repulsion takes place at the moment that the body ,
whilst tending in the direction q, comes into immediate
contact with 0, it could only be argued, in opposition to all
experience, that b would pass through a in its former
direction q with accelerated speed, whilst a would begin
to move in the direction q. It seems to me, therefore,
that under these circumstances we cannot but conclude
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. D
34 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MA TERIAL1TY. [Book II.
that even the communication of motion is an effect de-
pendent on the action of moving forces, and that, in this
case as in all others, forces can only produce motion when
the bodies are removed from each other, while, contrariwise,
they are powerless to produce it when the bodies are in
contact.
187. All this reasoning would be to no purpose, if there
was really any insuperable difficulty in conceiving of forces
as taking effect at a distance. But I must say for myself
that it quite passes my comprehension to understand on
what grounds it can be maintained to be the most self-
evident of facts that a thing can only act where it is. What,
we may ask, is the meaning of the assertion, a is at the
point a? Can there ever be any other evidence or mani-
festation of a thing's Being, than by means of the effects
which are transmitted from a to the point /, where we
ourselves are ? Of course, it will be instantly objected :
c No doubt, the effects of a and the directions which these
follow in the course of their transmission to us, are the only
sources of the knowledge which justifies us in concluding
that a is at the point ; the fact itself, however, is inde-
pendent of the means by which we come to know it.' But
what conception can be formed of this fact itself, if we
abstract all the effects which the given form of existence a
emits from the point , where it is stationed? Is the
existence of a in general a conception which has anything
definite corresponding with it ? and how can the limitation
of a to the point a be understood, if it does not give rise to
any effects at that point distinguishing that point from all
other similar points of Space, where a is not present ? It is
an illusion to believe that the mere being at a certain place
can give a thing any determinate character, and that it
acquires subsequently to this the capacity to produce the
effects which seem to be diffused around that point. We
ought rather to say, on the contrary : Because, in the dis-
position and systematic arrangement of the world as a whole,
Chap. V.] THE PREROGATIVES OF CONTACT. 35
and in the world of Space which is its counterpart, a is a
meeting point for relations of the most various kinds, and
acts upon the other elements as these relations prescribe,
for this reason and for no other, it has its fixed place
amongst them ; or more correctly it is this which justifies
us in making use of the common forms of speech, a is at
the point a and acts from thence.
This, however, will form the subject of further investiga-
tions. Putting this question as to the relation between real
existence and Space for the present aside, we shall make
use of a very simple idea to expose the fallacy of the
doctrine here referred to. Let us suppose that at the com-
mencement of their existence things were stationed each at
some one point of Space, e. g. a and : what reason would
there be why the interval a /3 between them should prevent
them from mutually affecting each other? 'It is obvious
and self-evident that it would do so;' it will be replied,
' the body set in motion does not feel the impulse to move,
until the impelling body reaches it. There can be no sense
of vision until the nerves have been touched by the moving
particles of the ether. That which is incapable of trans-
mission has no effect, and is for us as if it had no existence.'
These instances, however, may be met by others. The
stone falls without requiring first to be impelled ; an electric
repulsion takes place to all appearance quite independently
of any connecting medium. If anyone wishes to refer these
phenomena to the communication of motion already in
existence, he may do so ; but he will be appealing not to
observed facts, but to his own hypotheses; he will be
employing without any just reason the particular form which
one class of effects assumes, as if it were the universal form
which must necessarily be assumed by all other effects.
And yet even these hypotheses, which aim at the avoidance
of all distant effects in the case of large bodies, cannot help
interposing Spaces between the infinitesimal particles of the
media which are held to explain the transmission of the
D 2
36 THE CONSTR UCT10N OF MA TERIALITY. [Book II.
impulse. There could be no presumption in favour of the
above interpretation unless it could be shown that contact
in Space was as obviously a condition favourable to the
action of force, as separation in Space is maintained to be
unfavourable to it. But this is not true with regard to
contact in Space. For, it cannot be concluded that any-
thing must of necessity happen from the mere fact that two
elements touch at the same limit, or are stationed at the
same point of Space ; nothing can come of the contact of
the elements if they are not fitted by Nature mutually to
affect each other, and when this condition is wanting,
spatial contact cannot produce it. As for the assertion that
elements which have this capacity to affect each other,
require contact in Space in order to make its exercise
possible, it rests on that arbitrary selection of instances
mentioned above; with those in whom it has become a
cherished prejudice it is ineradicable, but it is not in itself
necessary, nor capable of being shown by the evidence of
undoubted facts to hold good universally. We ourselves, it
is true, are not endowed with any capacity for producing
effects at a distance. The objects on which we attempt to
bring our activity to bear, we, no doubt, set in motion by
means of a continuous succession of intermediate effects,
which serve to bring us and them together. But this is not
enough to make us conclude that two elements, between
which there is an interval of Space, belong, as it were, to
two different worlds separated by a gulf which nothing can
bridge over. We are compelled, in order to understand
their subsequent effects, to conceive of them both as subject
to the same laws; a fact which we are accustomed to
consider as self-evident, without enquiring into the pre-
suppositions which it involves. This fact obliges us to
regard, without exception, all things throughout Space as
interconnected parts of one world, and as united together
by a bond of sympathy to which separation in Space acts as
no hindrance. It is only because the elements of the world
Chap. V.] INTER-CONNEXION OF THINGS. 37
are not all of the same kind, and, instead of being simply
co-ordinated, are related in the most various ways, that this
unfailing sympathetic rapport, by means of which all things
act on each other at a distance, is not in all cases equally
apparent, but differs in degree of intensity, and is in some
cases widely diffused, in others contracts itself within
narrow and scarcely perceptible limits.
CHAPTER VI.
The Simple Elements of Matter.
THE confused notions which the different theoretical
constructions showed to exist in regard to the true nature
of Matter, led us in the first place to examine into the con-
ception of the forces, the operation of which gives rise to
the changing qualities of material things. There remains
now to be considered the question as to the form in which
the real thing, from which these forces themselves emanate,
takes up its position in Space. The subject to which we
shall be introduced by this question is the antithesis
between atomism and the theory of a continuous extension
in Space.
188. What appears to be the evidence of immediate per-
ception on this point must not be misrepresented at starting
by a slovenly mode of statement. Of a single continuously
extended Matter it tells us nothing ; all that it presents to
us is a vast variety of different material objects which for the
most part are separated from each other by clearly defined
limits and are but rarely blended and confused together.
This multiplicity of things is all that can be affirmed at
starting many, however, even of these things the naked eye
at once perceives to be composed of parts existing side by
side, but differing in kind. Others, which appear to be
extended in Space with unbroken continuity, are seen by
ATOMISM. 39
means of the microscope to fall asunder into a distinguish-
able variety of divergent elements. It is not proved by
this, but it is made probable, that the apparent continuity
of the rest merely conceals a juxtaposition of discrete
elements. But, what is proved for everyone who has eyes
to see is, that substances composed of atoms may produce
on the senses the impression of perfect continuity of
extension. The frequently-urged objection, that a com*
bination of discrete parts would never account for the
coherent surface and the solid interior structure of material
bodies, does not really require any metaphysical refutation.
The sharp edge of a knife, when placed beneath a microscope,
appears to be notched like a saw, and the surface, which
feels quite smooth, becomes a region of mountains. Spots
of colour again, even if seen only from a short distance, take
the form of a continuous line. These recognised facts are
a sufficient proof that the nature of our sensible organs
makes consciousness of what intervenes between successive
vivid impressions impossible for us, when the intervals are
either empty of all content, or such that they only faintly
affect us. Though, therefore, the appearance of continuous
extension, no doubt, may correspond with a real fact, it
arises none the less certainly and inevitably from a suf-
ficiently close approximation of discrete parts. Now, what
induces us to adopt this last hypothesis in explanation of
the whole is this, that even substances which seem to be
continuous admit of being divided, to an apparently un-
limited extent. For, as the parts which spring from this
division retain unimpaired the same material qualities
which belonged to the undivided whole, it would seem that
they cannot owe their origin sunply to the division of this
whole; but that they existed before it, and formed it by
their combination. Later on, I shall give reasons for sus-
pecting the soundness of this conclusion ; but, at first sight,
it is convincing enough, and in all ages it has given rise to
attempts to exhibit the parts of Matter as elements whose
40 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book I
metaphysical unity of nature expressed itself in terms of
Space as indivisibility.
I shall offer some remarks not intended to be historically
exhaustive on the forms of Atomism which thus arose.
Two points I shall mention here in advance. First, let it
be remembered that this hypothesis of a multitude of inter-
connected points admitting of changeable and precisely
determinable relations and interactions, is the only practical
means of satisfactorily explaining the extremely complex
phenomena for which an explanation is sought ; and that in
contrast with this explanation, the bare general supposition
of the uniformity of Matter, not less than the special one of
its continuity in Space, has never led to any fruitful solution
of the facts given in experience. To prove this would be
only to repeat what has been so clearly and convincingly
stated by Fechner (cp. his 'Doctrine of Atoms'). Taking
it then for granted that the real world of nature is presented
to us primarily under the form of an infinite number of
discrete centres of activity, I shall confine myself merely to
a metaphysical investigation into the nature of these centres.
This is a question which Physics is not practically called
upon to decide, nor is her certainty about it at all equal to
the ingenuity with which she avails herself of the advantages
which the hypothesis offers to her Again, I am entirely at
one with Fechner in regard to his second conclusion. I
believe with him that the atomic view of the Physical world
is peculiarly adapted to satisfy the aesthetic needs of the
mind. For what we long to see exhibited everywhere and
in the smallest particulars, is precisely this, organization,
symmetric and harmonious relations, order visible through-
out the whole, and a clear view of the possible transitions
from one definite form into another. The demonstration
of this point I likewise do not repeat. I wish only to say
that I have never been able to comprehend the reason of
that tendency, which for a long time past our German
Philosophy has shown, to look down upon atomic theories
Chap. VI.] LUCRETIUS. 41
as of an inferior and superficial character ; whilst the theory
of a continuous matter was opposed to them as quite incon-
trovertibly a truth of a higher kind. If there were proofs
at hand to establish the necessity of this latter conclusion,
they should have been set forth in a more convincing form
than they have yet received. There is, however, really
nothing to admire in the theory of continuity, either when
considered in itself, or in regard to the results which have
been derived from it. It seems as if a mystical power of
attraction had been given to it merely owing to the mathe-
matical difficulties in which the whole conception is in-
volved.
189. The following are the chief characteristics of general
interest which distinguished the atomism of antiquity, as
represented by Lucretius. Theoretic knowledge of the
changes of things would be impossible for us, if we were
restricted to observation of the co-existence of qualities, and
the modes of their succession ; there being no fixed
standard, by which to estimate their relationship, opposition,
and quantitative difference. We cannot be in a position to
deduce from such conditions any conclusion of real value,
unless we are able to exhibit the states which succeed each
other as comparable forms of a homogeneous existence and
occurrence, or unless, at any rate, we can show how effects
disparate in themselves can yet be annexed to comparable
relations of comparable elements. The conviction that this
was what had to be shown, led by steps of reasoning which
can easily be supplied to the attempt to refer the varieties
of sensible phenomena to differences of shape, size, com-
bination, and motion, in certain absolutely homogeneous
and unchangeable elements. The working out of the theory
in detail was extremely defective and rudimentary. It was
not so much that it was left unexplained how the sensible
appearances which attach to these mathematical groupings
can arise out of them, but the impossible assertion was made
that the sensible qualities are nothing but these very mathe-
42 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
matical determinations themselves. Setting aside, however,
these imperfections, the general conception of Atomism is
one of the few Philosophical Speculations of antiquity which
have hands and feet belonging to them, and which, there-
fore, live on and lead to ever fresh results, whilst other
theories, with perhaps more head, find a place now only in
the History of Ideas. The hard and fast line of distinction
that was drawn between the complete identity of the several
parts of Being, as opposed to the varied diversity of their re-
lations, excluded all original differences from the ultimate
elements themselves ; these latter, however, if they had been
so completely identical, could never have served as a basis
for the manifold appearances which spring out of them ;
they had, therefore, at any rate to be assumed to differ in
size and shape.
But this admission was no sooner made than it was seen
to be inconsistent with the uniform oneness of all existing
things. Hence, these differences were held to obtain
merely as facts, which in the order of nature as it now exists
cannot be reversed, but which are not in themselves
original, having come into Being only at the commence-
ment of the present age of the world's history. At any rate,
I think I h#ve shown that Lucretius distinguishes between
the multiform atoms, which are the unchanging causes of
the present order of phenomena in the world, and those in-
finitesimal and essentially uniform particles, from the com-
bination of which the atoms are themselves ultimately
formed. He supposes that there are different ages of the
world, during each of which the combination of the atoms
for the time being is dissolved by the stream of change.
It is only the combination of the atoms which is dissolved ;
the atoms themselves do not change, but are combined
afresh. At the end, however, of each age the atoms like-
wise are reduced back to their homogeneous first elements,
and these latter being again united so as to form new atoms,
are what constitute the material substances out of which are
Chap. VI.] THE EXTENSION OF ATOMS. 43
met the demands for the phenomena of the next succeed-
ing age. We see here a recognition of the metaphysical
difficulty mentioned above, though not a solution of it ; it
still remains that the form which the atoms are to assume is
determined by an arbitrary cause.
The further elaboration of the system presents little that
can interest us. The common nature of what is real, which
was declared to be the true substantive existence contained
in all the countless atoms, might, one would have thought,
have suggested the hypothesis of an inner relation existing
between them, and from this might have been developed
the conception of forces by which they mutually affect each
other ; forces, which would assume different modes of opera-
tion, according as the ultimate component particles of the
atoms were differently combined. But no use was made of
this thought. The communication of motion by impact
remained as the sole form in which things affect each other ;
and the resistance which they oppose to the falling asunder
of their parts was no less inadequately explained than the
invincible tendency of the ultimate elements to combine in
the form of an atom.
190. Passing over the various forms which Atomism
assumed after it had been revived by Physical Science, I
shall mention only the last of them. As long as extension
and shape were ascribed to the atoms, no matter whether
all were supposed to be the same in these respects, or, some
to be different from others, it could not but appear that a
question was being solved in reference to the larger bodies
by the assumption of the smaller ones which was left un-
solved as regarded those smaller ones. It was impossible
to go on for ever deriving each atom from atoms still smaller ;
some point of space must at last be reached which is con-
tinuously filled by the Real thing. But here a doubt
suggested itself. How can the continuous substratum be
indivisible, if the space which it occupies is infinitely
divisible ? That a portion of space should be held intact
44 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
against all attempts to encroach upon it, would seem to be
conceivable only as the combined effect of activities pro-
ceeding from points external to each other, and prescribing
to each its fixed position in relation to the rest. Such
active points, however, would inevitably come again to be
regarded as so many discrete elements, from which the
whole is formed only by aggregation. It seems to me that
the regression into infinity which would thus result, could
not be escaped from by any appeal to the metaphysical
unity of the essence which forms the real content of an
atom, and which preserves it from the division of its appear-
ance in Space. This distinction between the real essence
and its appearance in Space would be a meaningless rhe-
torical phrase if it did not suggest questions far deeper than
any of those with which atomism is concerned and quite
indifferent to it.
Atomism considers extended and tangible matter as
reality pure and simple, not as a mode in which Reality
manifests itself, and which requires a process of intermedia-
tion to connect it with Reality. Now it is most difficult for
many reasons to apply to this extended Real thing the con-
ception of unity. I do not mean to maintain that the
question is at once decided by the fact that in order for a
form of matter to remain unaffected by all external forces,
it would have to be credited with a simply unlimited power
of resistance, such as would be very little in harmony with
the first principles of our knowledge of mechanics. I do
not say this ; for in the last resort there would be nothing
to prevent us from conceiving of the atoms as elastic ; and
then each atom would really undergo a change of form pro-
portioned to the force acting upon it ; only that there would
be an accompanying reaction, sufficient to restore to the
atom its original outline, and preserve it from disintegration.
No doubt, in a sense it is true that the atom would require
to have an unlimited power of cohesion in order to admit of
this process. But there is nothing in it inconsistent with
Chap. VI.] REACTIONS OF ATOMS. 45
what we know about mechanics in other respects. The
force inherent in an atom would not be indifferent to
all external influences ; rather, it would react with a de-
gree of intensity precisely corresponding with the original
stimulus.
But another requisition must be complied with if the
metaphysical unity of an extended real thing is to make
itself felt as an actual fact and not be a mere name.
Essential unity of nature cannot contain parts, which are
affected by experiences peculiar to themselves, and not
shared by the rest. Every impression by which the point a
of any such unity A is affected, must at once be a state or
impression of the whole A, without any process of inter-
communication being required, to transmit the impression
from a to , or to the other points contained in the volume.
At all events, if the parts of A are so different that what
each experiences has to be transmitted to the rest, I fail to
see in what would consist its essential unity, or how, since
a system of discrete elements would necessarily proceed in
precisely the same way, there can be any difference between
the two. Before proceeding further, I must guard these
statements against a possible misunderstanding. I cannot
find that there is anything incompatible between the essential
unity of A and the existence at the same time of different
modes of its Being a#y, which are necessitated by different
influences acting upon A simultaneously : I only wish to
maintain that both a and /3 are equally states of the whole
A, and therefore that they are neither of them produced by
influences which merely affect themselves, but are both
modified by the fact of their contemporaneous existence in
the same essential unity. Let us suppose a and /3 to be
motive stimuli affecting two points a and b in the same
atom. The result would not be two separate movements of
these two points, which at some later period merged in a
common result ; but in the point 0, which was the part
affected by a, the whole Real thing would be present in the
46 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
same complete fulness as in the point , which is affected
by ft. The immediate effects of both impulses would be
felt equally at both points, and the resultant p would be but
one motion which would at once lay hold of the whole ex-
tended substance. Further, since every change requires for
its occurrence a certain space of time, and according to the
law of Persistence, leaves a trace of itself behind, it is quite
intelligible that a primary stimulus o should not till after
some interval show itself as the condition of the next
stimulus ft \ and that a new impression of the kind a should
make itself felt in modifying the states connected with it
before it modifies those that are connected with |3. When
this happens, we are accustomed to say : l only one side of
the whole Being of the thing was affected; the other re-
mained untouched.' But by the use of this figure derived
from Space, we express most inappropriately our better and
truer meaning. At each moment, the whole essential Being
is both acting and being acted upon ; only it belongs to the
nature of this indivisible unity that the several activities
which external conditions elicit from it should, as they
succeed each other, exhibit the most various degrees of
mutual dependence, and should be some more and some
less closely associated together.
Let us apply these legitimate ideas to the case before us.
What we should be entitled to say would be, not that the
atom A responds so immediately to the stimulus a by pro-
ducing the result a that there is absolutely no intervening
interval of time, but rather that the reaction in it does
always follow upon the stimulus, at however infinitesimally
small an interval of time ; so that what takes place here too
is that A is first affected on its receptive side, and only after-
wards and in consequence of this on its side of reaction.
This imagined splitting up of the substance into parts has
nothing in common with the false notion of there being in
fact any such separation between them, as would be the
case, if we meant that an impression a produced upon an
Chap. VI.i UNEXTENDED ATOMS. 47
atom is confined to a point a, from which point it does not
pass on to the remaining points b and c, until after some
lapse of time. In such a case, there would, as I have
before remarked, be nothing left to distinguish the pre-
tended unity of this A from the communication of effects
which takes place in every assemblage of discrete and inde-
pendent elements when brought into active contact. If we
are serious in supposing this unity to exist, we must assert
that every motion communicated to a point a in an atom, is
also literally a motion of the point a 1 at the other end of a
diameter of -the atom. The motion, consequently, would
have to be transmitted all along the intervening line a a 1 in
absolutely no time at all ; and the ordinary rule according
to which the intensity of a force varies with its distance,
would have in this case to be suspended; the effect pro-
duced upon the remoter point a 1 must be as strong as that
produced upon a. These consequences which, as it appears
to me, are inevitable, cannot be reconciled with the ordinary
principles of Mechanics. But if they are to be avoided,
either the unity of the atom or its extension must be
given up.
191. Physical theories in favour of the latter of these two
alternatives have assumed a variety of forms. Though they
have not been expressly based on the above-mentioned
arguments, which have led me to infer that extension is not
a predicate of a simple or single substance, but the appear-
ance assumed by many different elements when combined,
they have originated in a general feeling that the very thing
which it was intended to explain in composite bodies by
means of the atoms, could not be consistently assumed as
already existing in the atoms. The extension of the simple
elements was not a fact given in experience ; nor was there
any necessity for assuming it. All that was required was,
certain points in space, from which forces of attraction and
repulsion could operate with a certain intensity. The un-
extended atoms, as the vehicles of these forces, served quite
48 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II,
as well to explain phenomena, as they would have done on
the almost inconceivable hypothesis of their extension.
Hence, since all that was needed was a working hypothesis,
it became the custom for Physicists to describe the atoms
simply as centres, to and from which Forces and Operations
are transmitted, leaving it unexplained how these real points
are distinguished from the empty points of space which they
fill. This omission may easily be supplied. A real thing
could never by being extended in space produce an effect
which it was not in virtue of its nature capable of producing
when in relation with the other thing in question. At most,
the space which it occupies could only prescribe the sphere
of operation, within which capacities due not to extension
but to the inherent nature of what the thing is, are exercised.
If, further, it is impossible to conceive of motion as pro-
duced under conditions of actual contact and if distance is
necessary to the operation of force, actual reality becomes
independent of extension in space, and the elements, though
they have indeed positions in space, are without either
volume or shape.
This point of view grew up not merely as a conclusion
arrived at by Physics ; it is an ancient possession of Philo-
sophy. Herbart refers back to Leibnitz; for myself, I
prefer his own definite exposition to the doctrines of his
forerunner, which can only be arrived at by a somewhat
dubious interpretation. Herbart's ontology starts from the
assumption of countless simple substances without parts or
extension, which form the elements of the world. His
construction of matter could, therefore, only lead to
Atomism : and, he tells us quite clearly what are the
original subjects from which the activities formative of
matter proceed, and as to which we found Kant's explana-
tion unsatisfactory. Herbart distinguishes his own theory
from the theories of the Physicists, by calling it ' Qualitative
Atomism.' He gives it this name, not only to show that
his simple substances owing to their qualitative differences
Chap. VI.] HERJBART'S UNEXTENDED ELEMENTS. 49
are endowed with distinct concrete natures, and not merely
substantiated abstractions of a single homogeneous reality ;
he uses the term in a far more important signification than
this to imply that from the inner experiences to which these
differences of nature give rise, all those Forces and Laws of
relation are derived, which the common modes of speaking
and thinking in Physical Science represent, without any
further attempt at explanation, as predicates inherently
attaching to the ultimate elements. Being, as I am, quite
at one with Herbart in regard to this general conception,
I regret that owing to a certain ontological doctrine, which
I do not myself share with him, he should have been de-
prived of the fruits of these conclusions in constructing his
theory of matter.
The entire independence which he ascribed to each of
the essential elements prevented him from holding the
doctrine of a pervading connexion, in virtue of which the
states by which one is affected become the immediate con-
dition for what is experienced by the rest. Another of his
assumptions, the origin of which I am ignorant of, led him
to regard contact in space as the only cause capable of
disturbing the mutual indifference of the elements and
forcing them into active relationship. As, on this view, it
was impossible for the essential elements to act on each
other from a distance, Herbart became involved in the
hopeless attempt to show how points unextended, though
real, are brought into contact in order that they may act
upon each other, but yet not absolutely into contact, in
order that their combined effects may endow a multiplicity
with an extension which attaches to no single one of its
component parts. It is a view which requires to be changed
only in a single point, though this no doubt is a vital one.
The simple elements of reality, on which the constitution of
the world primarily depends, must be regarded as con-
ditioned, not independent, and therefore as in unceasing
relation to each other. By making forces which act at a
METAPHVSIC, VOL. II. E
50 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
distance emanate from the simple elements, elements not
empty but of a definite internal character, we can frame an
intelligible picture of the forms of matter, as systems of real
unextended points, limited in space, and endowed with
forces of cohesion and resistance in very various degrees.
192. Now, at this point we might stop, if it were not for
another assumption which these theories commonly contain,
that viz. of an actually extended space, in which the real
elements take up their positions. The contrary conviction,
in support of which I have contended, compels me to intro-
duce some further modifications into the view which I have
first stated in order to arrive gradually at the idea which I
wish ultimately to establish. I continue for the present to
make the assumption of an indefinite number of individual
existences ; an assumption from which the explanation of
the variety of phenomena must always make its first start.
Not much need be added to what has been already said as
to the general relation of these existences to space. These
simple elements, having as such no connexion with space,
stand to each other in a vast variety of relations, which only
for our modes of apprehension assume the forms of position
and distance in space. It is for Psychology to supplement
the suggestions which have been already made by telling us
how this mode of apprehension is originated ; here, we are
only concerned with the ideas which we must form of the
nature of Real existence, in order to make intelligible the
particular mode in which it presents itself to our subjective
consciousness.
In the first place, then, to repeat what I have already
mentioned, it is requisite that we should reverse one of our
ordinary ways of thinking. When a certain element a is in
a certain position a, we think of this fact as if it was some-
thing in itself, as if it was in virtue of this that the element
had the power to produce effects on other things in certain
definite ways. But, according to all the results at which we
have so far arrived, we ought contrariwise to say : That the
Chap. VI.] RATIONALE OF POSITIONS. 51
element a ' is in the position a, ; can only mean for it, that it
has received so many and such impressions from all the
other elements which belong to the same world to which it
belongs, that, if we regard the whole mass of existing facts
of that world under the form of space no place except a
corresponds to that which is assigned to a in the universal
order. Hence, the position which an element occupies
must always be regarded by us as the result of the forces
that determine it, and in so determining it are in a state of
equilibrium. This conclusion the Science of Mechanics
only half admits. It admits, no doubt, that during every
moment that an element remains at rest, the forces working
upon it must be in a state of equilibrium. But the con-
ception still remains possible that an element might occupy
a position in space without any action of force whatever,
and that forces arising subsequently might find it there and
act upon it.
Further, I have abundantly shown that by this system-
atised arrangement of unextended points, which I believe
to be what constitutes the world as a whole, I understand
not the order of a rigid classification, but an order which,
incessant as is the movement of things, and manifold and
various as are the forms which the sum of conditions at
each moment assumes, maintains throughout a continuous
and unchanging purpose. The position, therefore, which
an element assumes, when it appears in space, does not
simply indicate the place which it occupies from all eternity
in a classification of the world's contents, but, rather, the
place which, at that moment, was the only point at which
the changing conditions to which it is subject came to a
changeable equilibrium. It would be too simple an ex-
planation of what takes place, to suppose that when two
elements a and b make their appearance at two points of
space in close proximity, a and , they have been accredited
to these positions owing to the special sympathy of their
natures or the intimacy of their interaction. Rather they
2
52 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
may have been quite indifferent to each other, and yet have
been forced into this juxtaposition, simply because the
demands made by all the rest of the elements and their
motions can find no better satisfaction than in the mo-
mentary proximity of these two elements, though it may not
answer to any vital connexion between the elements them-
selves. Reflexion upon this constant motion of the world
will cause us to modify our previous view, or, at all events,
to define it more accurately. The position a of an element
0, though always no doubt it expresses the balance of the
several forces* for the time being affecting <z, may also at the
same time be the expression of an unavoidable want of
equilibrium between the present state of a, and that state to
which its nature gives it a claim in the totality of existence ;
an expression, therefore, of a discordant Tension, which
remains until, in the course of events, the causes which
occasioned it again disappear.
I make these remarks, in order to give an idea of the
complex kinds of relations which here present themselves,
and in order to remove the impression that there is any
correspondence between the appearance of the world in
space at any given moment and an intelligible order of
things, in which the position of each element would corre-
spond with the conception which permanently represents
its nature. But I hasten to add that this reference to a
disproportion of states, in the above-mentioned sense, must
not be mixed up with any secondary associations of * that
which is out of place,' or * which contradicts the purpose of
the whole/ Whether anything of this kind ever happens,
whether, i. e. there is anything in the world's course which
can be compared with discords in a musical progression, we
shall not here enquire. The disproportion of which we
have been speaking is primarily nothing but the impulse to
a change of state which arises in the course of events, and
which tends to or accomplishes the transition to new posi-
tions according as it is impeded or unimpeded. Turning
Chap. VI.] MATTER OF ONE KIND OR MANY? 53
now from these general considerations, we will apply our-
selves to the solution of certain special questions, which
acquire from our present point of view either the whole of
their significance or a different significance from that which
is commonly assigned to them.
193. Let us start as before from the supposition of a
given plurality of active elements ; remembering at the same
time how frequently it happens, as has been proved by
experiments, that apparently different properties are really
only the result of different combinations of a single homo-
geneous substance. The question will, then, obviously be,
must we, in order to explain the facts, assume the existence
of a multiplicity of originally distinct materials ? or, shall
we explain even the characteristic differences between the
chemical Elements as mere modifications of a single homo-
geneous matter? The eagerness which is now shown in
favour of the attempt to explain away these differences
seems to me to be based to some extent on a false principle
of method. For practical purposes Science is, of course,
always interested in reducing the number of independent
principles upon which to base its explanations, and in
making calculable the course of events by subordinating the
complex derivative premisses to a few primary ones. But
not less certain is it that Science cannot desire any more
complete unity than actually exists, and until the point is
decided by experience, a unity which remains still unknown
must not be presupposed as certainly existing except in
cases in which without it a contradiction would be intro-
duced into the nature of the subject-matter.
Now, our idea of Nature implies three things, (i) A
system of universal laws, which determine the sequence
of cause and consequence. (2) A multitude of concrete
points to which these laws may attach and so find their
application. (3) Lastly, a purpose to realise which these
actual existences are combined together. Every theory of
Science admits the two first of these postulates ; the last is,
54 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Bookli.
no doubt, the subject of conflicting opinions. But wherever
the thought of a purpose in nature is cherished, it stands to
reason that there can be but one, and that all seemingly
independent tendencies must be really subordinate to this
unity and appear as moments in its Being. Not less
necessary is the unity of the supreme laws which govern
the connexion of events. These consist not so much in the
rules to which various forces variously conform, as in the
universal truths of mathematics, to which any self-consistent
world, even though it were quite otherwise constituted than
the existing one, would always have to submit throughout its
whole extent alike. It is impossible to conceive an order
of nature, unless it can be determined according to the same
rules of measurement in every instance what results may be
deduced from the presence of active elements in given pro-
portions, and from their reciprocal interactions in calculable
degrees of intensity. On the other hand, the actual exist-
ence, which has to furnish these laws with cases in which
they will apply, has to fulfil no requirement but the primary
one of being manifold. Nor is there the slightest reason
why a theory which takes no exception to the doctrine of an
original plurality of homogeneous atoms should regard with
suspicion the hypotheses of original differences of quality.
No further likeness of nature need be attributed to the
atoms than such as is required to enable them to combine
together in the same order of things. It must be possible
in so far as they affect each other by way of interaction, to
exhibit their natures as combining in definite degrees of
intensity certain universal modes of activity. But there
appears to me to be no necessity for regarding the group of
specific coefficients which these general modes of action
are found to take in any particular element, as attached to
a substance of like nature throughout, or, more strictly, as
attached to what is merely the substantiated abstraction of
reality. The group may equally well be regarded as the
expression of a specific quality, so far as such expression is
Chap. VI.] PERMANENCE OF ELEMENTS. 55
allowed by the mutual intercourse of the various forms of
matter.
Practically the importance of the difference between these
two views would consist in this, that the latter would alto-
gether exclude the possibility of one chemical element
passing into another, whilst, according to the former view,
this would be at any rate conceivable." It would indeed be
more than conceivable. It would rather be inexplicable
that throughout the endless process of combination, dis-
solution and transformation to which the parts of matter are
subject, no element should ever lose its identity or merge
its own individuality in that of some other. If the essential
character of each element depends merely on a peculiar
arrangement of homogeneous particles, it may be conjectured
that the same course of events which gave birth to one
of the forms thus composed, might again produce the con-
ditions which would lead to its being either dissolved or
transformed into some other shape. But if it was meant
that it could be shown that there are certain forms of com-
bination which having once originated can never by any
possible conjunction of forces be dissolved, it would still be
open to ask, Why at any rate there is not, through a further
composition of the simpler structures, a constant increase in
the number of these irrevocable combinations ? Finally, if
it is to be regarded as an eternal fact that these com-
binations are all alike indestructible and at the same time
incapable of further development, it would be difficult to
say in what would consist the difference between this view
and that which assumes an original difference between the
elements. As regards the practical explanation of nature
there would be no difference between the two ideas; it
would be a difference merely of theoretical view. The
probability of all reality being homogeneous in essence,
unless confirmed by future experience, could only be main-
tained upon considerations of a different and more indirect
kind.
56 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book Tl.
194. To this class of considerations belong the views
commonly held in regard to the mass of matter, its con-
stancy, and its influence in determining the character of
different kinds of effects. It is now quite superfluous to
recur to what was once a mistake of frequent occurrence in
philosophy, by pointing out that the idea of mass is not
exclusively associated with that of weight and heaviness ;
but, that, as applied to the reciprocal action of any two
material bodies, the term expresses the intensity of the force
which each contributes to the common result. Let us
suppose that we have formed two bodies from m and M
numbers of units of the same matter, and have observed
their behaviour to a third body c in regard to a certain effect
of the kind /. If having observed this, we then find that
two other bodies, both demonstrably formed from the same
material, behave in the same way towards c as the two first
in respect of the same effect/, we rightly conclude that they
also contain ;;/ and \i number of units of the same matter.
Suppose, however, these two latter bodies exhibited diver-
gent properties, so that their consisting of the same matter
was open to doubt, and yet that, in regard to /, they were
affected towards c precisely as those two substances had been
which we had ourselves formed from a demonstrably common
matter, it would no doubt be a natural and obvious conjec-
ture that their behaviour was also due to the presence of m
and ft units of a homogeneous substance, though this like-
ness was hidden in their case by secondary differences of
quality. At the same time, this conjecture would go beyond
the facts. All that the facts teach is that in respect of the
effect /, the two bodies in question are equivalent to m
and P units of the before-mentioned matter ; not that
they actually consist 0/"them. There is nothing to prevent
them from being in all other respects different in original
quality from each other, and from c, and yet being capable
of a special interaction of the kind f between them and c^
in which their contribution to the common result admits of
Chap. VLl GENERAL IDEA OF MASS. 57
a numerical expression ;;/ and /*, as identical or comparable
with that of the two bodies first considered. If now, assum-
ing them to have the above specific quality, we proceed to
consider their interaction with a fresh body d resulting in a
different kind of effect <?, we shall not be justified in assum-
ing that the proportion in which they contribute to this
result is the same, viz. m \ /i, as that in which they con-
tribute to produce/. Rather, it is conceivable that in their
new relation to d, bringing into play as it would new forces,
they would be like where they had before been unlike, and
unlike where they had been like ; or, in a worcf, that in
regard to the effect g y they would assume the quantities m^
and /ij, different from the previous quantities m and p. In
point of fact, at any rate at first sight, this is how the
several effects /, q, r, produced by the reciprocal action of
the bodies in question, are related, and it is never certain
that a which in regard to / is greater in quantity than 6,
will still remain so in regard to q.
Whether these differences can be intelligibly explained
on the hypothesis of a homogeneous matter, as secondary
effects due to different modes of combination, must here be
left undecided. Owing to the extreme variety of the phe-
nomena to be taken into account, such a conclusion could
only be established, if at all, in the distant future. On the
other hand, it is of course always possible to express each
of the new quantitative determinations that arise, e. g. m l
and /^, by means of the old ones, i. e. by k m and * /u, and
so by assigning for each kind of special effect a specific co-
efficient to bring the fiction of a homogeneous mass into
harmony with the given facts. In a metaphysical point of
view this would decide nothing. The possible qualitative
difference between the parts of matter is as little made to
disappear by this reduction, as corn and meat cease to be
two different things after their value has been expressed in
the common term of money. The doctrine then which I am
maintaining is not open to any general objection on these
f>8 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. I Book II.
grounds, though it cannot be applied to explain the parti-
cular facts. It, at any rate, does not oblige us to think of
the different elements as differing without any principle.
Belonging as they would to one and the same world, their
qualities would be mutually related members of a single
interconnected system, within which they would be com-
bined in different directions, in different senses, and with
various degrees of intimacy. Stationed at the meeting-
point of many opposing tendencies, an element might on
one of its sides display a greater degree of force than its
neighbour, on another an equal degree, whilst on a third
side its force might be less ; and, if we knew the purpose of
the whole system, which we do not know, we should be able
to deduce from the mass which an element exhibited in the
production of the effect /, the specific coefficients which
belong to it for the actions </, r, civic., and to exhibit those
coefficients as a scries of mutually dependent functions.
195. I have made these observations, still proceeding on
the assumption that a plurality of individual elements is
what forms the ultimate constituents of the world. We
shall sec, however, that they have equal force, if viewed in
connexion with a result established by our ontological in-
vestigations, according to which these multitudinous ele-
ments are but modifications of one and the same Being 1 .
To hold this latter opinion, seems at first to be equivalent
to repeating the very view against which we have been con-
tending. It appears as if we could have no real interest in
establishing the fact of difference amongst the elements, if
this is not to be regarded as ultimate and irremovable. But
the doctrine here maintained is essentially distinguished
from the doctrine of Physics. I understand by this abso-
lute Being, not a Real existence infinite in quantity and of
like nature throughout, which has no other inherent capacity
than that of falling into countless homogeneous parts, and
which only is in a secondary sense, by means of the various
1 fCp. Chapters vi. and vii. of Book I.]
Chap. VI.] MATHEMATICAL VIEW OF MATTER. 59
possible combinations of those parts, the ground of a diver-
sity existing in the content of the world. I conceive it
rather as a living idea, the import of which, inaccessible in
its essence to any quantitative measurement, is no mere
homogeneous aggregate of ideas, but a self-articulated whole
of variously interwoven parts ; each one of these parts, as
well as the several elements which compose it, acquiring a
determinate quantity according to its value and position in
the whole.
Let us give an illustration. If this idea could be ex-
pressed in terms of our thought, it could only be so by
means of a number of propositions which would be towards
one another in those extremely various modes of depend-
ence in which the different parts of a scientific system are
connected together. But these propositions would be mean-
ingless, if they were not again composed of words words
of which the meanings while different and unchangeably
fixed, are still not immeasurably different, but so precisely
determined in relation to each other that they admit of
being joined together in very various syntactical combina-
tions, to serve as vehicles by which the Idea is articulated
into its parts. With these words I compare the elementary
materials of nature. In themselves they are nothing ; they
are merely forms of a common principle underlying the
world, a principle, however, which maintains them as con-
stantly uniform activities, so that in every case in \jhich they
occur and enter into mutual relations they observe the same
laws of behaviour. But, although thus involved from all
eternity in a network of relations, they still remain different
as regards each other, and incapable of being referred to
mere division and re-combination of a uniform substratum.
The mathematical mode of regarding the question which
favours this latter view, and which has very extensive rights
in the treatment of nature, is still not the only way of con-
ceiving its unity, nor does it penetrate to the ultimate
ground of things. Merely, within the limits of our observa-
60 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
tion, this mathematical connexion of things, secondary
though it is, presents itself first. That whole world of
quantitative and numerical determinations is itself based on
an order of things, the synthetic connexions of which we
could never have arrived at by any logical analysis. We
have called this order * systematic,' and now we may replace
this imperfect expression by another, that of the * aesthetic '
unity of purpose in the world, which, as in some work of
art, combines with convincing justice things which in their
isolation would seem incoherent and scarcely to stand in
any relation to one another at all. Or, lastly, we might
prefer to use the term 'dialectical unity,' in memory of a
late phase of our German Philosophy, which was thoroughly
alive to the truth of this doctrine, but failed, as it seems to
me, because it believed itself able to apply to details of fact
principles which can only in a rough way prescribe a general
direction to our thoughts.
190. This transformation of our views introduces us to a
further question, which to Physical Atomism appears to be
no question at all. It is assumed that a countless number
of individual atoms fill the world. Now, be they the same
or be they different in kind, whence comes their plurality?
If they are regarded as starting-points to be assumed, beyond
which we cannot go in thought, no doubt their dispersion
throughout space can also be included in the number of
facts to be taken for granted, which we must recognise
without attempting to explain. But, to us, who have con-
ceived every qualitatively distinct element as one of a
connected series of acts emanating from the supreme prin-
ciple of the universe, it is necessarily perplexing to find that
the instances in which each clement occurs are scattered
over a countless number of different points in space. Nor
is this an enigma merely from our point of view. We can,
no doubt, by an act of thought easily represent to ourselves
the same content a a thousand times over, and we can dis-
tinguish the thousand creations of our imagination, by
Chap. VI.] SPACE THE PRINCIPLE OF DIFFERENCE? 6 1
localising them at different points of space, or by enume-
rating them according to the different moments of time
when they first suggested themselves to us. But how,
strictly speaking, can it be conceived that, in actual fact,
the same a occurs several times over ? Must not the mere
fact that there are several, make it necessary that a should
be in one case something different from what it is in an-
other, though it ought in every case to be the same? What
constitutes the objective difference between them, which
makes a truth of fact of the logical assumption that they are
so many like instances of a general notion or a common
nature ? We remember what a stumbling-block this ques-
tion was to Leibnitz. It seemed to him to be impossible
that two things should actually occur, unless their duality
was based on a difference of nature between them. He
would not even allow that two leaves of a tree could be
exactly alike. This difficulty scarcely attracts any attention
now. I must say, however, that it seems to me to have
been somewhat too hastily passed over by those who have
followed in the footsteps of Kant. What Thought could
not achieve, was held to be made possible by spatial per-
ception. It was in and through space that it was clearly
shown how things could be at once like and manifold ; they
might differ in position, but be perfectly identical in the
nature which occupies the position.
Certainly, this is clear enough ; but I cannot see in this
clearness a solution of the difficulty. All that it does is to
bring the problem itself vividly before us; but for this
phenomenon, indeed, the difficulty would scarcely have
been suggested. Now, if science admitted to an unlimited
extent the possibility of things acting upon each other at a
distance, it might no doubt be granted that one atom is
never subject to precisely the same sum of external in-
fluences as another. And, if it were further granted that
the atoms experience changes of inner state corresponding
with these external influences, it would follow that an atom
62 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTEK. [Book II.
a would be in some way different at each moment of its
existence from a second and otherwise similar atom, since
its internal states at any moment are not an extraneous ap-
pendage to its nature, but an actual constituent of what it is
at that moment. But this mode of statement would still
involve the latent supposition, that though the states by
which an atom is affected change, yet through all this
change the atom itself remains as a constant quantity, which
would have maintained itself in its position even if there had
been no forces acting on it, and which only becomes dis-
tinguished from other atoms of the same kind as itself
owing to external influences which might not have been
operative. Thus we are brought back to the question,
What does it really mean that an element occupies a point
in space? and how can it be that in virtue of its position it
is distinguished from other elements, seeing that all points
of space, both in themselves and in their effects on the
elements, are precisely alike ? I have tried to give an
answer to this question. Its very terms are meaningless
from the point of view which regards space as something
actually existing by reference to which things are deter-
mined. Things do not first find themselves in certain
positions, and then become enabled to take effect, but it is
the kind and degree of the effects which they already exer-
cise upon each other that makes them occupy those positions
for the perceptive consciousness, which seem to us to be
those which originally belong to them.
This answer, however, does not at once remove our pre-
sent difficulty. In order to find a reason why these quali-
tatively-distinguished elements should assume the form of a
scattered multitude of individual atoms, it seems as if we
should be compelled to suppose that in the intelligible
world, which reflects itself in space, that action or thought
which we designated as the nature of an element, must re-
peat itself as often as its phenomenon. Is such a repetition
less unaccountable than the easy hypothesis of a plurality of
Chap. VI.] ATOMS INDIVISIBLE? 63
atoms with which Physics is content ? I feel myself able to
answer in the affirmative. It is merely owing to the effect
of constant association with the forms of space, that when
we come to represent to ourselves these t repeated ' actions,
we conceive them as falling into a number of disconnected
groups separated from one another by empty intervals just
as the parts of space are separated by their lines of distance.
There is really no such relation between them. Just as in
our own inner experience the self-same principle or the same
conception recurs in the most various connexions, and exer-
cises a limiting or determining influence of many different
kinds on any other of our thoughts with which it happens to
be associated, just so the idea, which determines the quali-
tative nature of an element of matter, serves in the order of
the universe as a point of intersection for the different ten-
dencies which make that universe into a connected whole ;
connected, as I must again insist, not merely as a rigidly
classified system, but as an eternally progressive history.
We are, therefore, not called upon, nor are we interested to
maintain that there are distinct special existences corre-
sponding in number with the functions which the same idea
must fulfil when thus associated with others in these various
combinations. The number of scattered atoms is merely
the number of the separate appearances which an element
assumes to our perception of space owing to the manifold
relations in which it is involved with other elements.
197. The extremely paradoxical nature of this conclusion
shall not prevent me from mentioning also a certain corol-
lary which follows from it. We have now arrived at a point
of view from which the atomic theory can no longer satisfy
us, not even after that transformation of its fundamental
idea, to which it seemed not to be disinclined. So long as
the unextended points, from and to which forces proceed,
points which have indeed positions in space but no volume,
were conceived as having, not less than the extended atoms
had previously been conceived as having, an obstinately
64 THE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF MATTER. [Book II.
indestructible nature, there could of course be no mention
of a further division into parts ; since that which was to be
divided was, as its very name implied, indivisible. This
mode of representation no longer holds good. If the single
real idea which determines the nature of a qualitative ele-
ment necessarily manifests itself under a number of distinct
forms, and if there is no limit to the multiplication of the
relations which it may assume towards other ideas, why
should it be specially attached to just those points in space
where it happens to be active at any given moment ? Why
should not the positions which it may occupy also admit of
being multiplied indefinitely, seeing that none of the mani-
festations of the element have any other claim to a separate
existence except such as depends on the mandate of the
whole order which assigns to them this and no other
position ?
Not that I have any desire to return to the notion of a
continuously extended, infinitely divisible matter, nor to
that other notion, according to which the real atom, at least
in its spatial phenomenon, is quite continuous in the sense
that it is equally present at every point within its own narrow
volume. I would rather not in any way depart from the
results of Atomism most recently arrived at, according to
which an atom is conceived as developing its activity from
a geometric point. But I can see no reason for regarding
the amount of force which is thus diffused a force which
is now no longer in any sense an indestructible metaphysical
unity as eternally attached to this one point. Rather, it
would admit of partition in space, just as it is itself only a
partial manifestation of a single identical function of the
whole. In proportion as new combinations of phenomena
were required to exist by the course of the world, each
centre of activities would have the power of breaking itself
up into several centres, which would then assume different
positions in space according as the new conditions to which
they were subject prescribed. These conditions may be
chap. vi.] 'DYNAMIC DIVISIBILITY: 65
very different. Their effect may be not merely to compel
the new centres of activity to combine with atoms belonging
to other elements, but also to cause an increase in the
volume of any particular atom by forcing its constituent
elements to expand and fall asunder. There would thus
come to be differences in the density of the atoms. Owing
to this constant process of inner dissolution, new points of
departure for effects would be multiplied, and there would
arise the appearances which were formerly believed to be
only capable of being explained on the hypothesis of a con-
tinuous and real extension in space, and which are only
accounted for at the cost of a permanent improbability by
those who believe, with ordinary atomism, that all things
are ultimately analysable into real existence and empty
space. In this way we should be brought to the idea of an
infinite dynamic divisibility of unextended atoms, an idea
which, it is to be hoped, will seem less frightful than the
barbarous name by which, in order to distinguish it from
the traditional theories, I believe that it may most briefly be
described. It will no doubt have been taken for granted
that the degree of intensity, or, to put it shortly, the mass
of each of the parts will be diminished, while the sum of
these masses remains the same. I have nothing to say
against this addition, but the principle on which it is made
will require further discussion in our next chapter.
METAPHYSIC,
CHAPTER VII.
The Laws of the Activities of Things.
OF the inner movements of things we know nothing.
Still less do we know what are the constant modes of
co-operation which the order of the Universe requires them
to assume. Hence, experience alone can discover to us
the motive forces into which the course of natural events
can be analysed and the law according to which each of
these several forces may be conceived as taking effect.
But a sufficiently careful and comprehensive observation
has long since established certain general results, which
deserve, by way of supplement at any rate, to receive an
interpretation in connexion with metaphysical views, and
which suggest the question whether they are really nothing
but the expression of what has been observed to take place,
and not rather of necessities of thought to which experience
has directed our attention only subsequently. I shall
attempt to investigate this point, though well-knowing
beforehand that my labours are not likely to produce any
considerable result. They will serve merely to draw atten-
tion to the ambiguity of those speculations, philosophical
no less than scientific, which will never cease to be directed
to this unpromising subject.
198. In the first place, it is universally admitted that the
intensity of the effects which a force produces at a distance,
is dependent on the interval between the elements between
A TTENUA TION B Y DIFFUSION ? 67
which it operates. And to this conclusion the doctrine
which is here maintained must also lead, though it remains
to be seen later by what steps. If the positions of things
in space are merely expressions of the forces which are
already acting upon them, a fortiori every impulse to further
activity will depend upon these interactions between the
elements and on the distances in which those interactions
manifest themselves. This merely general characterisation
is not, however, enough to determine precisely the nature
of the connexion between forces and the distances of
elements. But the other assumption, which is asserted
with almost as much assurance as the last, viz. that the
intensity of the effect is in an inverse ratio to the distance,
has nothing to recommend it if we exclude the familiar
instances furnished by experience, except the inadmissible
idea that space acts as an obstacle which cannot be over-
come except by a partial sacrifice of force.
Other preconceived notions combine with this one to
produce an impression that this decrease of force is a fixed
law, holding good in all cases in which forces act at a
distance. That a force, emanating from a certain starting-
point, diffuses itself through space, is not merely our mode
of expressing the fact that its effects differ in degree at
different distances. Unfortunately, we believe ourselves to
be describing not only a fact but an actual process by which
the necessity of this difference is explained. As the force
is transmitted to larger and larger spherical shells it seems as
if its tenuity must increase in the same ratio as the area
which it occupies, the ratio of the square of the distance from
its starting-point. This coincidence of a simple geometric
relation with a general law which we see illustrated in the
effects produced at a distance by gravitation and by electric
and magnetic agencies, is too tempting not to invite often-
repeated attempts to establish the closest connexion between
them. None of the assumptions, however, which are re-
quired as links in the connexion can be admitted. A force
68 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
cannot be supposed to proceed from a point c, without at
once being regarded as an independent fluid medium.
That its tenuity should increase with its increasing exten-
sion, would no doubt not be altogether inconceivable. But
still we should have to discover to what the motion of the
fluid was due. This could only ultimately arise from a new
force, a force of repulsion, exerted upon the fluid by the thing
present at c. We should have also to show what becomes
of the force thus diffused, if it meets with no object on which
to take effect, and further from what source the constant
supply of force at c is derived. These questions cannot
be evaded by supposing that the force does not diffuse
itself around ^, but is, as it were, a permanent atmosphere
already diffused around it. To deny the fact of the move-
ment of radiation, would be to take away the only justifica-
tion for the principle that the density decreases with increase
of distance, whilst it would contribute nothing towards the
explanation of the effect eventually produced. Let us,
then, suppose that a given force whilst proceeding from ^,
meets in the point / with an object which it is to act on.
How is this action possible ? and how can the force impart
to the body motion in any particular direction? All that
could be concluded from the arrival of the force at/, would
be that it was now present at that point not, that a body
situated at that point must, owing to the action of the force,
be set in motion. But, even granting that it were thus set
in motion, what direction could the motion take? The
motion as such could stand in no relation to the point c\
for, if the activity of the force is made to depend on this
process of its diffusion, it follows that it only acts at p just
as far as it is there ; it makes no difference whether it was
there always or whence it came there. Supposing it then
to coincide exactly at / with some real element, it could
not impart any motion to that element, for there would be
no reason why it should prefer one direction to another 1 .
1 [Cp-
Chap. VII.] HOW DOES FORCE PRODUCE MOTION r ? 69
If, on the other hand, we suppose that at the first moment
of its beginning to exercise its activity, the force is sepa-
rated from the element by ever so small an interval,
we are making action at a slight distance serve as an
explanation of action at any and every distance, though
we cannot bring the former under any definite law, and
must therefore fail in the attempt to deduce the law of
the latter.
Even if these difficulties could be got rid of, it would
still remain a question whether the resulting motion will
take the direction c /, or the opposite one / c. For
this process of radiation would be just the same for an
attractive and for a repulsive force. Each smallest par-
ticle of the fluid would, in such a case, still have to
exert attraction or repulsion upon whatever it might meet
with at the point to which it had come, as a property
peculiar to itself and not admitting of further explanation.
But, if that were so, there would be no longer any occasion
for confining these effects to the parts of the force which
come before f in the line c p \ the parts on the other side of
/, which lay in the course of this line when produced, or
which had come there, would exercise an influence on the
element at /, of the same kind though in a contrary
direction. The ensuing motion would then be the result of
these different impulses ; at any rate it could not correspond
with the simple law which it was hoped could be deduced
from it. Finally, the attempt may be made to get rid of
these difficulties, by supposing that the radiating force
imparts its own motion to the element which it lights upon,
and determines by its own direction that which the element
in its turn is to take. Putting aside, however, that this is a
transition from one idea, that of a force acting at a distance,
to another, the idea of communication of already existing
motion, all that would be explained by this method would
be the centrifugal effects of repulsion ; every case of attrac-
tion would require a centripetal pressure, such as has,
70 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book 1 1.
indeed, often been assumed, but has not hitherto had any
intelligible explanation given of it.
199. On these grounds I not only hold that these at
tempted deductions have failed to establish their own
special conclusions, but the spirit in which they have been
undertaken seems to me to be inconsistent with itself. Of
course, many of the occurrences which take place in the
world are of a compound character, and arise from me-
chanical combination of others. It is possible that gravita-
tion and other similar phenomena which seem to us to be
the expressions of the simplest primary forces, may really
be compound results produced by forces still more simple.
An elaboration of experience so advanced as to show this
to be the case would really have succeeded in furnishing us
with a genetic theory of the Law of Gravitation. If, on the
other hand, these and all effects of a like kind are regarded
as the expression of simple and primary forces, we must not
attempt, as is done by these theories, to give a mechanical
explanation of their origin, by referring them to a diffusion
and attenuation of force. The only proof that can be
expected of these elementary processes and their Laws is
the speculative one, that they have a necessary place in the
rational order of things. The Ratio legis might be given,
but not the machinery by which it is carried into effect. The
treatment, then, of this problem belongs, without doubt, to
Philosophy, nor do I complain that there should have been
such innumerable attempts to solve it, though unfortunately
I know of none that has been successful. I do not therefore
continue my own investigation with any hope of arriving at a
result that can be final, but merely in order to bring out more
clearly some of the distinctive features of my general view.
200. Owing to the doctrine which I have already ex-
pounded in regard to the nature of forces, I do not feel
touched by an objection which Physicists have urged against
the absolute validity of the Law of Gravitation, an objection
which, if it held good, would render untenable the whole of
Chap. VII.] ATTRACTION AT NO DISTANCE. 71
this doctrine which speculation so obstinately attempts to
deduce a priori \ where the distance = o, the attracting
force must according to this law, it is said, be infinite. I
will not now stop to enquire whether this result is altogether
inadmissible. It would be open for those who maintain
the ordinary hypothesis of a continuously extended matter
to urge that contact takes place only between points, lines,
or surfaces without thickness, and consequently that the
masses whose distance = o, must in every case themselves
= o also. If the hypothesis of unextended atoms conceived
as points be preferred, we should certainly have to ascribe
to them an infinite power of resisting separation, in case
they had once got united in the same point by attraction.
But all that would be necessary would be to take care that
such a case never arose. It would be easy indeed so to
alter the formula of the law, that in case of all observable
distances, even the smallest, it should correspond as nearly
as possible with the results of observation, while in the case
of vanishing distances it should still not imply the infinity
of the force of attraction. But, I think we can achieve the
same end, without introducing a modification of the law such
as would be purely arbitrary and incapable of ever being
proved. All the several forces which Physics is led by ex-
perience to assume, stand in our view merely for the various
components into which the single power of inter-action in-
herent in the nature of things admits of being analysed. It
is not therefore at all surprising that a law which expresses
with perfect precision the operation of one out of this num-
ber of components should nevertheless yield infinite degrees
of intensity or other inapplicable values if the component is
supposed to continue its operation isolated and uncon-
trolled. These cases of isolated action are precisely those
which are never met with ; they express merely what would
occur under certain imagined conditions, but what under
existing conditions, never does occur. Hence it is not
necessary to modify the formula of the well-known law of
72 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
gravitation, considered as simply claiming to indicate the
variations of the attractive action ; in this sense the formula
may be perfectly precise; only the limiting case never
occurs for which alone it would yield such problematical
values. In proportion as the elements which are attracted
approach each other more nearly the tendency to repulsion
will be found to grow even more rapidly, and if any one of
the proposed modifications of the law could be shown to
hold good in actual experience it would not be a more
correct expression of the attraction taken by itself so much
as of the total effect in which attraction and repulsion are
already united. Moreover, it is easy to see that without
this supposition this partial law expressing mere attraction
would yield results which would be not so much inconceiv-
able as merely inapplicable in our view of nature. Let us
suppose two elements a and b between which there is
attraction but never repulsion, to approach the point c from
opposite sides. They would then at the moment of meeting
have not only an infinite attraction g 9 but also infinite
though opposite velocities + v. Now as the velocity last
reached, v, has arisen by the summation of all the accelera-
tions which have been increasing infinitely up to the value
g, we cannot but regard the infinite quantity v as greater
than the infinite quantity g. Hence, if there were no
repulsion, g could not prevent the two elements from
passing with opposite velocities through each other's midst
and thus distance would be restored between them and the
amount of their attraction would become finite again.
201. A special objection to the received views has been
urged by Herbart. He will not himself admit the operation
of forces at a distance ; but for those who do admit it, he
holds that the only legitimate assumption is this, that the
intensity of each force is diminished in proportion as it is
satisfied by the attainment of its result. That a repulsion,
therefore, should decrease with the distance which it has
produced, requires no explanation. On the other hand,
Chap. VIM MUST FORCE BE < SA TISFIED 't 73
the force of attraction, which becomes always more intense
in proportion as it has drawn its object nearer, remains a
paradox for him. This objection is plausible enough if the
object is to explain the observed effects of the law by
reference to its inner meaning ; but I cannot think that the
particular psychological analogy, to which it owes its con-
clusivencss, will admit of this general application. I entirely
agree with Herbart that there are inner processes in
things, from which the forces moving them arc derived,
and I will concede to him that in both the cases which are
here brought together psychical endeavour and physical
motion the impulse to what is done lies in a difference
between a thing's actual state of being and some other state,
which, if it could be realised, would be more in correspon-
dence with its nature. But I dispute the conclusion which
is so hastily drawn from these premisses. Herbart shows
himself in this matter to be influenced by his main concep-
tion, according to which each changing state of a thing is a
disturbance of its original nature, so that the only manifes-
tation of activity which can fairly be attributed to real
existence, is that of self-conservation or recurrence to the
status quo ante. In that case, no doubt, supposing M to
be this permanently fixed aim, and q the state which is a
departure from it, the result to be achieved at each instant
would correspond to this difference Mq. Strictly speak-
ing, it does not at once follow from this, that the intensity
of the force which exerts itself to recover the former state,
must vary directly as the amount of divergence represented
by ^, and inversely as the result already obtained. All
that would be measured by Mq is the extent of what is
required in order to attain the given end. But there would
be nothing to prevent the force from continuing to operate
with unvarying intensity until this difference had been made
to disappear, just as a labourer in filling up a pit does not
at first work more rapidly and afterwards with less energy,
because the space to be heaped in was at the beginning
74 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
larger and has since become smaller, but he works through-
out at the same pace.
Even, however, admitting this assumption, insufficiently
proved as it is, I doubt the relevancy of the analogy which
would make the occurrence of a physical effect correspond
with the satisfaction of psychical impulse. If, taking an
imaginary case, we compare a supposed quantity M 9 of
which we have an idea, with a smaller given quantity </, no
doubt we know that Mq expresses the amount which
must be added to q, in order to make it=-fl/. In this case,
M, though not present before us in external reality, was as
adequately represented by its idea as q was, and the
estimation of the difference between them was thus made
possible. If, however, we experienced a state q, and this
were merely a manner or mode of our consciousness, some
form perhaps of feeling, this feeling would not be able by
itself to produce in our minds the idea of the absent M.
Knowledge of the character and extent of the difference
between q and M could only arise if we had had a real
experience of M as well, and it were to enter into our
consciousness in the form of a feeling or the remembrance
of a feeling similar in kind to q. Although, therefore, the
disturbed state of our feelings may depend upon the
difference Mq, yet this difference only exists primarily for
the comparing mind of an onlooker ; it is not a real element
in the experience of the being who is affected by the state
q, at any rate not unless there is some remembrance of the
state M. It cannot therefore be the obvious standard by
which such a being, with a sort of preference for what is
reasonable and just, determines the intensity of the effort
which it has to make. However far, then, we may go in
assimilating the inner states of things to processes of mind,
so long as we do not believe that the physical operations of
things are regulated like acts of our own by rules drawn
from experience, as long as we believe rather that there is a
necessity imposed on them to come to pass as they do, the
Chap. VII.] NO GENERAL LAW OF EFFECTS. 75
difference between an actual and a better state of things
cannot be the determining reason by which Physical effects
are regulated.
On the other hand, there is no reason, we at least can
see none, why the order of the universe which prescribes to
all things their nature and mode of working, should not
have attached to q a blind and unpurposed activity, which
was as a matter of fact measured by the difference Mq,
though the individual thing which was affected by the
difference was itself unconscious of it. But, as there is
nothing to hinder this supposition, so there is nothing to
make it necessary; it remains a possible though but an
arbitrary assumption that the course of things is nothing
but a constant effort to attain to an equilibrium and to
reproduce a state M which can only be effected by getting
rid of their present state. There is equally nothing to
prevent us from admitting the claims, though not the
exclusive claims, of the opposite view, according to which
the attainment of a state q means a change in the condition
of things, which tends to reproduce itself in a more em-
phatic and intensified form. That other theory, the watch-
word of which is ' disturbance,' has thought only of pain \
and then it seems quite natural that the self-conservative
activity directed to the removal of pain, should decrease in
proportion as it succeeds. It has taken no account of
pleasure, which just as naturally creates a stimulus to the
intensification of the state which was desired and is pleasant.
For it is not true, except in those cases in which the source
of enjoyment lies partly in the body, that pleasure is dulled
with satisfaction. The body, no doubt, is forbidden by the
habits of its action from contributing to the intensification
of feeling, and interrupts it by weariness and satiety. It
will not, however, be maintained that the pursuit of know-
ledge and its results, or the aspiration after beauty and
goodness, is lessened by approximation to the ideal.
But we will leave these analogies, which decide nothing.
76 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. Book II.
The general conclusion to which we come is this : there is
a blind tendency in each thing, owing to its place in the all-
embracing order of the world, whenever it is in any given
state </, to produce an effect. The character and extent of
this effect are not regulated by any law inherent in the
nature of substance or force, and binding things without
regard to the purport of this universal order. It is this
order and this alone, which, in accordance with its own
aims, connects reason and consequent, and it is as able to
determine that the force of reaction should increase with
the attainment of results, as that it should diminish in
proportion as they arc attained.
202. It is easy to see the consequences that follow from
this conviction. As we do not know the idea which is
endeavouring to realise itself in the world, it is from
experience only, as I have before remarked, that we can
derive our knowledge of the recurrent operations of things
according to general laws. We cannot, therefore, take it
amiss that Physics, following the lead of observation, should
assign to the different forces, the assumption of which is
found to be necessary, laws of action of the most various
kinds. These Laws Physics regards merely as expressions
of the facts, without attempting any metaphysical inter-
pretation of them, and every idea of this kind, serving to
clear up a group of interconnected phenomena, and enabling
us to infer the future from the present, deserves respect, as
an enlargement of our knowledge. Philosophy is altogether
in the wrong, when she depreciates results obtained in this
way, merely because they do not penetrate to the ultimate
truth ; but she is certainly within her right, when, starting
from her own point of view, she attempts to supply the
interpretation which is still lacking to those results. What-
ever may be thought of space and of existence in space, if
once the intensity of interaction between two elements is
made to depend on the distance separating them, and just
so far as it is made to depend only on this, it seems to be
Chap. VII.] HOW DISTANCE DETERMINES FORCE. 77
impossible that different forces could be determined by this
cause to act in different ways ; the same distance, it would
seem, could only make itself felt by the elements and
determine all their reciprocal effects in the same way. It
is this which has prepossessed philosophers in favour of the
view that the different modes of action which Physics
assumes, when it makes different forces dependent on
different powers of the distance, cannot have a primary
right of existence, but that there must be one fundamental
law for the relation of action to distance, and the deviations
from it which experience compels us to admit must be due
merely to the complexity of the circumstances. By an
easily understood transition, this fundamental law then
came to be identified with the Law of Gravitation, this
being a Law which is obeyed by many familiar effects,
differing from each other and occurring under apparently
very simple circumstances. I cannot myself share this
prepossession, except with great reservations. It is neces-
sary first of all that a certain asumption from which all such
attempted explanations start, should be clearly stated.
That assumption is made by thinkers, by whom perhaps in
their ultimate essence all things are mysteriously merged in
the unity of an infinite substance and a single creative plan,
when they afterwards leave out of sight the continuous
operation of this single principle, and explain the whole
course of the world merely from the permanent qualities
and the changing relations of individual existences, and the
consequences which, by common logic, seem to follow
from these two premisses.
203. Upon this assumption we are not justified, accord-
ing to all that has preceded, in regarding the interval of
distance itself as that which determines the amount of force
exercised between two elements, a and b. This is due only
to the inner states of the elements which correspond to the
distances between them. Every mode of treating the
question must admit so much as this. Even if we adopt
78 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book H.
the ordinary view of space as objectively existing, the
distance of things will still only be distance between them ;
the distance and its measure is, therefore, a reality prima
facie only for an observer who is able to represent to himself
the space which must be traversed in order to pass from a
to b. If a and b are to be guided by it in what they do, it
must be possible for them and not for an observer only to
take note that the distance between them is in one case d
and in another case d ; thus in order to act they must first
be acted upon by the very same condition which is to regu-
late their activity. This would lead us supposing the
merely phenomenal character of space to be assumed to
the conclusion, that every actual distance between a and b
is nothing but the manifestation in space of the sum of the
effects which they experience at the moment from one
another and from the whole, and which are also the cause
of their effect upon us. The universal order is, however,
neither according to our view, nor according to the ordinary
view, a rigidly classified system, such that each element
persistently occupies the place which corresponds with its
conception. Such a system no doubt exists, but its parts
which are in a constant state of chaotic flux, are every
moment falling into relative positions which do not corre-
spond to the permanent affinities of their natures.
We know what this means in terms of ordinary spatial
perception ; it is not the elements which are by their nature
most fitted for active intercourse which are always the
nearest neighbours ; the action of some third or fourth
element may separate those which are coherent, or bring to-
gether those which are indifferent. It is indeed impossible
to give a picture of what things undergo or experience in
their inner nature when they enter into those changing
intelligible relations with which we are familiar in spatial
perception as distances of greater or less extent. As objects
of such perception, i.e. as distances, these relations seem to
us obviously to imply a greater or less amount of estrange-
Chap. VII.] THE INTENSITY OF AFFINITIES. 79
ment or of sympathy in the things, and upon this the
degree of their reciprocal action is naturally supposed to
depend. Yet our previous investigations have shown that
we cannot account for the manner and degree in which
things act upon each other from the mere fact of their being
outside one another ; it is only from what they get or ex-
perience from this fact, or from the way in which it connects
them, that we can do so. We cannot, therefore, say that
the distance between things itself exercises an influence on
the intensity of their force ; it is merely the mode in which
the greater or less degree of their metaphysical affinity is
manifested to us, varying as this does with the different
combinations into which they are brought by the course of
events. Throughout this process the things remain what
they are, and continue to act upon each other conformably
to their natures. At the same time, the different degrees to
which they are temporarily displaced from their position in
the system, cannot but have some influence on their be-
haviour; a change in the closeness of their metaphysical
affinity involves a corresponding change in the amount i of
the intensity p with which they stimulate those mutual
actions for which their nature has fitted them. If these
very abstract considerations have so far inspired any con-
fidence, we now stand before a conclusion which seems
certain, and before an alternative which we are quite unable
to decide. No reason can be anywhere discovered why
this metaphysical affinity should correspond to any but the
first power of the distance, which is the distance itself. On
the other hand, after what has been said above, it seems
quite as possible that the effect of this affinity should vary
directly as that it should vary inversely, with the distance.
The two formulae
i = pd and / = *
would be the only formulae in which this point of view could
result, and they would be of equal validity.
8o LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
204. In making use of these expressions, I wish it to be
borne in mind that as I understand them they have not the
same meaning as any of those quantities to which the
ordinary mechanical view of Physics leads us. We do not
use i to designate any kind or degree of outward perform-
ance, but merely the intensity of the stimulus with which,
in virtue of the relation at the time being subsisting between
two elements, one of them excites and is excited by the
other to any or all of those possible forms of reciprocal
activity which spring from their affinity, their difference, or
generally their respective places in the system. As regards
what follows from the stimulus a fresh and specific deter-
mination is required to decide whether it is to be attrac-
tion or repulsion, and yet another to decide its amount.
The first requirement, however, may perhaps be assumed
to be already fulfilled by the coefficient /. For though
we have hitherto spoken of this merely as a quantity,
it is dependent on the nature of the interacting elements,
and therefore, strictly speaking, could only be a concrete
number. On the other hand, as regards the amount of
the initial motion, 1 can see no reason why it should
not be considered as simply proportionate to the stimulus /,
which is its motive cause. I shall not, therefore, make
any further comparison between the formula / = pd, which
would indicate a sort of metaphysical elasticity, and what
we meet with under the same name, though generally
under highly complicated conditions, in the sphere of
Physics. As regards the second formula, I do not see
how the desired result, viz. dependence upon the square
of the distance, could be shown necessarily to follow
from it.
I will however mention the assumption which would
have to be made in order to bring this law into ultimate
harmony with the other or metaphysical view. I can-
not esteem as of any value for such a purpose the
appeal to the reciprocity of all effects, which some distin-
Chap. VII.] RECIPROCITY OF EFFECTS. 81
guished authorities have introduced into the discussion. If
P
* -f is the intensity with which one element is attracted
by another and at the same time tends of itself towards it,
I cannot see any reason for supposing the result to equal
the product of the two activities \ like every other resultant,
it would be the sum of them ; it is only the intensity of the
effect, not the function of the distance upon which it de-
pends, that would be affected. Perhaps, however, it will be
urged, that the effect of a force depends not merely on what
the force intends to do, but also on how much it is able to
do, i. e. in the case before us, not merely on the amount of
mutual excitation, but also on the conditions which promote
or check the satisfaction of the demands. To put the
matter shortly and clearly ; the distance d between a and b
indicates a degree of estrangement between them, and their
willingness to act upon each other is therefore inversely
proportional to that distance. But, the weaker will is not
only weaker, but has opposed to it the greater obstacle, in
the shape of the greater distance which weakened it. The
active force, therefore, which can be exerted, is found by
multiplying the effort by the reciprocal of the resistance to
be overcome ; and accordingly is inversely proportional to
the square of the distance. Such a mode of expression
could indeed only serve to indicate briefly the essence of
the idea ; in real truth, the distance d even if it were a really
extended space between a and <, could not be regarded as
an obstacle to the effect. According to the view which we
have maintained, it could not actively condition the in-
cipient process, except in so far as it was represented within
the elements a and b by means of that hidden state of
excitation which we found ourselves obliged to assume in
all cases. But perhaps it is precisely to this inner state of
things that an argument of this kind may seem to be most
rigorously applicable. It may perhaps seem incredible that
when two elements a and b are separated by the distances d
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. G
82 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
or 8, they should in both cases alike, though not excited to
action to the same degree, yet in spite of this difference
aim at producing one and the same effect. It may be
thought that the object of their effort as well as its integrity
would vary, and vary proportionately to the degree of their
excitation. The amount of the actual external result would
then be found by multiplying / into a quantity proportional
to /', and would thus vary inversely with the square of the
distance.
I shall not attempt to decide whether there is anything of
value in this suggestion : I wish only to point out that this
new way of characterising an intended result, as one which
increases in proportion to the stimulus, is just one which
cannot be decisively established, if nothing is assumed but
individual elements with their natures and the relations sub-
sisting between them. There is no universal Metaphysic of
Mechanics, capable of showing that every time any two
existences combine in a relation, they must have so com-
bined. Whenever any such relation occurs, it is a matter
of fact, which, from a Metaphysical point of view, can only
be regarded as an effect of the all-embracing M, i.e. the
idea of the whole. It must be this idea which is present
and active in all individual elements, assigning to each its
mode of manifestation in relation to the rest, which other-
wise would not flow necessarily from the mere conception
and the nature of the elements. But, as we do not know the
content of this idea, we cannot affirm positively that it im-
poses a necessity on things to assume these forms and no
others; and hence, the whole attempt to establish the
existence of a single, original, and only legitimate law for
the operations of all forces is entirely fruitless.
205. Nothing is left to us, but to accept with thanks the
empirical rules which enable Physics to express, in con-
formity with observation, the effects actually produced by
the several forces on each occasion of their activity. Philo-
sophy should not turn away from assumptions, unless they
Chap, vil.1 TRANSMISSION OF FORCE IN TIME. 83
are inherently absurd, and those made by Physics are
seldom that. Thus, no one has ever attempted to explain
an increase or diminution in the intensity of force as de-
pending on mere Time ; where observation seemed to con-
firm such a view, the Time was in every instance occupied
by actual occurrences, each of which contained in itself the
efficient cause of that which was to follow ; these processes,
then, and not the mere lapse of Time, must have deter-
mined the varying intensity of forces. On the other hand,
there is no reason on philosophical grounds to deny that the
amount of force which results from the interaction of two
elements, depends to some extent also on their motions.
For according to our view motion is not merely a change of
external relations, which takes no effect on the things them-
selves ; as those relations depend on inward states of the
things, so the rapidity with which they change them is also
an inward experience, and one which at every moment may
help to determine their subsequent behaviour. Besides the
degree of intensity which a force would have, corresponding
with the distance at the moment between the two elements
from which it proceeds, there would thus be a positive or
negative increase of the force, dependent on the rapidity
with which the elements travel through the space which they
at present occupy. But it is not expedient to continue the
discussion on this point ; for while the hypothesis has been
employed by Physicists only with extreme reserve, in regard
to the interaction of electric currents, a case in which it
seemed to be required, there would be no limits to its
application when treated, as we should have to treat it, as a
general principle. Once admitted, the dependence of force
upon velocity of motion, and upon its successive accelera-
tions, would apparently have to be regarded as a universal
characteristic of physical action.
2O6. Connected with this question is the other one : Do
forces, in order to take effect, require Time ? Stated in this
form, indeed, as it occasionally is, the question is ambiguous.
G 2
84 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
It is a universally admitted truth that, every effect, in its
final result, is formed by the successive and continuous
addition of infinitesimal parts which go on accumulating
from zero up to the final amount. In this sense succession,
in other words, expenditure of Time, is a characteristic of
every effect, and this is what distinguishes an effect from a
mere consequence, which holds good simultaneously with
its condition. Vain, however, would it be as we saw in
our investigation of Time to seek to go further than this,
and to discover the inscrutable process by means of which
succession of events in Time comes to pass at all. The
question we are considering was proposed on the assump-
tion of the diffusion of force in Space. Supposing it were
possible to instance a moment of Time in which a previously
non-existent force came into Being, would all the various
effects which it was calculated to produce in different places,
both near and remote, be at once realised? Or, would a
certain interval of Time be required, just as it is in the case
of Light, which transmits itself to different objects rapidly,
but not instantaneously, and must first come into contact
with them before it can be reflected by them.
It is not necessary to embellish the question by intro-
ducing conditions which make any decision impossible.
There is no need to imagine either the sudden appearance
out of nothing of some new body in the world, or the dis-
appearance of one already existing, and then to enquire,
whether the addition of gravity, as in the first case (the new
body being likewise supposed subject to the law of gravi-
tation), or the subtraction of gravity, as in the second, would
make itself felt by distant stars immediately, or not till after
a measurable interval? The action of force in its be-
ginnings may be illustrated by examples nearer to hand.
Each smallest increase in the velocity of two elements,
which are working upon each other whether by attraction
or repulsion at a distance, by the very fact that the ele-
ments are brought nearer to or are parted from each other,
Chap. VII.] ACTION OF FORCE IN TIME. 85
brings about an increase of attraction or repulsion, in other
words, a new force, though no new vehicle of it. Similarly,
the electrical actions of bodies, depending as they do upon
a condition which is not always present, furnish an example
of a beginning of force in Time. It makes no difference
that this condition itself does not come into existence at
once and with a permanent intensity, but only by degrees ;
at any rate, a moment can be assigned for every one of its
degrees before which it did not exist, and from which its
effect must begin. Having regard to such cases the ques-
tion that has been raised can only be answered in the
negative; there could be no possibility of an affirmative
answer, except on that supposition of a diffusion of force
which we found to be impossible 1 . But even on that sup-
position, it is the passage through space which, strictly
speaking, would have to be regarded as the first work of
the diffused force ; the work done upon its arrival at the
distant object would be only second and subsequent, for its
presence as force would not be felt by the object until it had
come into the necessary contact with it. It must not how-
ever be supposed that after the force has come into Being,
a blank space of time / is required to pass before the motion
begins to be transmitted ; nor again, that after the force has
reached its object, and so secured its control over it, it
should require a similar space of Time /, in order to take
effect. If this space of Time /were really blank, everything
would remain at the end of it as it was at the beginning, and
the effect might just as well be expected to occur at the end
of some other space of Time =n t\ if, on the other hand, any
positive change in the phenomena takes place during this time,
this change is a link, by means of which C, the imperfectly
realised condition of the result /J is completed and perfected :
that part of C, however, which was already present has, at
the moment of its coming to be, immediately produced that
corresponding part of F which it was adequate to produce.
1 [C P . 198.]
86 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
207. It will be objected that real events are, as I stated
above, not related to each other in the same way as con-
ditions to their consequences, because the result in the
former case always follows the cause which produces it;
but for this succession, events would be transformed into a
system of cotemporaneous parts, which would differ only in
the different degrees of their dependence upon the first of
the scries : C and F, therefore, though it is true there could
be no blank interval of Time between them, would always
come into contact in the order C F, not in the order F C.
This true remark again suggests an enigma, the insolubility
of which we have already admitted. For succession in time
could never arise from these contacts which occupy no time,
however often repeated, between members which follow out
of one another ; we should still have merely a systematic
order if C and /'Mid not each fill a certain extent of time of
its own; if they did, then, it seems, /''would have to wait
till C had completed its interval of time. But even this is
not a way out of the difficulty. Suppose C and /"both to
consist of a series of parts following each other in unbroken
succession, e.g. c^ c^, ^,/,,^,/r Are we then lo suppose
that the occurrence of F is conditional on the completion of
the group C? that it cannot, i.e. commence, until r 3 is reached,
and that nothing of the nature offtakes place until this
term is realised? There are facts enough which seem to
confirm this view, and indicate that the result Pis attached
to a specific determination of C. A closer examination will,
nevertheless, not fail to show that the force C, all the time
that it seemed to be increasing in amount without producing
any effect, was really already occupied with the removal of
hindrances which stood in the way of the occurrence of any-
thing of the nature of F. When, at last, the amount r s is
reached, this removal is completed, and from this point its
first positive and visible effect commences, though not ab-
solutely its first effect. As regards this effect, again, we do
not believe that a finite amount of it, f lt arises suddenly so
Chap. VII,] AFFINITY OF DISTANT ELEMENTS. 87
soon as C is ended. Rather, each smallest addition which
is made to B, involves a correspondingly small addition to
F\ but between these two occurrences there is no blank
interval of Time ; f n corresponds to c n immediately. But
the assumption we have made as regards C itself involves
the same difficulty. If C remains unchanged during the
whole space of Time /, which it is supposed to fill, there is
no better reason why F should follow at the close of that
time than at its commencement. If however we assume, as
was assumed, that C traverses the series ^ c ti c^ then, as the
order of the series is supposed to be fixed, each term must
be the condition of the succeeding one, and as in the pre-
vious case, if they are to form a succession in time, two
adjacent terms can neither have any blank interval of time
between them, nor can they be simultaneous.
The conclusion to which this points is clear. The whole
nature of Becoming is unknown to us, and we cannot re-
construct the origin of it in theory. In this quite general
sense, it is true to say that every operative condition and
every force draws its consequences and its effects after it.
But in order to do this, it is not so much the case that they
need a lapse of time, as that they are this lapse of time
itself; only because they are themselves in a process of
becoming can they convey that same process to their con-
sequences. But there is no measurable interval of Time
between the condition c n and its true and immediate result
/; there is nothing but the enigmatical fact of their contact,
a fact which cannot be ignored any more than it can be
explained.
If we now leave these general considerations, and return
to the subject which first suggested them, that of forces
acting at a distance, it must follow from the doctrine which
has been stated, that, at the same moment that the force
which is active in the element/ passes from c, 2 into <: 3 , there
will be a similar transition in the element q, no matter how
remote it may be, from f 2 to / 3 , provided that c and /are
88 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
causally connected through that inner sympathetic affinity
upon which all action depends. Moreover, just as c 2 in the
element/ can only change into c 9 continuously, that is, by
passing through all the intermediate values, in exactly the
same way in the element ^,/ 2 will pass by succession into/ 3 .
But the idea that a lapse of Time is required in order that/
should transmit its force to q at all, is barred, among other
considerations, by that of the reciprocal action of the two
elements, which is universally admitted to be a necessary
assumption. No force could be diffused from/ towards q>
nor could any force even originate in /, unless it were
awakened and solicited in / by q\ on the other hand, q
could not produce this excitation, unless it was invited by/.
No action, therefore, could ever take place between/ and ^,
if it were required that a force should first proceed from / to
q ; for the only thing which could excite this force to set out
from / would be the stimulus of another force starting from
q j and this stimulus it would never have, because q would
be waiting for an invitation from /. This connexion of
mutual affinity between the elements, the source of their
action upon each other, does not at one time or another
come into existence through a diffusion of forces in space ; it
always exists, thus rendering it possible that changes of state
experienced by one element should involve corresponding
changes in another.
208. Owing to the boundless complexity of the manifold
conditions which meet in the course of nature, we cannot
expect to be able to explain every event directly from the
joint action of the forces which combine to produce it.
Hence, the desire has often been felt to discover certain
customary rules by which, at any rate, the course of the
natural world is regulated. It was hoped that in cases
where knowledge of the special connexions between things
is wanting, we might thus be enabled to establish equations
expressive of general conditions with which the results,
however unknown may be the manner in which they are
Chap. VII.] CONSERVATION OF MASS. 89
brought about, must certainly correspond. Experience
itself also leads us to the same ideas, whether, as some be-
lieve, it is from this source that they are derived exclusively,
or that they are preconceptions which experience merely
confirms, and which, as it then seems, we must have arrived
at independently.
Opinions are divided between these two alternatives.
The Realistic view inclines to treat general principles of this
kind either as designations of mere matters of fact, which
might have occurred differently, or else their universality is
explained by what is called their self-evident truth, though
its opposite is not regarded as strictly inconceivable. On
the other hand, the Idealist view, which is that which we
here adopt, can recognise no supreme law except the one
unchanging purpose underlying the multiplicity of pheno-
mena, and seeking for its realisation in them. At the same
time, the Idealist, being unable to express the nature of this
purpose, or the laws to which it requires that things should
conform, cannot regard these universal principles, in so far
as they are borne out by experience, as more than habits of
nature on a great scale, valid within the circle of our obser-
vation, but not infallible as regards the far larger sphere of
reality which lies beyond the limits of Time and Space to
which our investigations are confined. Hence, instead of
establishing any positive truths, the duty which lies before
me is the less grateful one of calling in question the un-
limited validity of principles, the limited validity of which is
one of the most important and unfailing aids to scientific
enquiry.
209. One of the simplest of these truths appears to be
the invariability and the conservation of mass. Though not
especially, or, at any. rate, not invariably confirmed by the
appearances of every-day life, this doctrine receives such
universal support from the systematic view of science, that
it would be superfluous to adduce any detailed arguments
for its certainty. But now that it has been fully established,
90 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
I cannot see in it any necessity of thought the late discovery
of which need cause surprise. It may indeed be self-evident
for a theory which regards the world as composed of indi-
vidual and mutually independent atoms. Out of the ab-
solute void, which would be all that would lie between these
atoms, obviously no new real existence could arise; the
principle that out of nothing comes nothing, would hold
good absolutely. But this point of view we have been com-
pelled to abandon. In order to conceive reciprocal action,
without which no course of nature is intelligible, we were
led to regard the individual elements, not as self-conditioned,
but as depending for the beginning, continuance, and end
of their existence on the determination of the one Being,
from which their nature and capacities of action are derived.
Now, it is certainly a tempting conclusion, but it is no
necessity of thought, to go on to suppose that this one
Being at least is a sum of reality which cannot be in-
creased or diminished, and which changes only the forms
of its manifestation. And we ourselves inclined above to
this idea, when we admitted it to be natural that each
individual qualitatively-distinguished element, i. e. each
activity of the one existence, when conformably with the
plan of the world it splits itself up into various elements,
should have a diminished intensity in each of the parts
so arising.
But all this world of quantitative determinations has no
significance outside that complexity of things and processes
which the one and only true reality creates to express itself.
It is only their meaning and function, and the value which
they thus acquire, that give to the individual elements and
forces the particular magnitudes they possess and exhibit in
comparison with others. But what lies beneath them all, is
not a quantity which is eternally bound to the same limits,
and can only represent the same sum in different ways, how-
ever variously divided. On the contrary, there is no reason
why, if it is required by the Idea which has to be realised,
Chap.VH.] CONSTANCY OP SUM OF MOTIONS. 91
one period of the world should not need the efficient ele-
ments to be more, and another less, and why in the former
case each part of the whole should not also exert itself with
a greater degree of force on the rest. The history of Nature
would then resemble a musical melody of varying strength
of tone, the swellings and varyings of which do not spring
from nothing, nor yet from one another, but each in its
place results from the requirement of the whole. I do not
mean to affirm that this actually is what takes place in
Nature. Quite conceivably it may be part of the hidden
purpose of the supreme Idea, that all its requirements should
depend for their realisation on a fixed sum of real elements,
and that the production of variety should be restricted to
different adaptations of the same material. Still less ought
we to be surprised if the course of Nature, so far as we can
observe it, shows this to be practically the case. For, as far
as we can see with clearness, we find Nature moving in a
cycle, which makes it certain that forms once in existence
will maintain themselves in existence. The only phenomena
which suggest a progress wholly new, a progress which would
go nearest to proving that the materials as well as the results
are changed, are those which come from an antiquity so
remote as to preclude exact investigation. It would, there-
fore, be mere folly to call in question the principle of the
conservation of mass, so long as we confine our view to the
world of accessible facts, and to what we may call the retail
dealings of the physical elements in it. But it is the busi-
ness of Philosophy to be constantly reminding us how
limited is that section of the universe which is open to our
observation, and that the whole which comprehends it is a
reality, though not one which we can make an object of
positive knowledge.
210. Similarly, the attempt has been made to conceive of
the sum of motions in the world as a constant quantity. The
general state of knowledge at the time when this idea was
first entertained, did not admit of its being substantiated or
92 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
even rendered probable by evidence derived from experi-
ence. For, as long as the effects which things exercise
upon each other were explained as due merely to communi-
cated motion, the conclusion could not be evaded that
contrary velocities of elements tending in opposite directions
would neutralise each other either wholly or in part, and
consequently that motion disappeared from the world with-
out any compensation. And ordinary experience seemed
to confirm this conclusion by an abundance of examples,
which no one knew how to explain in any other way. On
the other hand, it was seen that living Beings were centres
from which fresh motions were initiated at every instant,
which could not but be taken for really new beginnings.
So that neither was there anything in experience which was
inconsistent with the indefinite multiplication of motions.
Nor, finally, did experience suggest at all that this increase
and diminution must balance each other, so as to maintain
a constant sum of motion. Such a conception originates in
an hypothesis as to the general character of the course of
nature. Such an hypothesis was furnished by the idea of a
system, having no object but the maintenance of itself, and
furnished with fixed resources* to this end : one of these
means was the sum of motion, as it once for all exists, which
in the economy of nature might not be spent, but only dif-
ferently dispensed.
Recent physical speculations tend to revert to this same
idea. So many apparently fixed qualities and conditions
of things have been already demonstrated to be a cease-
less process, that it may be doubted whether there is
such a thing as Rest at all, except in the indivisible
moments of reversal in the minute oscillations with which
all things are vibrating. Philosophy can have no motive
for objecting to the assumption of such eternal motion
as a matter of fact ; it is a mere prejudice to infer, that
because from our point of view an element must be first
supposed at rest in order that the results of varying motions
Chap. VII j CONSER VA TION OF FORCE. 93
which condition it may be understood, this quiescence
must have been prior in reality, and that the impulse to
motion is an addition for which it has to wait. At the same
time, it is only as a fact, and not in any other light, that we
can regard this perpetual motion. It implies, not merely
that motions already in existence may be communicated,
but also that fresh motions must be produced in cases
where two motions are opposite, and their communication
could only result in the neutralisation of both. This
elasticity of things, without which it would be impossible for
them to counteract the self-annihilation of motion, is only
conceivable if there are inner states of their being capable
of developing the forces from which motions spring. It is
possible, though not probable, that effects produced at
a distance against which there exists an unfounded pre-
judice are conveyed in this way by means of motions
transmitted from point to point of some connecting medium.
But, even in that case, not only the conception of force,
but also in a special sense that of force producing effects at
a distance, is still indispensable, in order to explain each
one of those countless communications of motion, the
sum of which is usually held to compose the effects of
force at measurable distances. If, however, force alone
gives a sufficient reason for expecting that the motion
will be replaced, which mere communication would permit
to be lost in its antagonism, it cannot be supposed that
force itself is the constant quantity which is in request;
its intensity varies with the distance, though this is itself
determined by force. The constant element in the course
of Nature can only be an inner connexion between the
circumstances which give rise to the operation of forces,
a general law governing all combinations and connected
successions of effects. It was thus that that most compre-
hensive principle, the one which dominates our whole
estimate of physical processes, that of the Conservation
of Force, first suggested itself, in respect to which I proceed
94 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
now, though only so far as the connexion of my views
requires, to offer the following considerations.
211. The simple principle, that out of nothing comes
nothing, requires to be more precisely defined by the
addition that even from something no result can follow,
so long as that something, the event B, is only the condition
or occasion of what is to take place, and remains just the
same after the consequence ^has been produced as before.
On the contrary, B must be sacrificed, either wholly or
in part, in order to produce F. This is the difference
so constantly referred to between a causal nexus of events
and the merely formal connexion of conditions and con-
sequences. Our ontological discussions proved to us that,
in the simplest case of causation, at least two factors,
a and b\ must enter into a relation e, and that the result
which takes place consists in this, that a becomes changed
into a, b into /3, c into y. Every effect, therefore, is the
effect of two elements acting upon each other, neither of
which can inflict upon the other a change in its condition,
without paying a definite price for it by a corresponding
change in its own. If a wishes by acting at a distance,
whether in the way of attraction or of repulsion, to change
the place of b, it can only do so by displacing itself in
the opposite direction to a corresponding distance. There
is no reason for excepting any single operation of nature
from this general law ; it holds good even in those cases ot
communicated motion when the process cannot be observed
in all its details. It is not possible for a motion of one
element, after imparting a certain velocity to a second,
to persist unchanged in the first, ready to produce the same
result again, and so increase its effect to infinity ; its in-
fluence is exhausted in proportion to the degree in which it
has been exerted.
212. Certain corollaries, of different degrees of certitude,
arise out of this general conclusion. If we assume that the
course of nature includes occurrences differing in kind from
Chap.VII.j RECIPROCAL CONVERTIBILITY. 95
each other, and not admitting of being represented as mere
quantitative or formal modifications of a single homogeneous
process, we shall not be justified in asserting that every
occurrence, A, calls into existence every other, C, or admits
of immediate application to its production. It would be
quite conceivable that there was no way from A to C except
through the medium of a third, B, A and C remaining
unsympathetic to each other. If therefore it cannot be
said that there is necessarily any reciprocal action between
every A and every C, it is equally clear on the other
hand that if such a relation does take place, a specific
amount of A must be sacrificed in order to produce a
specific amount of C. Nor is it logically necessary, or self-
evident, that every connected succession of two occurrences
A and C must be convertible. No doubt, whatever is lost
to A in the process of producing C, testifies to an effect of
C upon A ; but this effect is merely to impede A, and
it is not a matter of course that every C which is able to do
away with an A should therefore be able to call into
existence an A which does not exist. That none the less it
seems natural to us that this should be so, is due to the
assumption which unconsciously we make to ourselves, that
the economy of nature has no other object than self-con-
servation. In a process which implied progress, the order
of events might easily be so determined as that A should
lead to C, but that there should be no way back from
Cto A.
It cannot therefore be asserted a priori, and as a self-
evident truth, that all the processes in Nature must be
mutually convertible backwards and forwards; how far
this convertibility extends can only be learned by experi-
ence. But, even in those cases in which it holds good,
it is still by no means certain that the same amount c of
C, which was produced by the amount a of A, and which
therefore caused a to disappear, would now reproduce
exactly the same amount, a, as was spent in its own pro-
g6 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
duction. That could not be unless it had been previously
proved that there is in Nature no tendency towards pro-
gress ; if there is progress, there can be nothing to make
it impossible that each stage in a series of occurrences,
a c, c a v #! c^ c^ a z , should contain the condition of an
advance in the next stage. This assertion is at variance
with ordinary ideas ; as, however, I do not intend to
apply it to explain the actual details of the course of
Nature, I shall merely repeat by way of justification what
has previously been suggested, viz. that the nature of
being and process is not limited by any premundane
system of mechanics, but that it is the very import of
this process which determines all the quantities in which
the elements make themselves felt, and the consequences
which their relations entail.
Finally, if, proceeding on the assumption of the unlimited
convertibility of mutually productive activities, we suppose
that a and b enter into a varying relation c, the sum of
the effects which one is able to exercise on the other will be,
within certain determinate values of c^ a constant quantity.
As each intermediate amount of c is reached, the capacity for
action continues as regards that part of the possible total
amount which it has not yet produced ; on the other hand, it
has lost so much of its force as was required to produce
the result thus far achieved; this loss can only be made
good by restoring the elements to their original state, that
is, by doing away with the results already obtained. If we
call this capacity for future action potential energy *, in con-
trast with kinetic energy 2 which is active at the moment, the
sum of these two forces, when the two elements are related
as above, forms a constant quantity.
In the same way a sum of money M, so long as it remains
unspent in our possession, has a purchasing power, and
loses this power in proportion to the purchased goods
which it acquires. Its original purchasing power can only
1 [Spannkraft.] a [Lebendige Kraft.]
Chap. VII.] LIMITS OF CONVERTIBILITY. 97
be restored and applied to other objects by re-selling the
goods. This example throws light upon the difficulties
raised above. It would be impossible for us to know
a priori that the potential force which the possession of
the money would imply, could put us in possession of
other objects by being itself got rid of; this exchange-
ability depends, in fact, on highly complex relations of
human society. Nor should we be any more justified in
taking for granted that the goods, G, by being similarly
got rid of, would put us again in possession of the money;
and as a matter of fact, this convertibility, which in like
manner presupposes the connexion of human wants, has
its limits; for it is well known that by buying goods
and selling them again, we are equally likely to gain and to
lose. It is not the case, then, that in the conversion of
trade every quantity reproduces the same quantity as that by
which it was produced. It is of course obvious, and need
not be urged as an objection, that this result is due to con-
flicting circumstances, and to the influence which the
nature of human business has in determining the relation of
M to G ; it is to these dealings of men with each other,
not to any essential peculiarity of M and G, that the fact of
their standing in any relation is due. But this is the very
point which I would urge against the over-confident pro-
cedure of natural science. It does not appear to me self-
evident that a perfectly adequate ground can be found for
the mutual relations of the elements of Nature either,
merely by considering their fixed characters M and G ;
here, too, their exchangeable value may depend partly on
some larger commerce of the world. At the same time,
I have no doubt as to the practical truth of the principle of
the Conservation of Force, within the limits of our ex-
perience. Merely in the interests of Metaphysic I felt com-
pelled to speak of these difficulties, and I wish now to make
mention also of some accessory notions which have formed
round this general principle.
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. H
98 LAWS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THINGS. [Book II.
213. We are often told with enthusiasm how it has at last
been shown that all the various processes of the natural
world are produced by a single indestructible force never
varying in its intensity, and that nothing changes except
the form in which the ceaseless transformations of this force
are presented. It is especially the important correspondence
between mechanical work and heat, which, by a somewhat
hasty generalisation, has given rise to this idea of a transition
of forces into one another, and of a universal primitive force
to which they are all subordinate. The satisfaction thus
given to that feeling which compels us to comprehend the
infinite multiplicity of things and events under some single
principle, seems to me to be illusory. Lichtenberg once
contrasted the early ages of the world, when mankind
was equally ready to believe in God and in ghosts, with
the present age, which denies both ; he feared compensa-
tion in a future when all that would be believed in would
be the ghosts. Something like this seems to have happened
in the case before us. For after all we are only doing
honour to a ghost, when we dream of an absolutely nameless
primitive force, which, formless in itself, and consisting
of nothing but an unnamed number of constant amount,
assumes, as a trifling addition that needs no explanation, the
changing names under which it is manifested. If, however,
we reflect upon and realise the fact that this original force
never exists in this naked and nameless shape, but is
continually passing from one to another of the forms
which it assumes, we are again admitting that what really
gives to each phenomenon its character is the concrete
nature of that which embodies the quantum of force, either
wholly or partly, for the time being. The same reflexion
would show that what makes the succession of changing
phenomena possible, is a unity of meaning which pervades
and connects all those concrete forms of being with one
another. Finally, it would appear that the persistence
of quantity through all this play of forces is only a mode in
Chap. VII.] QUANTITY OF WORK. 99
which the already existent reality manifests itself, and
cannot be the source from which that reality with all its
various forms originally springs.
The latter view, which would reverse the true order and
mistake the shadow for the substance, scarcely needs any
further refutation ; more serious are the objections which may
be raised against the general assertion which we admitted
above, that the conservation of the same sum of force is as a
matter of fact the rule of experience. In as far as we can
reduce two physical processes A and C to comparable primary
occurrences consisting in comparable velocities v of com-
parable masses *, so far it may be shown that C which is
produced by A, contains precisely the same amount of energy
which A y by producing it, has lost. Where, however, the two
elements do not admit of this exact comparison, and we have
before us merely the fact that the specific amount a of A pro-
duces the specific amount c of C, and, it may be, vice versa,
it is an essentially arbitrary course to conclude that c and a
contain the same amount of energy, merely distributed in
each case in a different form. All that can be said is, that
a and c are equivalent ', not that they are equal. It is possibly
a just expectation that all the various processes of external
nature will admit of being ultimately referred to variously
combined motions of infinitesimal elements, and as regards
these particular processes, the arbitrary interpretation referred
to might be defended on this ground ; but the general con-
ception which underlies the principle of the conservation of
Force must without doubt apply to one case in which no
such expectation can be entertained ; I allude to the inter-
connexion of physical and psychical processes.
Whatever effect is produced on the organs of sense by an
outward irritation /, whether it is simply received, or trans-
mitted, or diffused, or changed, there must always be left
over from the physical process a residuum /, to which
the psychical process of the sensation s will succeed im-
mediately; nor can we doubt that the strength of the
100 THE LAWS OP CAUSATION. [Book II.
sensation will change with the changes in the strength of
i. Again, no matter what constitutes an act of will W,
or how it may act upon other states of consciousness,
or be limited by them, there must be ultimately a part of it
/, from which the first motion,/ of the body and all its
consequences take their rise, and in this case we do not
doubt, any more than in the other, that the extent of the
physical effect is determined by the varying intensity of w.
Now according to all ordinary views of what happens in
such cases, the mere fact that there is an i or w, con-
sidered as an opportunity or occasion, is not enough to
entail the existence of s or/ In order that the reaction
may vary with the varying amount of the stimulus, the
stimulus must be perceptible by that which it affects, in
other words, must produce in it a change of state of definite
amount. In the two cases before us, as in all others, it will
be found that no effect can take place, i. e. neither that of
the last physical movement upon the sensitive subject, nor
that of the last mental excitation upon the first nerve-element
which it acts upon, without a corresponding loss ; here, too,
the productive energy is consumed, in whole or in part,
in bringing about the result. But never will it be possible
to refer / and s, or w and/ physical and psychical pro-
cesses, to a common standard ; the members of each of the
two groups may be compared with each other, but the unit
of measurement in the one has nothing in common with
that in the other. Granting, then, that here is compensation
for physical energy by psychical or for psychical by physical,
still in such a case as this there ceases to be any meaning
in saying that one and the same quantity of action or work
is maintained throughout ; all that is open to us is, to speak
of an equivalence of two activities, such that a specific amount
s p. of the one, measured by the unit /u, corresponds to a
specific amount f m of the other, measured by the unit m.
No one, however, can say whether these two activities are
equal in quantity, nor which of them is the greater.
Chap. VII.] A SINGLE FORCE. 101
214. These considerations suggest certain others. In the
first place, we may attempt to generalise from what has been
discovered as regards these processes ; in all cases, we may
say, the simplest fact, the fact which first meets us in
experience, is this relation of equivalence between two
processes or forces. We do not first discover that two forces
are equal and like 1 , and therefore produce equal and
like 1 effects ; but what we do first is to observe that they
balance each other, or, that under the like circumstances
they produce the like motions. From this equivalence
which has been found to obtain between them in certain
special cases we infer their quantitative equality \ at the
same time we assume for the elements to which the
forces in question belong, the qualitative identity which
enables us to apply to them the same standard of measure-
ment. I have no motive for entering here into all the
indirect reasons and proofs which show in what a number of
physical processes this assumption holds good ; I would
refer especially to the idea of homogeneous mass and of
its conservation understood as it has been above. Confining
myself to the metaphysical aspect of the question, I wish
merely to point out that the principle of the conservation
of Force, or, as I prefer now to say, the equivalence of
different effects, does not impose on us any obligation to
reduce all processes in Nature to the single class of material
motion. So far as the principle applies to this latter class
it is only a special instance of that more general corre-
spondence, existing between heterogeneous things as well,
which we express by this wider term of ' Equivalence.' Far,
therefore, from being a monotonous transmission of the
same unchanging process, it might be that the course of
nature is for ever producing unlike by unlike ; though the
equivalence which the sovereign purpose of the world
has established between these several disparate activities,
would make the ' incidental view ' practicable and fruitful,
1 [ Gleich,' cp. note on 19.]
102 THE LAWS OF CAUSATION. [Book II.
according to which we reduce the concrete varieties of
phenomena to mere quantitative values of a single, abstract,
uniform principle, just as we determine the value of the
most different things by the same artificial standard of
money.
I know well how stubbornly this view will be contested.
The very analogy we have used will appear defective ; the
prices of things, it will be said, only admit of comparison
because the things all serve more or less to satisfy human
wants which themselves admit of comparison; and this
implies that the effects of the things on us, and ultimately
therefore that which is the source of those effects, must be
homogeneous. I on my side am not less stubborn in
the defence of my own view. I do not deny that in so far
as different things have like effects upon us, we are able by
means of an artifice to ignore their specific differences for
the time being, and to regard them as differing only quanti-
tatively; but the things themselves are not therefore like
because they admit of this justifiable fiction. Even if all
qualitative differences are pronounced to be mere appear-
ances, yet the difference of this appearance still remains, and
belongs no less to the sum-total of reality; the utmost, there-
fore, that we can do will be to exhibit the external world as
a mechanism of homogeneous parts which produces in us
these appearances; but by no process of Mathematics
or Mechanics would it be possible to deduce analytically
concrete magnitudes from abstract ones, or magnitudes
of different denomination from magnitudes of the same
denomination. The process of the world is no mere com-
bination of identical elements, but a synthesis of elements
differing in quality and only connected by unity of plan.
216. But are we really correct in what we have laid down
with regard to physical and psychical processes ? Is it true
that in this case also, the activity which occasions the result
must necessarily be sacrificed in the process ? Long before
the principle of the Conservation of Force had excited
Chap. VII.] RATIONALE OF COMPENSATION. 103
its present interest, I had pointed to this conclusion ; but it
is not self-evident except upon the assumption which we
adopted above, viz. that isolated elements can only be
influenced by one another if they are capable of acting
upon one another, and that no one element will adapt itself
to another without requiring compensation for its amen-
ability. But, it may be said, if all the elements, a and ,
must be regarded as moments of the one Jlfwith no in-
dependence of their own, why should not the change of
a into a suffice to give the signal, which is simply followed by
the change of b into /3, according to the theory of Occa-
sionalism ? Why should any special effort be required in
order to bring about an affinity between the elements
which already exists ? Still it is clear that if what this
theory demands is conceded it cannot apply exclusively
to the interaction of physical and psychical processes as
an exceptional case. The same consideration would apply
also to all that takes place between the elements of the
external world. Even the atoms would find in M a constant
bond of union, and what was experienced by one atom
would be the simultaneous signal for changes in another,
which would follow like premisses from their conclusion,
without involving any self-sacrifice on the part of the first.
If, however, we find that this sacrifice does as a matter
of fact take place, as it certainly does in the external world,
though it can scarcely be proved by experience in the case
of physical and psychical processes, all that remains to us is
to suppose that this fact too, is a constituent element in the
purpose which finds or ought to find expression in the
real world ; at the same time, we must not represent it as
a condition imposed by some inscrutable necessity, without
which the world as it is would not be possible. My only
object in making this remark was to repeat, that if all
conditions continued to exist simultaneously with their
consequences (which is what would follow from the prin-
ciples of Occasionalism), the world would appear again as a
104 THE LAWS OF CAUSATION. [Book II.
merely systematic whole, from which all change was absent.
If, however, Becoming, the alternation between Being and
not Being, is the very characteristic of the real world,
it appears to me that the absorption of the cause in the
effect is quite as necessary to that world as persistence
is necessary to the conception of motion. For those signals
which we spoke of could themselves have no signals for
their occurrence except in the succession of effects ; they
would be produced by one set of effects, they must dis-
appear again in producing another.
216. Amongst the general habits described as character-
istic of the course of Nature, it is common to hear
Principles of Parsimony mentioned. The conception is a
very vague one, and even in the principle of least action
the way in which it has been formulated is not without
ambiguity. What it signifies is only clear in cases where
there is some end in view which admits of being equally
realised by different means, each however involving a
different amount of expenditure. But the standard by
which this amount is estimated is still dependent on
circumstances, which make in one case the saving of Time,
in another that of distance, in another that of material, the
more important, or cause us to prefer an habitual method
to the trouble of learning a new one. In order, therefore,
to settle with any certainty the question as to the procedure
which involves the least expenditure of means, a statement
of the direction in which economy is most valuable must be
included in the original definition of the end.
This alone is enough to show what ambiguities are
likely to be involved when this conception is transferred to
the operations of Nature. Assuming that Nature follows
certain ends, we do not know what these are, nor can we
determine what direction her parsimony must take. The
one thing which we should perhaps assert would be this,
that nature is not sparing in matter or in force, in Time, in
distance, or in velocity, all of which cost her nothing, but
Chap. VII.] LAW OF PARSIMONY. 105
that she is sparing in principles. It is this kind of parsi-
mony which we do in fact believe to exist in Nature,
especially in the organic world; by variations of a few
original types, by countless modifications of a single organ
the variety of organic beings, we believe, is produced, and
their different wants supplied. Here Nature seems to us,
if it may be permitted to our short-sighted wisdom to say
so, to be wasteful of material and Time, and to reach many
of her ends by long circuitous routes which it would have
been possible, by departing from her habitual and typical
course, to have shortened. These ideas do not hold good
of mechanics, since mechanical laws apply, not to any
particular type of effect, but to any and every type. We
know that, within certain limits, the various elements in a
mechanical effect are convertible ; thus increase of velocity
may make up for decrease of mass, and increase of Time
for decrease of force. There cannot therefore be an
economy in all elements at once for the attainment of a
given end e\ we must look for the least expenditure in that
combination of all the different elements which amounts to
less than any other combination equally possible under the
circumstances.
But this gives rise to a fresh ambiguity. If we look at
the matter fairly, it appears that e, which we just now
described as the end or aim, is nothing more than the
particular occurrence <?, and it need not be said that the
modes of activity which led to this result must have been
exactly adequate to produce it. But, under the special
circumstances in the given case, the modes of activity were
at the same time the only possible ones which could give
rise to e. For in order to follow a given path, it is not
enough that it presents no obstacles, there must also be a
positive impulse to follow it. It is therefore quite idle to
excogitate different methods by which, theoretically, the
end e might have been arrived at ; that would require that
he should analyse precisely the starting-point A from which
106 THE LAWS OF CAUSATION-. [Book II.
the effect is supposed to proceed, and then, after consider-
ing all the several possibilities contained in A y that we
should be able to determine that in this particular case the
other methods were still equally possible. But this we
shall never succeed in doing, for it involves a contradiction;
it is true that the other methods may be, even in this
particular case, all equally free from impediment, but there
could not be positive inducements to follow them all
equally; otherwise what would eventually take place would
be, not <?, but J, the resultant of all these different induce-
ments. If therefore we find on comparison that the method
m by which the result e is actually reached, is the shortest
of many conceivable methods, what makes the possibility
actual reality is not that this method has been chosen out
of many others equally possible ; rather we should say that
m was in this case the only possible method, because any
other direct method M, which might have led to the same
result, lacked the conditions for carrying them into effect ;
in a different case, where these conditions were present, the
result E would be different and the shortest way to it would
be M. We must not therefore speak of parsimony in the
sense of an act of choice, the exercise of which is merely a
peculiar habit, not a causal necessity, of nature. The
utmost that we could venture to assert is, that the Laws of
Nature are so devised that the shortest way to any given
result is in every case a necessary result of the laws them-
selves.
Yet even this statement would be no better than am-
biguous. For the new truth which it seems to contain, and
which makes it appear more self-evident than the preceding
one, is similarly dependent on our arbitrary determination
to regard as an end what is really only a result. It is true
that according to the known law of reflexion a ray of light
transmitted from the point a and reflected by the surface S,
takes the shortest way to a point b which lies in the line of
its reflexion, or again that according to the known law o(
Chap. VII.] PARSIMONY IS MERELY SYSTEM. 107
refraction, if refracted by an intervening body, it takes the
shortest way to a point b in the line of its exit from the
refracting medium. But by whose command did the ray
proceed from a precisely towards this point b and no other ?
That it arrives at this point is not to be wondered at, since
it lies in the line of direction which the laws above
mentioned prescribe to light ; but for this very reason the
ray is not transmitted to any of the other innumerable
points f, which lie outside that direction, and which might
yet deserve to be illuminated no less than b. If we
conceive the attainment of the point b as a sort of end
which in some way or other reacts upon the means to its
attainment, the shortest way would have been for the ray
at once to change its direction at a and traverse the straight
line a b \ this, however, was forbidden by the general laws
to which it is subject, and the ray was compelled to follow
a course not absolutely the shortest, but only the shortest
conditionally upon the necessity of its reflexion. If, again,
by an equally arbitrary assumption, we suppose a point c as
that which has to be illuminated, those same laws of
reflexion now appear in the light of hindrances which do
not allow of the attainment of the end except by a longer
way, not perhaps until the ray has been several times
reflected upon many different surfaces. Hence, the only
thing quite certain is this. In passing from any fully
determined point A to the consequence E which flows
from it, Nature makes no circuits to which she is not
compelled but always takes the way which under the given
conditions is the only possible but therefore also the
necessary one. The parsimony of Nature consists in the
fact that groundless prodigality is a mechanical impossi-
bility.
Something more, however, remains. We can conceive
laws of reflexion, e. g. which would require that each of the
points on which a ray of light is to touch, though lying in
the line of its projection, should yet be reached by a longer
io8 THE LAWS OF CAUSATION.
way than that by which they are reached as a matter of
fact. That reflexion, once assuming its necessity, takes
place according to the known law of nature in the shortest
possible geometrical line, this and other like considerations
may confirm the opinion above expressed, that the concrete
laws of Nature are so constituted that it is a necessary
characteristic of their operation to effect their results at the
smallest cost. It will not, however, be doubted that the
law of reflexion in question is itself a mechanically necessary
consequence of the motion of light, not a codicil subse-
quently imposed upon that motion by Nature from free
choice and preference for parsimony. All that we come to
finally, therefore, is the quite general conclusion, which is
also perfectly obvious, that the order of Nature does not
rest on a disconnected heap of isolated ordinances. There
is contained in the fundamental properties of reality, taken
together with the necessary truths of Mathematics, a won-
derful rationality which at countless different points gives
the impression of an elaborately concerted plan and fixed
aims. That even the most axiomatic principles serve a
purpose, is due not to any property implanted in them, as
in some strange soil, after they have come into being,
but rather in these axiomatic principles themselves there
is a deep and peculiar adaptation to purpose, which might
well furnish an attractive subject for further enquiry.
CHAPTER VIII.
The forms of the Course of Nature.
217. I GAVE to this second book the name ' Cosmology,'
intending to show that it would be devoted to the consider-
ation only of those general forms and modes of behaviour,
which enable us to represent to ourselves how manifold
phenomena are connected together so as to form an ordered
universe ; it remained for the facts themselves to determine
with which amongst the various possible formations the
outlines thus sketched should be filled in, and these facts
which are what constitute reality in the full sense, it was
proposed, therefore, to leave to Natural Philosophy. Yet
after all, how easy it is to invent well-founded titles for
sciences of the future. If only it were as easy to discover
the facts which would fill up their framework ! But indeed
we have not been able to establish much, even as regards
those general tendencies of Nature, in spite of their seeming
to be so near to the region of necessary truth. We found
that they too were really dependent on the plan which is
working itself out in the world. Still less shall we be able to
show as long as we are in ignorance of that plan, that
concrete processes and products, which can depend on
nothing but it, are elements and stages in a systematic
development. Such a hope was once entertained by Ideal-
ism ; light and weight, magnetism and electricity, chemical
processes and organic life were all made to appear as
necessary phases in the evolution of the Absolute, the
innermost motive of whose working was supposed to be
known; not only so, but bold attempts were made to
HO FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
represent the varieties of plants and animals as following
each other in a regular succession, and where a link was
missing, to deduce it from the presupposed order of deve-
lopment, explaining the previous oversight of it as an
accident. I see no reason for repeating the criticism that
history has passed upon these attempts. It was a delusion
to suppose that the forms of reality, while still inaccessible
to observation, could be deduced from a single fundamental
principle : all that could be done with such a principle was
to reduce to it the material already given by experience, with
its attendant residuum of peculiarity which cannot be
explained but must be simply accepted as a fact. It did
not of course follow that the interpretation of given facts
which these theories had to offer were ' wrong throughout,
and they gave rise to many fruitful suggestions which
subsequent science has thankfully followed, though they
had to be put in a new light before it could utilise them.
At the same time, there is one direction in which even the
scientific views now prevalent require to be on their guard
against the continuance of a similar illusion.
The later exponents of those Idealist doctrines lived, like
ourselves, under the influence of the cosmographical views
which recent scientific enquiry had developed; far from
participating in the fanatic notions of antiquity, according
to which the earth was the centre of the Universe, and all
things besides were merely subsidiary to it, they admitted
the Copernican discoveries, and realised that they and all
the exercise of their observation were fixed at an eccentric
point in the small planetary system. Yet in spite of this
they persuaded themselves that the spiritual development of
their absolute was confined to the shores of the Mediter-
ranean, and that its plastic force in the physical world was
exhausted in producing the forms of plants and animals,
neither of which, as they knew, could exist except upon the
earth's surface. Now it is certainly an idle and profitless task
to attempt really to imagine what the forms of existence and
Chap. VIII.] NATURE AND METAPHYSIC. Ill
life might have been, had the circumstances been wholly
different ; all such attempts result in mere clumsy redupli-
cations of the forms of existence which experience presents
to us. The just general conviction that Spiritual Life, the
ultimate end of Nature, does not stand or fall with the
earthly means which it uses for its realisation, cannot call to
its aid any creative imagination capable of actually picturing
another life of which we have had no experience. But,
however mistaken may be the attempts which are made in
this direction, the general conviction which inspires them
will always remain valuable ; supposing physical science to
be justified in assuming that certain physical processes pre-
vail without variation over the whole universe, it would still
be premature to assert a universal uniformity, which ex-
cluded any idea of forces peculiar in character and un-
exampled on the earth. So much the less ground is there
for placing the concrete forms of reality, which no man can
number, on the same footing with conceptions which, under
the head of cosmology, we endeavoured to form of the uni-
versal rules of action to which Nature conforms. The
former, therefore, I leave to be dealt with by natural philo-
sophy, and renounce the prevailing fashion of relieving the
dryness of Metaphysical discussion by picturesque illustra-
tions selected from the experimental sciences.
218. It might, however, be truly objected, that though it
may be impossible to deduce the concrete forms of nature,
the reduction of them to the universal laws mentioned above
is just one of the duties of metaphysic. I admit this duty,
and only regret that it is one which no one can fulfil, not at
least to the extent which the objection would require. The
two points in which we seemed to run most counter to the
ordinary view are, firstly, that of the phenomenal character
of Space, secondly, that of the inner activity of Things, to
which, instead of to external changes of relation between
fixed elements, we ascribe the origin of events. Now, I
have not neglected to insist in general terms on the necessity
112 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
of starting from these inner states in order to explain even
the possibility of that causative force which external circum-
stances appear to exercise. A more minute investigation of
them, however, seemed to be forbidden, by the admitted
impossibility of knowing them ; and this would be the same
even if more use were made than has yet been done of the
hypothesis that their nature is spiritual. But this practical
inapplicability does not impair the value of an idea which
we found to be necessary, and to which no objection can be
found either in itself or in the facts of experience. With
respect to the Phenomenality of Space, I have argued at
equal length and with a minuteness which has probably
seemed tedious, that the appearance both of Space itself and
of the changes which take place in it, is to be referred to
real events which do not take place in Space, and I reserve
for the Psychology what remains to be said by way of
supplement to this ; but, in this case also, it seems to me
quite unfair to require my view to be worked out in detail.
Such a requisition, if it applied to the particular perceptions
of every-day life, would be as extravagant as the demand not
merely to see what takes place before us, but at the same
time to know the physical causes which make all that we
see present itself to sight just as it does ; only that here
what we should ask to see through would be not physical
causes but the supersensuous relations which the elements
assume in the universal plan, and to which their appearance
in Space is due.
Perhaps, however, no more is required than that in the
case of the various main groups of natural processes, the
hypotheses which had been constructed to explain them on
the supposition of the reality of Space, should now give
place to others equally capable of explaining the facts, on
the understanding that true being does not exist in Space.
If this is what is meant, I think the demand will in the
future certainly be complied with, but at present this is im-
possible, or, if approximately possible, is not to be regarded
Chap. VIII.] PHILOSOPHY AND PHYSICS. 113
as a slight addition to what has been already done. In
order to make such a translation of physics into metaphysics
possible we should require first of alt to have the whole text
which is to be transkted, incontrovertibly fixed and settled.
Nothing can be further than this is from being the case at
present. As things stand now, every hypothesis which is
used in explanation of the several branches of natural phe-
nomena, is compelled, in order not to ignore any peculi-
arities of the object in question, to assume a plurality of
original facts, which, though they may not be mutually in-
consistent, exist only side by side, and are not derivable the
one from the other. Still more untrustworthy is our know-
ledge of the border-lands in which these various spheres of
natural phenomena meet. What use then would it be to
show what would be a difficult task in itself that these
hypotheses can be replaced in all points, with equally fruit-
ful results, by a view which substituted for the supposed
objects and motions in Space, determinate supersensuous
relations and excitations in the inner elements of true
being? We should still have no other way of determining
these internal states than that by which physics discovered
the corresponding external ones : we should have to assume
them as primary facts, which the phenomena in question
required for their explanation. But Metaphysic, if once she
set herself to this task, would have to do more than this ;
she must be in a position to show that all these necessarily
assumed individual facts are at the same time the logical
consequences of those inner states, and that the nature and
character of true being justifies the attribution of those states
to it. As long as this, which is again in fact a kind of
deduction of reality, is impossible for us, there can be little
good and small hope of reward in the attempt to reduce
sensible facts to supersensible ones. Leaving therefore any
such attempt for another occasion, I will merely add a few
general observations on the relation of speculation to the
ordinary methods of experimental science.
MRTAPHYSIC. VOL. II. T
114 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [BookH.
219. Man must make the best of what he has, and not
decline valuable knowledge merely because it does not at
once offer him the whole truth which he wishes to know.
In every science there will always be a considerable gap
between the most general points of view from which we
should wish to regard the given objects, and the actual
knowledge which we can possibly acquire about them ; and
this gap proves nothing either against the Tightness of those
ultimate points of view or against the value of the methods
by which we succeed in investigating particular facts. We
must beware of that doctrinairism, which will allow no con-
clusion to be valid, unless it is reached by the method of a
logical parade-ground, reminding us of Moliere's physician,
who only demanded of his patient, ' qu'il mourut dans les
formes.' In respect to applied Logic it must be granted that
there is some truth in the cynical remark of the Emperor
Vespasian. Every method is praiseworthy which leads to a
sure result ; even the most monstrous hypothesis, if it really
enables us to connect the facts together and to explain their
mutual dependence, is better than the neatest and trimmest
theory, from which nothing follows. Holding these views,
I can have no sympathy with the often repeated attempts of
philosophers to show that the fundamental ideas of Physical
Science are inadequate, disconnected, and frequently incon-
sistent. Without attempting to determine how much there
is of justice or injustice in this indictment, I readily admit
that it is in the main true ; but I am not so much struck by
these defects, as filled with sincere and unmixed admiration
at the manifold variety of consistent and reliable results,
which, with such imperfect means at her disposal, science
has established by unwearied observation and by brilliancy
of invention.
I hope and believe, also, that if science continues to work
with the same conscientiousness, many truths, which now ap-
pear only in necessary juxtaposition, and many others which
are seemingly opposed, will enter into a nearer and better rela-
Chap. VIII.] NATURE AS ' MECHANICAL? 115
tion, as different results of one and the same original pro-
cess ; in fact that, as at the end of a long and complicated
reckoning, a simple total will be left over, which the philo-
sophy of the future will be able to apply to the satisfaction
of its own special wants. This much to be desired result,
however, can only be obtained in the first instance by means
of clearly outlined hypotheses, framed so as to meet the
observed facts, and modified and transformed so as to keep
pace with each fresh discovery : it matters not that the ex-
pression which our suppositions assume in this intermediate
stage of discovery is imperfect in form ; the wished for
simplicity and clearness of statement can belong only to the
finished result. No other method can be substituted for
this ; not that of Positivism, which bids us be content with
general formulae for the observed connexion of facts without
introducing ideas about the inner connexion of things,
advice which at first sight commends itself, but which is
entirely fruitless in practice: not 'a lofty philosophic intui-
tion which only a great poetic genius could delude men
into regarding as an actual means to the discovery of truth ;
not any speculative deduction, which hears only part of the
evidence before rushing to its conclusion. These leave us
where we were : Moses may stand on the mountain of
speculation and pray that the laws of thought may be faith-
fully observed ; but facts can only be brought into subjec-
tion by what Joshua is doing in the valley. After this con-
fession, my present object can only be to analyse those
conceptions by the help of which philosophy distinguishes
the wealth of natural processes into groups, seeing in each
group either the operation of a specific principle, or a par-
ticular application of general principles, and regarding them
at the same time as contributing in different ways to the
realisation of the all-embracing plan of Nature.
220. The word mechanism, which has so many meanings,
is used by modern schools of thought to describe sometimes
a particular mode of action, sometimes a class of effects
I 2
Il6 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
produced by this action : in either case, the mechanical
aspect of Nature is spoken of in terms of marked disparage-
ment, as compared with another and different aspect, to
which it is deemed inferior. What the word means is
more easily learned from the customary use of language than
from the conflicting definitions of the schools. All modern
nations speak of the mechanism of government, of taxation,
of business of any kind. Evidently, what is signified by it
is, the organization of means either with a view to realising
a particular end, or to being prepared for carrying out
different but kindred objects. We do not, however, speak
of a mechanism of politics ; we expect political ends to be
effected by an art of statesmanship, and this we should
blame, if we saw it working by mechanical rules. This
distinction in the use of the term clearly expresses the
limitation that the mechanical organization of means is only
calculated for general conditions, common to a number of
kindred problems, and meets the requirements in question
by working according to general laws.
Now, it is impossible to conform to a law in a merely
general way ; every application of the law must give rise to
a determinate result depending on a determinate condition,
whereas the law in its general expression makes the de-
pendence only general. It seems, therefore, up to a certain
point to be part of the very essence and conception of a
mechanism to take account of the differences in the par-
ticular instances to which it applies. In the first place, the
laws themselves which it obeys require that its effects shall
be proportionate to the given circumstances ; next, the
circumstances themselves, their peculiar nature, resistance,
and reaction, modify the action and combination of the
forces which it sets in motion also according to fixed laws
and so enable it to produce the designed effect even
under unforeseen conditions. The technical industry of
the present day furnishes many examples of this self-regula-
tion of machinery ; but whatever advances it may make in
Chap. VIII j MECHANISM INDISPENSABLE. 1 1 7
manysidedness and delicacy, it never escapes the limita-
tions which popular language, as we saw, imposes upon the
capabilities of mechanism. It is the ingenuity of the in-
ventor to which alone the handiness of the machine is due ; it
is his calculation, his comparison of the end with the means
and the hindrances to its realisation, which has enabled him
so to combine the forces of Nature, that they must now lead
of themselves to the desired result according to universal
laws of their own which are independent of him. His
penetration may have enabled him to see disturbing causes
in advance and to meet them by a combination of the
means at his disposal so that the disturbances themselves
liberate the reacting forces which are to compensate them ;
even disturbing causes which he has not foreseen may by
good luck be neutralised by the internal adaptation and
power of self-adjustment of a machine. But all these
favourable results have their limits. If they occur, they are
the necessary consequences according to universal law of
the joint action of the machine and its circumstances; if
they fail to occur, the machine is destroyed ; the power of
resisting the conditions has not been given it from without,
by the genius of its inventor or by a lucky chance, and it is
incapable of generating such a power of itself.
Here lies the difference of statesmanship and every other
practical art from what is mechanical. Every art, following
as it does ends which cannot be realised of themselves, is
confined to the use of means which it cannot make but can
only find ; it cannot compel any one of these means to
produce effects which are impossible or extraneous to its
nature \ it can only combine together the means at its dis-
posal in such a way that it will be compelled by the universal
laws of their action to produce necessarily and inevitably
the desired result. Every higher form of activity, conse-
quently, which we are inclined to assume in Nature, even
the most perfectly unrestrained freedom must, if it would be
operative in the world, take just that mechanical form which
Ii8 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
is supposed at first to be inconsistent with its nature. The
only privilege that distinguishes it, is the power of varying
according to its aims the combination of the several me-
chanical elements, and of taking first one and then another
part of the mechanism for its base of operations, thus
making each part yield its own results. But its capabilities
come to an end as soon as its object is one which cannot
be produced by any combination of mechanical operations,
or as soon as it can no longer bring about that particular
combination which would have the result in question.
221. As regards the special meaning attached to the term
'mechanism 7 in their explanation of natural phenomena,
philosophers undoubtedly understood by it primarily a
peculiar mode of activity, the range of which was still un-
determined. But it was distinctly believed, at the same
time, that there was a certain special class of natural pro-
ducts, which was subject to the single and undisputed sway
of the mechanical principle. I cannot subscribe to either
of these two theories, except with essential reservations.
Mechanism could only be defined in the sense in which it
is employed in current language. Always determined by
the given circumstances and general laws which lie behind
it, never by the nature of an end which lies before it, it was
contrasted (I shall return to this contrast later) as a concate-
nation of blind and irrevocable forces with those organic
activities which seemed to follow ends with a certain freedom
though they were also liable to fail in their attainment.
But even within the limits of what was called the inorganic
world, mechanism was opposed and deemed inferior to
chemism. While in the chemical sphere, owing to the
elective affinities of the elements, the specific qualities of
bodies were continually destroying old forms and properties
and creating new ones, thus co-operating decisively in
determining the course of events, mechanical action was
depreciated as a mere external process, which never gives a
hearing to the distinctive nature of things, deals with them
Chap. VIII.] 'MERE' MECHANISM. 119
all as mere commensurable mass-values, and therefore pro-
duces no other effects but various combinations, separa-
tions, movements, and arrangements of inwardly invariable
matter.
But Philosophy ought never to have believed in the
reality of a mode of activity which it regarded in this light.
A man or an official might be reproached for executing
general laws and regulations without regard to exceptional
cases, which deserve special consideration and forbearance.
Such action, which we blame as mechanical, only succeeds
because the combined force of human society deprives the
ill-treated exceptions of the power of resisting. But things
are not hindered from defending themselves by any such
considerations, nor can there be anything in nature to pre-
vent them from asserting their special peculiarities in the
production of each effect, to the precise extent to which, if
we may speak of them as human beings, they have an
interest in so doing. It will be objected, however, that it is
not meant to conceive of this mechanical agency, after the
analogy of the inflexible official, as an authority of nature
imposing itself autocratically upon things from without;
what is meant is merely a process which is indeed developed
from the interaction of things themselves, but which derives
its character from the very fact that the things have no
interests of their own, that they have not reached the point
of letting their individuality be seen and heard, but are
content to behave as samples of homogeneous mass ; so far
as this indifference of things extends, so far does mechanism
extend. But even when stated in this improved form, the
doctrine is not tenable unless either a physical process can
be pointed out which takes place without being in any way
influenced by the distinctive idiosyncrasies of things, or it
can be shown that results in the final form of which such
influences though really operative seem to have vanished,
are to be considered as preconceived elements in the plan
of Nature. All attempts to establish the first case are from
120 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
our point of view based on a wrong foundation. After
having maintained that a change of outer relations is only
possible as a consequence of mutual solicitations in the
inner nature of things, we can only regard a mechanism
which combines things in mutual action without taking
account of this inner nature and its co-operation, as an
abstraction of Science, not as a reality. Science, no doubt,
has need of this abstraction. Whatever distinctive differ-
ences there may be between things, at any rate the contri-
butions which they make to the production of a single event
must admit of being expressed in values of comparable
action. In order to be able to estimate their effects, we must
refer the laws which govern them to certain ideally simple
instances, zero values or maxima^ of their effective differ-
ences, and then, after calculating our result upon this basis,
subjoin such modifications as the concomitant conditions of
the given case require.
It is in this way that we arrive at the indispensable con-
ceptions of mechanics ; the conception of a rigid immutable
atom, from which every qualitative change is excluded ; the
conception of an absolutely fixed body, from which we have
eliminated any alteration of form and all other effects of
composition ; at the principle, lastly, which may serve to
express in the shortest form what we mean by mechanism,
the principle that, if several forces act together upon the
same object, no one of them has any effect on the tendency
to action of the rest, but each continues to operate as if the
rest were not present, and it is only these several and singly
calculable effects which combine to form a resultant. Now
none of these conceptions expresses anything which we can
regard as occurring in actual fact, not even the principle
last named. But supposing that this principle were not
valid and indeed the limits within which it holds good can-
not be fixed a priori supposing that the tendency to act
of a force were altered by its relation to other forces working
simultaneously, we should still require to make use of the
Chap. VIII.] SPECIFIC REACTIONS OF THINGS. 12 1
principle, for we could not estimate the nature of the altera-
tion, unless we first knew what the action would be un-
altered ; for even though it does not occur in its unaltered
form, it would still help to condition the variation which
does occur. So far, however, as the principle does hold
good, it merely allows us to measure results when they take
place, it does not tell us how they take place : it is not the
case that the forces have been indifferent and taken no
account of one another : the truth rather is that they, or the
inner movement of things which correspond to them, have
taken this account of each other, only it happened that the
resolution at which they arrived in this particular case was
to the effect that each should maintain its former tendency
to act, just as in another case it might have been that this
tendency should be changed. From this it appears that
these very processes which, as far as the form of their result
goes, exhibit all the characteristics of mechanism, are not
produced mechanically in this sense at all, and the whole
conception of mechanism as a distinct type of action, based
on the mutual indifference of things, must be banished
entirely from the philosophical view of Nature.
Nor does it receive more than a semblance of support
from observation. Even in cases of impact, to which most
of the so-called mechanical processes are reducible, there
are produced along with the imparted translatory motion
permanent or elastically neutralised changes in the form of
the body impinged upon, besides inner vibrations which
make themselves known as Sound or Heat. The number
of these secondary effects, and the completeness with which
the translatory motion is imparted, depends in every case
on the inner interactions which hold together the ultimate
elements of the bodies, depends, i. e. on forces which have
their origin in the heart of things, and which differ from
each other according as things themselves differ in quality.
These inner effects we are accustomed, and for purposes of
science obliged, to regard as secondary, and as disturbances
122 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
of the theoretically perfect instance ; but in taking account
of them as corrections to be added to the result which strict
rules would give us, we are really correcting our own
abstract conception of a pure mechanism, which, as such,
has no real existence in Nature.
222. As this is the case with regard to the first of the
two alternatives 1 proposed, it remains that the Philosophy
of Nature can only undertake the second. Looking only
at the ultimate form in which processes result, it would be
possible to arrange the facts of Nature in groups according
as the qualitative nature of things, which is a constant factor
in each process, was more or less apparent in the results.
And this is naturally the course which Idealism would have
followed, had it been consistent with itself. Its object
being to point out phenomena in which as a series the ends
of Nature were successively realised, it might have entirely
disregarded the question how all these phenomena are pro-
duced, and have considered them solely from the point of
view of their significance, when once in existence. All the
misunderstandings which have arisen between Idealism and
the Physical Sciences, have been occasioned by this error
of confounding interpretations of the ideal significance of
phenomena with explanations of the causes which have led
to their existence. Imposing on ourselves, then, this re-
striction, we might seek, in the first place, for a department
of processes where there seemed to be no trace at any point
of the constant silent influence of the qualitative differences
of things; or where, in case the elements producing the
result were homogeneous, there was no sign of the perpetual
return of the process into, and its reproduction out of, the
inner nature of things. It would be in such a group of
activities that we should have to look for the semblance of a
perfect mechanism.
In the small events which every day pass before us in
1 [The treatment of ' Mechanism * a as a mode of Action, as a kind
of Effect, v. Sect. 220 init.]
Chap. VIII.] GRAVITATION AND LIGHT. 123
changing succession, in the motions which partly at our
instance, partly owing to causes which remained unobserved,
bodies communicate to each other we do not find this
mechanical action exemplified. In these cases, though
varying in distinctness, those secondary effects are never
wholly absent, in which the diversity of the co-operating
elements manifests itself. We find what we are looking for
only in the process of gravitation, or, more properly, in the
revolutions in closed curves, which result from the attraction
of the heavenly bodies and an original tangential motion.
Attraction itself cannot be considered as an external
appendage to the constituent elements of the planets : as
these elements are different, the degree of attraction would
have to vary to suit the nature of each part. But the
different distribution in different planets of elements varying
in the degrees of their reciprocal action, determines what
we call the mass of the planets; and so after having in-
cluded in the conception of this unchanging mass every-
thing which related to the qualitative nature of the elements,
we find ourselves able to calculate the subsequent motions
of the heavenly bodies without assuming anything beyond
their original velocities and directions, and the general law of
the variation of force with distance ; and without being
obliged to recur again to the inner nature of the elements,
though it is from this that the whole result springs. It was
this great spectacle of the universe maintaining itself per-
petually the same, that claimed the attention of Philosophy,
which saw in it the first stage of the self-development of
thought in Nature, the exhibition of the universal order,
which remains undisturbed by any inner movements of
the particular.
Next and in contrast to Gravitation or Matter, which was
strangely identified with it, was placed Light, or rather
(since a name was wanted which would include not only
Light but also Sound) those undulatory processes, by means
of which impulses diffuse themselves on all sides, without
124 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
any considerable translatory motion. It was not altogether
without reason that in these phenomena of Nature an
analogy was found % to Mind; for it is through them, no
doubt, that things convey to each other their fluctuating
inner experiences, each as it were reflecting itself in the
other ; so that a communication between them is established,
similar to that which exists between the knowing subject
and its object. It was owing to a misconception that
speculative Philosophy refused to allow these processes to
be classed under mechanism and treated mechanically. The
equal diffusion of light compels us, no doubt, to explain
the force with which each particle of ether communicates
motion to the adjoining particle, as due to inner experiences
arising from their constant and sympathetic relationship :
but as it also leads us to assume that the ether consists of
none but homogeneous elements, the further progress of
this occurrence of transmission admits of being treated in
precisely the same way as the motions of the heavenly
bodies. It is only when these undulations come into con-
tact with material bodies, i.e. when they are reflected,
refracted, dispersed, that the quality of particular bodies
makes itself felt in effects, which necessitate a number of
new truths derived from experience and serving as starting-
points for analytical deductions. I have no intention of
discussing in this place the validity of those fruitful
hypotheses, on the basis of which optics has raised her
imposing edifice ; nor do I wish to replace them by others.
I wished merely to justify to some extent the older specu-
lation in its view, that these phenomena exhibit a new,
characteristic, and important form of Nature's activity, a
form in which the influences of the specific qualities of
things are not indeed quite neutralised, but do not appear
to dominate the whole process : the general form, in fact,
of a still inoperative affinity between diverse and changing
elements.
223. A different impression was produced by the
Chap. VJIL] CHEMICAL ACTION. 125
phenomena of electricity and chemistry. Philosophy here
encountered the doctrine of the two electric fluids, which
had already been fully developed by Physics, and was thus
confirmed in regarding this as the first case in which the
qualitative opposition of things appears as really determining
the course of events. The further development of this
branch of Physics will certainly not be able to dispense with
the special presuppositions, which have been framed in
consequence of this view. There seems at any rate no
prospect at present of explaining that peculiar notion of
absorption or neutralisation, in which forces, once in full
activity, evanesce without leaving any trace of themselves,
as due to a mere opposition of motions, similar to the
absorption of Light by interference. Such an explanation
would still leave the question, what is the principle on
which these conflicting motions are distributed amongst the
bodies, from which the electric appearances are elicited?
And this question could hardly be answered without rein-
stating though perhaps in a different form and connexion
the conception of a polar opposition of a qualitative kind.
But this also does not concern us here : it is sufficient that
electric phenomena, whatever may be their origin, in the
form of their manifestation express precisely this idea of an
opposition inherent in the nature of things.
This influence of the specific nature of agents was be-
lieved to be much more distinctly apparent in the case
of chemical phenomena, which had likewise been already
connected by Physics with electricity. The idea that in
chemical as opposed to so-called mechanical action, the
individual nature of things for the first time awoke, co-
operated, and underwent inner transformations, was not,
strictly speaking, supported by observation. Striking changes
were frequently seen to take place in the sensible qualities
of things, in consequence of mere changes in their com-
position. Hence it was possible to suppose that other
changes, the origin of which was not similarly open to
126 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
experimental proof, might also be due to differences not
directly perceptible in the arrangement of the ultimate
particles and their resulting interactions. But the chemical
process, according to that view of it which was favoured
by Philosophy, was that, out of a and , a third new and
simple product c resulted, in which both a and b are
merged, though by reversing the process, they may again
be produced out of it. This view, which obviously implies
a constant and complete interpenctration of the active
chemical elements, expressed the idea of which the pheno-
mena of chemism furnished sensible illustration. As a
Physical theory it remained barren, because it failed to ex-
plain how similar combinations of elements can give rise to
permanently different products, as also because it left out of
account the manifold analogies between combinations of
essentially distinct elements.
To this view, there succeeded an exclusively atomic con-
ception of chemistry. The elements a and b were supposed
to subsist unchanged in the result c, and the properties
above-mentioned were accounted for by the different posi-
tions which the various samples of a and b may assume in
the product c of their combination. I do not understand
why the pictures which we often see of the structure of
such chemical combinations should be accompanied by the
warning that they are not to be understood literally. If
they are only symbols, they at once lead to a metaphysical
view, according to which we should speak, not of positions
in Space, but of intelligible relations of varying intensity
between the actions of the absolute, which present them-
selves to us singly as chemical elements. If we shrink from
making use of these certainly impracticable notions, of
which I have spoken previously, and make up our minds to
follow the ordinary view of the reality of Space, it seems to
follow that either these graphic representations must be
understood quite literally, or that they have no intelligible
meaning at all. It is not, however, my purpose to describe
Chap. VIII.] ANAL YSIS INVOL VES REPULSION. 1 2 7
the consequences which the atomic view of chemistry has
had in general, and especially of late the hypothesis of
Avogadro, in itself an entirely improbable one. I would only
call attention to the fact that after all that can be said, our
knowledge is limited on the one hand to the elements
which enter into composition, on the other to the actual
and probable typical forms which the composition finally
assumes ; the process by which the combination takes place,
i.e. the true chemical process, still escapes us. Our con-
ceptions of it cannot be made to fit with the rest of our
mechanical notions, unless we admit as new data both the
original difference between the elements, not reducible to
physical modifications of a common matter, and the special
elective affinities of these elements, which determine their
general capacities of combination and the proportions in
which they will permanently combine.
Even then one phenomenon, still remains dark, that
which gave to chemistry its old name * Scheidekunst ' (art
of division), the analysis of the combinations. Let us
suppose that between all the elements, a b c . . . 0, the only
affinity that exists is that of attraction in varying degrees of
intensity. In that case if there is no new condition intro-
duced, any reciprocal action between the two pairs a b and
c d can only lead to their amalgamation a b c d, never to
their fresh distribution into a c and b d. And even if the
affinities between a and c> b and d, be ever so much closer
than those between a and b, c and d, there cannot be any
separation of the elements : the most that can happen is
this, that an external force, if it were brought to bear upon
the whole combination a b c d which would be the neces-
sary result of mere forces of attraction would detach a from
b or c from d more easily than a from <r, or b from a. Any
repulsion, therefore, must come from elsewhere than the
results of attraction ; and as there is no evidence of direct
repulsion between the single elements it can only be looked
for in the circumstances which accompany the chemical
128 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
process, or, as is probable, actually constitute it. These
may consist in motions which disconnect the elements, or in
the affinity of the elements to the different electricities, the
polar antagonism of which may require them to move in
these particular ways.
But however that may be, my only purpose was to show
that Philosophy was right in ascribing to the qualitative
differences of things a decisive influence in the sphere of
chemistry, wrong in denying any such influence in that
of mechanics : and that therefore though the opposition be-
tween these processes of nature is not without some reason
in it, it is practically impossible to draw a sharp line of dis-
tinction between them, such as would separate their spheres,
and assign to them two different principles of action.
224. But all this has now scarcely more than a historical
interest; the relation of forces to organic activities is still
the subject of conflicting opinions. In an essay on ' Life
and Vital Energy/ which forms the introduction to Rudolph
Wagner's Hand-Dictionary of Physiology, I defended, six-
and-thirty years ago, the claim of the mechanical view to a
place in the science of Physiology, a claim which was at
that time still much disputed. Scientific taste has now to
some extent changed ; at present, not merely all the
practical investigations of Physiology, but to a great extent
also the formulation of its theories are dominated by the
mechanical spirit ; those who are opposed to it, repeat the
old objections, for the most part in the old form. If,
though weary of going back to these matters, I proceed now
to recapitulate shortly the conclusions which were developed
in the above-mentioned essay, and subsequently in the
'General Physiology of Corporeal Life' (Leipsic, 1851), it
is chiefly for the sake of a remark which has been often
overlooked, at the end of the essay, and which is to the
effect that it necessarily contained only the one half of the
principles which a complete biological theory implied. The
other half would have touched on the question, how the
Chap. VIII.] VITAL FORCE. 129
mechanical treatment of vital phenomena, necessitated by
the facts, harmonises with those requirements of an opposite
kind, which the primary instincts of philosophy will never
cease to make, as in times past. For this dispute is, in fact,
an old one. I should have been able to go back to
Aristotle, whose substantial forms ' extended the dominion
of the activity of Thought far beyond living things, to which
in the modern controversy it is confined, while already in
antiquity the Aristotelian view was elaborately opposed by
the Epicurean physics, which denied the activity of thought
no less unrestrictedly. The question did not, however,
become one of pressing importance, until, with the deve-
lopment of modern science, a definite formulation had been
given to the group of ideas, the application of which to
explain life meets with so much opposition. Putting aside
the more ethical, aesthetic, and religious grounds for this
aversion, which it is not necessary here to examine, the
theoretical motive which has prompted it has always been
the same. The scanty knowledge which we possess of the
formative influences active throughout the rest of nature,
did not seem sufficient to explain the complex and yet fixed
forms of organic life ; their germs at any rate, it was
thought, must have an independent origin, even if in their
subsequent development they were subject to the Universal
Laws of Nature. But further, the peculiar phenomena of
growth, nutrition, and propagation, the general fact of the
interdependence of continuously active functions, and that
of self-preservation in presence of repeated disturbances, all
this seemed to demand the continued presence and opera-
tion of that higher principle, to which had been attributed at
first only the initial formation of the germ. Finally, the
undefined but overpowering general impression of pervading
adaptation, witnessed to the presence of an end which
guided organic nature, rather than to a past which blindly
compelled it. The conception of a vital force was the first
form in which these ideas were united.
MSTAPHYSIC, VOL. II. K
130 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
225. As long, however, as this expression was merely
thrown out in a general way, it could not serve to solve the
difficulty, but only to indicate its existence. It was not
allowable to follow the example of Treviranus, and explain
everything from the byssus to the palm, from the infusorium
to the monster of the sea, as living by Vital Force : the
difference between the palm and the byssus had also to be
taken account of ; every species of living things required its
own special vital force, and every individual of the species
needed its own share or its particular sample of the force.
The general name Vital Force indicated, therefore, merely
a formal characteristic, which could attach to many different
real principles yet to be discovered. It was besides an im-
proper use to make of the term force, which had been
applied by Physics in quite a different sense ; the appro-
priate word was impulse (Trieb). For when the general
characteristic in question had to be described, the contrast
was obvious. Every physical force always produces under
the same conditions the same effects, under different con-
ditions, different effects; it is always conditioned by a
general law, irrespectively of the ensuing result ; everything
that under given circumstances the force can effect, it must
necessarily effect, nor can any part of the effect be kept
back, nor any addition be made to it which would not have
been inevitable under the existing circumstances. To
Impulse, on the other hand, we ascribe the power of
changing its manner of operation, not indeed without
regard to existing circumstances, but with regard at the
same time to a result which does not yet exist ; a power of
leaving undone much that it might do, and of beginning
something new instead which it is not bound by the given
conditions to do at all. It had to be admitted, however,
that the vital impulse never produces anything in a vacuum,
but only works with the materials supplied to it by nature ;
and thus arose the ordinary view of vital force as a power,
which, though dependent in a general sense upon material
Chap. VIII J PECULIARITY OF LIFE. 131
conditions, is superior to the physical and chemical laws of
matter, and gives rise to phenomena which those laws will
not explain.
220. I must take permission to refer to the above-
mentioned essay for many details, which here I can only
lightly touch on, but could not altogether omit without
leaving constantly recurring fallacies only half-refuted. We
are continually being told that no application of the im-
proved means which we now have at our command will
enable us to manufacture artificially a product which even
remotely resembles a living organism. The fact must
simply be granted. Neither cellulose nor albumen, nor any
other of the tissue-forming substances of organic bodies can
be produced by chemical art, although the distinction be-
tween the ternary and quaternary combinations of organic
life and the binary combinations of inorganic nature, which
was once so much insisted on, has. long since lost its mean-
ing : nor are we any longer under the delusion that these
combinations last only so long as the vital force lasts, a
delusion which any thoughtful student might have been
disabused of from the first, if he had only thought of the
wood of the table, at which he was writing, or of the pens
and paper. Still, it is true that in none of our artificial
productions is there any such connected series of chemical
transformations, form-modifications and functions as could
be compared with the growth, nourishment, and propagation
of an organic Being : even the recently observed formation
of cells out of inorganic substances, though worthy of all
consideration, is not likely to prove the starting-point for
new discoveries in this direction. But all that this proves
is that in the present course of Nature, Life is a system of
processes self-maintaining and self-propagating, and that out-
side its sphere there is no combination of materials, such as
would make the development of such phenomena possible.
Nothing is thus decided as to the conditions under which
this play of forces is sustained after it has begun, and yet
K 2
132 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE.. [Book II.
these must first be known before it can be determined what
requirements a theory as to the first origin of Life has to
meet. But neither the question concerning the origin of
the whole organic world, nor the consideration whether in
the future it may not be possible to add to it by artificial
means, must be allowed to confuse the discussion here.
The only point to be considered is, whether the vital force
which organic beings as a matter of fact exercise in de-
veloping themselves and resisting external injury, requires
us to assume a principle of action, which is strange to
the inorganic world ; and whether that other vital force,
which such a principle of action is assumed to be, is
conceivable in itself, and adequate to explain the given
facts?
227. We shall require, in the first place, for the sake of
clearness, to be definitely informed as to the nature of the
subject, to which the activities included under the name of
vital force are supposed to belong. There has been no lack
of theories which endeavoured to meet this question fairly.
Some have spoken of a universal substance of Life, which
they found either in a ponderable matter, or in electricity,
or some other unknown member of the more refined family
of ether. Others regarded the soul as the master-builder
and controller of the body, assuming at the same time that
plants had souls, which was, to say the least, not a fact of
observation. I will only mention briefly the common defect
in all these theories. It is impossible to deduce difference
from a single homogeneous principle, unless we have a group
of minor premisses to show why the one principle should
necessarily develop a at one point, b or c at another. As
has already been said, we should always have to assume as
many different material bases of life as there are different
kinds of living things ; or else it would have to be shown to
what subsequently arising causes it was due that such dif-
ferent forms as an oak tree and a whale could be produced
out of the one substance. In the latter case the develop-
Chap. VIII.] MATERIALS OF LIFE. 133
ment of Life would be at once brought again under the
general conception of a mechanism. For mechanism in the
widest sense of the term may be said to include every case
in which effects are produced by the reciprocal action of
different elements, of whatever kind, working in accordance
with universal Laws; and such conformity to law would
have to be assumed by all these theories ; they could never
leave it open to doubt that, under the influence of an
accessory condition a, the single principle of life would take
shape in the product a rather than in b.
But metaphysic has no interest in maintaining the claims
of the mechanical principle, except in this very general
sense; nor, on the other hand, will physics be so narrow-
minded as to insist that it is precisely from these materials
and forces which we now know, and according to the exact
analogy of inorganic processes, that we are to conceive of
the phenomena of organic Life. 'All that physics claims, is,
that whatever kinds of matter, force, or energy remain yet to
be discovered, must all fall within the compass of her in-
vestigations, must all be connected together according to
Universal Laws. Further, however, experience did not at
all show that the choice between these accessory conditions
was so unrestricted. It is not the case that every organic
kind requires as the basis of its existence peculiar kinds of
matter which it places at the disposal of the one vital force.
The most different products of Nature are all constructed
from the same storehouse of material elements, which are
found on the surface of the earth. Hence, however peculiar
the principle of Life may be in itself, it can never have been
free from interaction with that same matter which we know
to be also controlled by physical laws of its own. The
principle might issue what commands it pleased, but could
only carry them out (supposing the materials in question
not to obey them spontaneously) by exerting those forces
to which the matter is naturally amenable. We know that
in all cases the contribution which is made by the several
134 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
co-operating factors, to a result in the final form, may be of
the most different amounts. Thus it may be that the form
which Life is to assume in any given case is already traced
by anticipation in some specific kind of substance ; but the
actual existence of this life is always the result of mechanical
causes, in which the original substance would be only prima
inter pares, contributing just so much to the result as can
arise according to general laws from its coming into contact
with the other factors. But that that is actually the case, at
any rate in the sense that there are certain kinds of matter
specially privileged in this respect, could not in any way be
proved ; the natural conclusion which the facts suggest is,
that the phenomena of Life arise out of a special combination
of material elements, no one of which has any claim to be
called exclusively, or, in the degree suggested above, pre-
eminently, the principle of life. The very fact which has
been taken to imply a special vital principle, the fact that
Life is only maintained by successive self-propagation, ought
rather to lead to the conclusion that the germ of its develop-
ment can only be found in a certain peculiar combination of
material elements, which maintains and reproduces itself in
unbroken continuity. It is, therefore, quite a matter of in-
difference, whether we shall ever succeed in giving a name
to the general form, or in exhibiting in detail the develop-
ment, of such a material combination in which life is
implicit ; the point is, that the supposition of a single Real
principle of Life is both impossible in itself and quite barren
of results, whilst on the other hand, the only thing which
the mechanical view leaves unexplained is the ultimate
origin of Life. I will reserve what I have to say on the Soul
till later ; as it neither creates the body out of nothing, nor
out of itself, it can have no special dignity as regards the
construction of the body (whatever other dignities it may
have) except that of being prima inter pares; it must work
jointly with the material elements which are supplied to it.
The conception of mechanical action, however, is wide
Chap. VIII.] MECHANISM IN LIVING BEINGS. 135
enough to include that of a co-operation, according to uni-
versal laws, between spiritual activities and conditions of
matter.
228. It is the way of mankind to meet a theory not by
direct refutation, but by expressing general dislike and
pointing out the defects in the working out of it, and to
magnify striking though unessential differences until they
seem to be impassable gulfs. I should certainly never of
my own motion speak of the living body as a machine, thus
nullifying the distinction between the poverty of even our
most ingenious inventions and the mighty works of Nature ;
but those who are so morbidly anxious to leave out of ac-
count in their consideration of life all those operations
which they can stigmatise as mechanical, need to be re-
minded that the living body and not inorganic Nature
furnishes the models of the simple machines, which our art
has imitated ; the pattern of pincers is to be found only in
the jaws of animals ; that of the lever in their limbs which
are capable of movement. Nowhere else are there instances
of motions produced in articular surfaces by cords such as
the muscles are, and of their guidance by ligaments in de-
finite directions : it is the living body alone which utilises
the production of a vacuum and the consequent inhalation
of atmospheric fluids, the pressure of containing walls 1 upon
their contents, and the valves which prescribe the direction
of the resulting motion. How little does all this resemble
that mysterious power of immediate agency which is most
eagerly claimed for the vital force !
The exaggerated pictures of the superiority of living
machines to artificial ones do not rest on any better found-
ation. The comparison of an organism to a self-winding
clock altogether ignores the drooping plant which can find
no substitute for water, if water will not come to it, and the
hungry animal which is indeed able to seek its own food,
but yet dies of want if none is found. Irritability, or the
1 [Of the heart and blood vessels.]
136 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
power of responding to impressions, is said to be a dis-
tinguishing characteristic of organisms ; when a given stimu-
lus is applied to them, they are supposed to react in ways
which are not explicable from the nature of the stimulus ;
at the same time, it has been assumed that in mechanical
action the cause and effect are precisely equal and similar,
though not even in the simple communication of motion is
this really the case, while organic life has been contrasted
with it on the ground of a supposed peculiarity which is in
fact the universal form of all causative activity. For it is
never the case that an impression is received by an element
ready made, merely to be passed on in the same form; each
element always modifies by its own nature the effect of the
impulse experienced. In a connected system of elements,
the effects which will follow a stimulus will be more various
and striking in proportion as the intermediate mechanism is
more complex, which conducts the impression from point to
point and changes it in the process. The same must be said
of the power of recovery from injury which is supposed to
belong peculiarly to organisms, and to prove clearly a con-
tinuous adaptivity superior to anything mechanical. But if
it were really the case that this force of resistance raised
organic Beings out of the sphere of physical and chemical
necessity, why was it ever limited ? If once it had become
independent of mechanical influences there was no task
which it need fail in accomplishing. But the numberless
cases of incurable disease indicate plainly enough its limits.
No doubt, when once its combinations of elements and forces
have been fully matured the body is so well furnished for its
purpose that even considerable changes in its environment
produce reactions in it which avert or remove the disturbing
influences which threaten or have begun to act upon it.
But as in every mechanical product, there are limits to this
power of self-preservation. There is no such power, where
the body has not been blest at starting with these particular
provisions, nor do we ever see the want supplied by the
Chap. VIII.] MECHANISM AND END. 137
subsequent creation of fresh means ; we much more often
see the means already at its- disposal forced into a reaction,
which under the special conditions of the moment can only
lead to further dissolution.
229. I shall not continue this polemic further, having
devoted sufficient attention to it before. I simply adhere
now to the decision which I then expressed. In order to
explain the connexion of vital phenomena, a mechanical
method of treatment is absolutely necessary; Life must be
derived, not from some peculiar principle of action, but
from a peculiar mode of utilising the principles which govern
the whole Physical world. From this point of view, an
organic body will appear as a systematic combination of
elements, which, precisely because they are arranged
together in this form, will be able by conforming to fixed
laws in their reciprocal action, and by the help of external
nature, to pass through successive stages of development,
and within certain limits to preserve the regularity of its
course against chance disturbances. This makes me the
more sorry that Physiologists should regard this view, which
embodies the necessary regulative principle of all their
investigations, as being also the last word upon the subject,
and should exclude every idea which is not required for
their immediate purposes, from all share in the formation of
their ultimate conclusions. But they will never remove
from the mind of any unprejudiced person the overwhelm-
ing impression that the forms of organic life serve an end ;
nor will men ever be persuaded that this marvellous fact
does not call for explanation by a special cause. I know
full well that as a thesis it may be maintained that every
result which presupposes mechanical agency presupposes
nothing more than this. Nor is this new ; long ago Lucre-
tius declared that animals were not provided with knees in
order to walk, but that it was because the blind course of
things had formed knees, that they were able to walk. It
is easy to say this, and it may be that it sounds particularly
138 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
well when expressed in Latin verse ; but it is impossible to
believe it; there is no more tedious product of narrow
caprice than such philosophy of the schools. Yet it is
unfortunately true that the conviction of a higher power
working for an end, and shaping life with a view to it, has
too often intruded itself rashly and confusingly into the
treatment of special questions ; and this explains the un-
willingness of conscientious enquirers to recognise what to
them must seem a barren hypothesis. It cannot, however,
be ignored that many of our contemporaries are animated
by a profound hatred of everything that goes by the name
of Spirit, and that, if a principle were submitted to them
which seemed to bear traces of this, even though it was not
opposed to any postulate of science, they would, none the
less, turn away from it in indignation to enjoy their feast of
ashes, and delighted to feel that they were products of a
thoroughly blind and irrational necessity. Such self-confi-
dence it is impossible to reason with ; we can only consider
the difficulties which stand in the way of the acceptance of
the opposite view.
230. We must not stop short at those general accounts
of the matter, which merely represent a higher power in any
indefinable relation of superiority to mechanical laws with-
out making the obedience of those laws intelligible; in
speaking of this, as of all other forms of rational activity
directed to an end, the first thing to do is to give a name to
the subject from which the action is supposed to proceed.
Now we certainly cannot speak of ' ends' with any clearness,
except as existing in a living and willing mind, in the form
of ideas of something to be realised in the future. Hence
it was natural to look for this highest wisdom in God ; and
not less natural was the desire to bring again into an
intelligible relation the unlimited freedom of action involved
in the conception of the divine essence, and the fixed
course of Nature which seems to bear no traces of that
freedom. Thus arises the theory upon which sooner or
Chap. VIII J INDEPENDENT PURPOSE. 1 39
later Philosophy ventures, the theory that the world was
created by God and then left to itself, and that it now
pursues its course simply according to the unchangeable
laws originally impressed upon it. I will not urge the
objection that this view provides only a limited satisfaction
to our feelings ; in its scientific aspect it is unintelligible to
me. I do not understand what is meant by the picture of
God withdrawing from the world that He has created, and
leaving it to follow its own course. That is intelligible in a
human artificer, who leaves his work when it is finished
and trusts for its maintenance to Universal Laws of Nature,
laws which he did not make himself, and which not he,
but another for him, maintains in operation. But in the
case of God I cannot conceive what this cunningly-contrived
creation of a self-sustaining order of Nature could be ; nor
do I see what distinction there , can be between this view
and the view that God at each moment wills the same
order, and preserves it by this very identity of will. The
immanence of God in the course of Nature could not,
therefore, be escaped from by this theory ; if Nature follows
mechanical laws, it is the Divine action itself, which, as we
are accustomed to say, obeys those laws, but which really at
each moment creates them. For they could not have
existed prior to God as a code to which He accommodated
Himself; they can only be the expression to us of the
mode in which He works.
This unavoidable conclusion will not be at once nor
willingly admitted: however much the world may be
primarily dependent on God, the desire will be felt, that it
should contain secondary centres of intelligent activity as
well, not entirely determined in their effects by the me-
chanical system of things, but themselves supplying to that
system new motives for developed activity. It was this
wish which was expressed by StahPs theory of the soul,
when he spoke of it as moulding the body to its own ends.
This theory was in so far correct that it conceived of the
140 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
soul as a living and real Being, capable of acting and being
acted upon with effect : but it missed its mark, because the
formation of the body, in its most essential and irreversible
features, is concluded at a time when the soul may perhaps
have some dream of its future aim, but certainly cannot as
yet have knowledge enough of the external world to be
able to adapt the body to the conditions which life in that
world imposes. Thus the advantages which the soul might
seem to derive from its consciousness and power of taking
thought for the proper development of the organism, are all
lost ; and the only power of adaptation which it remains to
ascribe to it is an unconscious one. Though this concep-
tion is very frequently misapplied, it does not seem impossible
to attach to it a definite meaning. All along, we have
considered things as distinguished from each other by
manifold differences : and although we cannot fully realise
to ourselves what constitutes the essential character of any
single thing, there is nothing to prevent us from assuming
a certain difference of rank between them, such that when
two things were subjected to the same external conditions,
the one would manifest its nature in simple and uni-
form reactions, the other in complex and multiform ones ;
and these latter reactions might be such that each gave rise
to some entirely new capacity in the thing, or that they all
united to form a single development directed to a definite
end. In that case, we shall possess in the soul a real
principle at once active in the pursuit of ends and yet
unconscious, such as would not be at variance with me-
chanical laws ; for none of the possibilities that lie latent in
-the soul would be realised, except through stimuli acting
upon it according to fixed laws, and eliciting its develop-
ment step by step.
Clearly, however, in this case, the soul will no longer
imply anything peculiar or characteristic ; once get rid of
consciousness, and it becomes a mere element of reality
.like other elements ; and that superiority of nature, which
Chap. VIII.] THE GENERIC TYPE POWERLESS. 141
made it so pregnant a centre of manifold forms of life,
might equally well be ascribed to any other element
(making allowance for differences of degree) even though
it possessed none of the characteristic properties of the soul.
The question as to the true origin of the soul, leads to the
same conclusion. If it is conceived as eternally pre-existent
and prior to the Body, it must still be confined within the
limits of the course of Nature ; what then is it, and where ?
For to suppose that it suddenly becomes a part of Nature
without having previously been so, is virtually to assign it
an origin. If then it is always a part of Nature, we cannot
help regarding it as one among other natural elements;
and as there is no reason for supposing the other elements
inferior, we must ascribe to them too, and in a word to all
elements whatever, the same inner capacity for organic
development. And here it seems as if we were once again
brought back to the unfruitful idea of a common material
basis of life. For the manifold forms which these elements
assume, would depend on the different modes in which
they were combined by the course of Nature ; hence, the
form which is actually realised at any given moment, must
be either the result of mere mechanical agenciesthough
these may be of a higher type than any with which we are
familiar in Physico-Chemical processes or else, supposing
that traces of an independent activity still remain, the soul,
which concentrates the different active elements upon this
particular development, must come into existence afresh at
the moment that they unite ; and the question then arises,
Whence does it come ?
231. This difficulty of finding a real subject, capable of
formative activity for an end, has led to attempts to dispense
with a subject altogether ; it was thought that the generic
Idea or Type would be sufficient to account for such
activity. Aristotle set the example with the unfortunate
but often repeated remark, that in living things the whole
precedes the parts, elsewhere, the parts precede the whole.
142 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
This saying, no doubt, gives utterance to the mysterious
impression which organic life produces; unluckily, it has
been regarded as a solution of the mystery. And yet
what truth can be more simple than this, that Ideas are
never anything else but Thoughts, in which the thinker
gathers up the peculiar nature of an already existing phe-
nomenon ; or of one which he knows will necessarily exist in
the future as soon as the data exist which are required to
produce it ? It may be allowed that Reality is so consti-
tuted, that from our point of view it is always exhibited in
subordination to certain Ideas, general notions, or Types ;
and we may accordingly go on to say that these Ideas hold
good in reality and dominate it; but their dominion is
only like that of all legislative authorities, whose commands
would remain unobserved if there were no executive organs
to carry them out. Never, therefore, in Organic Life is the
whole before the parts, in the sense that it is before all
parts ; it only has existence in so far as an already formed
combination of parts guarantees that existence in the future
as a necessary result of the germ here present, and not of
the germ only, but also of favourable external circumstances
acting upon it. Anyone who is not satisfied with this
development of the whole from the parts, and desires to
reverse the relation, will be required to show who the
representative of the generic Idea is, who stands outside
the parts and gives to the Idea, which in itself is merely
potential, a real power in the real world. It must be
shown where these Ideas reside, before they initiate a
development, and how they find their way thence to the
place where they are attracted to an exercise of their
power.
Quite recently, an attempt of a different kind has been
made by K. E. von Baer. We could have wished that this
deservedly popular investigator had succeeded in making
out his point to satisfaction ; I cannot, however, persuade
myself that his proposal to conceive of Nature as striving
Chap. VIII.] BAE&S UNCONSCIOUS PURPOSE. 143
towards an end, really carries us any farther. If all that it
means is, that the different forces, which are active in the
construction of organisms, converge in different directions
towards a common result, this fact has never been doubted ;
nor, considered merely as fact, is it the subject of the
present controversy. The question at issue is rather this ;
is the cause which determines this combined action to be
found merely in the course of things after they have once
been set in motion ? i. e. does the convergence occur when
there is this motion to produce it, and not occur when there
is no such motion ? or is there anywhere a power not
subject to this constraint of antecedent conditions, which,
on its way to the attainment of an end, brings together
things which but for it would exist apart ? Naturally, it is
this latter view which is preferred here. Yet it is not clear,
how this supposed tendency to an end would differ from
that which might be ascribed, e.g. to falling stones, which,
while converging from all quarters of the globe towards its
centre, move merely in obedience to a universal law. It is
the presence of purpose alone which could constitute that
difference, converting the mere end of a process into an aim,
and motion to that end into an impulse. Such a purpose
Baer's theory accepts, and yet by banishing consciousness,
which is presupposed by it, at the same time rejects.
Finally, to whom is this tendency in the direction of an end
to be ascribed ? It would not suit the character of the in-
dividual elements, which, varying as they do in capability,
tending now to one end, now to another, need some power
outside themselves to inform them upon what point they
have to converge in any given case ; and it is, in fact, from
Nature that such a tendency is supposed to proceed. But,
where is this Nature? It is allowable in ordinary discourse,
no doubt, to use this term in such a merely general sense ;
but in the particular cases in which the designation of
Nature as an efficient cause is intended to decide in its
favour the choice between it and other agents, there should
144 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
be some more accurate determination of the conception of
it, as well as of the metaphysical relation in which, as a
whole, it stands to its subordinate parts. We propose now
to supplement the theory in this point, and thus to bring
our investigations to a close.
232. The grounds which have led me to my final con-
clusion have been expounded at such length throughout my
entire work, that what I shall now add with regard to this
much debated question will be only a short corollary. Men
have created for themselves a false gulf, which it has then
seemed impossible to bridge over. It is not with any
special reference to the opposition which has to be recon-
ciled between living Beings and inanimate Matter, but on
much farther-reaching and more general grounds that I have
all along maintained the inconceivableness of a world,
in which a multitude of independent elements are supposed
to have been brought together subsequently to their origin,
and forced into common action by Universal Laws. The
very fact that laws could hold good in the same way of
different elements, showed that the elements could not
be what they pleased. Though not directly homogeneous,
they must be members in a system, within which measurable
advances in different directions lead from one member
to another ; on this condition only could they and their
states be subsumed under the general Laws, as instances
of their application. But the validity of general Laws,
so established, was not enough to explain the possibility
of their application in particular cases ; in order that they
should necessitate one event at one time and place, another
at another, the changing state of the world as a whole
had to be reflected at each moment in those elements,
which are working together for a common result. It would
be idle, however, to suppose that the elements, being
originally separate, required the mediation of some 'tran-
seunt' agency which should convey to them the general
condition of the world and stimulate them to further
Chap. VIII J CAUSATION BY THE ABSOLUTE. 145
activity : rather, what is experienced by one element must
become immediately a new state of another. Hence we
saw that every action that takes place necessarily presup-
poses a permanent and universal relation of sympathy
between things, which binds them together in constant
union, and which itself is only conceivable on the supposi-
tion, that what seems to us at first a number of independent
centres of energy, is, in essence, one throughout. It is not,
therefore, to bring about any specially privileged and
exalted result, that the assistance of the infinite Being M,
which we have represented as the ground of all existence, is
required ; every effect produced by one element on another,
even the most insignificant, is due to the indwelling vitality
of this One Being, and equally requires its constant co-
operation. If there is a class of processes in Nature, which,
under the name of mechanical, -we contrast as blind and
purposeless with others in which the formative activity
of the One Being seems to stand out clearly, the contrast is
certainly not based on the fact that effects of the former
kind are left to be governed by a peculiar principle of their
own, whilst only in the latter does the one universal cause
attempt after some incomprehensible fashion to subdue this
alien force. In both cases alike the effects proceed solely
from the eternal One itself ; and the difference lies in what
it enjoined in each case, in the one case, the invariable con-
nexion of actions according to universal laws which con-
stitute the basis of all particular conditions, in the other,
their development into the variety of those particulars.
But, instead of repeating this line of thought in its generality,
I shall endeavour to show how it applies to the special
question now before us.
233. The germ of an organic growth is not developed in
empty Space, in other words, not in a world of its own
which has no connexion with the whole of Things. Wherever
the plastic materials are present, there the absolute One is
likewise present ; not as an idea that may be conceived, not
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. L
146 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
as an inoperative class-type, not as a command passing
between the elements of a group, or a wish without them, or
an ideal above them ; but as a real and potent essence
present in the innermost life of each element. Nor is it,
like divisible Matter, distributed among them in different
proportions. It manifests itself in each one in its totality,
as the unity that embraces and determines them all, and in
virtue of the consistent coherence of its entire plan, assigns
to each of these dependent elements those activities which
ensure the convergence of their operation to a definite end.
But the Absolute is no magician ; it does not produce
Things in appropriate places out of a sheer vacuum, merely
because they correspond to the import of its plan. All
particular cases of its operation are based on a system of
management according to law, adapted to its operation as a
whole. But I must repeat : it is not here as it is with man,
who cannot do otherwise ; rather this conformity with
general principles is itself a part of what is designed to
exist. Hence it is, that each stage in the development
of organic Life seems to arise step by step out of the
reactions which are made necessary for the combined
elements by their persistent nature ; nor is there anywhere
an exception to the dependence of Life on mechanical
causes.
At the same time, we are never justified in speaking of a
merely mechanical development of Life, as if there were
nothing behind it. There is something behind, viz. the
combining movement of the absolute, the true activity that
assumes this phenomenal form. We may even admit that
it apparently breaks through the limits ordinarily assigned
to mechanical action. I have before mentioned, and I now
repeat, that the principle of mutual indifference, which
Mechanics has laid down in respect to forces working
concurrently, is, if strictly taken, by no means justified as a
universal law. It should rather be laid down as true
universally that an element a when it is acted upon by the
Chap. VIII.] WHAT IS GAINED BY THIS VIEW? 147
determining circumstance /, has, by this very fact, become
something different, an a which = a p , and that a new force
q will not exercise the same kind of effect on this modified
element, which it would have exerted on it if unmodified ;
that the final result, therefore, will not be a pq , or a( p+q ) but,
a r . But this r could never be obtained analytically out of
any mere logical or mathematical combination of/ and q \
it would be a synthetic accession to those two conditions,
and thus not deducible except from the import of the entire
course of things. This is expressed, according to ordinary
views, thus the combination of several elements in a
simultaneous action may be followed by effects, which are
not mere consequences of the single effects produced by the
reactions between every pair of them. That which we now
wrongly regard as the universal and obvious rule, viz. that
effects should be summed up in a' collective result without
reciprocally influencing each other, would be only one
special case of the general characteristic just mentioned.
I shall not now enquire whether and in what direction
Biological science will find itself compelled to recognise the
possibility of this modification of effects ; we must, however,
leave a place for it in our own theory. Its admission would
not in any way invalidate our conception of the mechanical
order, but only extend it further. For it would be our
first position even with regard to these new grounds of
determination, which intrude upon the course of events,
that neither did they arise without a reason, but according
to rules, though rules which are more difficult for our
apprehension to grasp. But at the same time we should
escape from regarding Life as a mere after-effect of a Power,
which having formed the mechanism, had left it to run
its course. The Power would rather continue to manifest
its living presence and constant activity, as operative in the
phenomena of Life.
What direction our thoughts might have to take beyond
this point, I am not now called on to decide. There is
L 2
148 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
nothing more to be added, which could be urged with
absolute certainty of conviction against those who regard
the whole sum of the effects produced by this ultimate
agency, not less than the inner activities whence they
proceed, as still but mere facts of Nature, a tendency
which the course of things has followed from all eternity ;
but which includes no element resembling what we under-
stand by intention, choice, or consciousness of a purpose.
Our view, it must be admitted, is no such very great advance
upon the mechanical explanation of Nature, from which
a refuge was sought. The development of the world would
on it be no less a necessary concatenation of cause and
effect; excluding all free initiation of new occurrences.
Only the most extreme externalism would be avoided. The
mechanism would not consist, at starting, of an unalterably
fixed complement of forces, which would only suffice to
effect changes of the position of existing elements. The
mechanism would itself produce at certain definite points
those new agencies which would be the proximate principles
governing organised groups of connected phenomena. For
my own part, I cherish no antipathy to the opposite view,
which insists that this whole world of forces, silently arrayed
against each other, is animated by the inner life of all
its elements and by a consciousness which is that of an all-
embracing spirit. I shall not even shrink from attempting,
in the proper place, to show that there is a real Freedom
which can give rise to truly new departures, such as even
this latter Jbelief does not necessarily involve. But such
a demonstration would transcend the limits of Metaphysic.
It would lead us to consider a mysterious problem, which
our discussions down to this point have bordered upon.
I have already expressed the opinion that we must not
merely credit things with a persistent impulse to self-
preservation ; but are justified in assuming (as an hypothesis,
and in order to explain the phenomena) an impulse to
the improvement of their state. Now, if this hypothesis
Chap. VIII.] CONFLICT NO BAR TO UNITY. 149
is conceivable in regard to the individual elements, it
becomes almost necessary when we no longer speak of them
as individuals, but conceive of them, both in their nature
and in their actions, as manifestations of a single and
all-embracing supreme cause whose mandates they execute,
I should at the same time most unquestionably admit that
this assumed tendency towards improvement, though it may
be the ultimate ratio legis from which all special laws of action
of things are derived, could never furnish us (since we can-
not define this * improvement ') with anything more than the
final light and colour of our view of the world ; it could
never serve as a principle from which those laws could be
deduced. But here, the same question which we asked
concerning the vital energy, suggests itself once more If
this endeavour after improvement is a fact, why does it not
everywhere achieve its end ? Whence come all the hurts
and hindrances by which the course of Nature, as it is,
so often prevents from being fully satisfied the impulses
which it nevertheless excites ? The conflict of forces in
Nature, like the existence of evil in the moral world, is
an enigma, the solution of which would require perfect
knowledge of the ultimate plan of the world. Metaphysic
does not pretend to know what this plan is \ nor does
she even assert that it is a plan that rules the course
of events ; for this would be inseparable from the idea of the
purpose of a conscious being. But, if it limits itself to the
belief, that existence has its cause in a single real principle,
whatever its concrete nature may be, no considerations
concerning these ultimate enigmas can affect the certainty
of such conclusions. For, I wish here most distinctly
to assert, that though I am old-fashioned enough not to
be indifferent to the religious interests which are involved in
these problems, the views for which I have been contending
rest on a purely scientific basis, quite without reference
to Religion. No course of things, whether harmonious
or discordant, seems to me conceivable, except on the
150 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [BookTK
supposition of this unity, which alone makes possible the
reciprocal action of individual existences. The disturbing
effects which things exercise upon each other witness to
this unity, not less clearly than the joint action of forces
with a view to a common end.
234. Similarly, the limits within which metaphysical
enquiry is confined compel us to exclude from its sphere
the much debated question as to whether the conception of
a kind has really that objective validity in the organic
world which we ordinarily ascribe to it. It will not be
supposed that we are going to fall back into thinking that
the type of a kind is a real self-subsistent principle, which
makes its influence felt in the world by its own inherent
force. The only question is docs the disposition of things
as a whole require that the forms of combination which the
forces active throughout the world assume in the production
of Beings capable of existence and growth, should be
limited to a certain fixed number ? or, on the other hand,
may there not be innumerable forces intermediate between
these types, and partaking in different degrees of their
permanence and power of self-preservation, while the types
only represent points of maximum stability? We must
leave this question to be decided by the sober evidence of
Natural History. Philosophy will do well to regard every
attempt at an a priori solution of it as a baseless assump-
tion. The bias of our minds in this case is determined by
our own preconceived unverifiable opinions regarding the
course of the world as a whole. Suppose, however, we
assume that not merely self-conservation, but also Progress
is a characteristic of the world as a whole, yet, even then, it
would be conceivable that in the age of the world's history
in which we now live, and of which we cannot see the
limits, the forms of Life established by Nature might be
incapable of addition, just as the quantities of those
permanent elements which Nature uses in order to con-
struct her products, are incapable of addition. According
Chap. VIHO INFINITY OF REAL WORLD. 151
to this view, any forms in which things combined, owing
to the influence of circumstances other than the forms
determined by Nature, would have only a passing reality,
and would be subsequently dissolved owing to the influence
of the same circumstances which had produced them. On
the other hand, nothing hinders us from introducing the
alleged development within the limits of the epoch which
we can observe, and regarding it as possible that new
forms may come into Being and old forms pass away,
and that what went before may gradually be transformed
into what follows. The present aspect of the discussion
on this subject forms part of a larger and more general
question, the question, as to whether the world is finite
or infinite.
235. It is needless to discuss at length the question
as to whether the succession of events in time is finite
or infinite. We cannot represent to ourselves in thought,
either the origin of reality out of nothing, or its disappear-
ance into nothing, and no one has ever attempted to take
up this position without assuming, as existent in the No-
thing, an originating principle or agency, and ascribing to it
previous to its creative act a fixed existence of its own
which has had no beginning in Time. Hence, whatever
difficulties may be involved in the attempt to conceive of
the course of events in Time as without beginning or end,
the idea itself is inevitable. Nor need we occupy ourselves
at any greater length with the question as to the limits of
the world in Space. If Space is to pass for a real existence,
the only difficulty is in the infinity of Space itself, which in
that case is the infinity of something real. I leave this
assumption, therefore, to be dealt with by those who are
interested in maintaining it. On the other hand, it does
not at all follow, even if Space is infinite, that the world
need occupy the whole of it, as long as the content of
that world admits of the predicate 'finite.' It would be
quite sufficient to say with Herbart that Space sets no limits
152 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE, IBookll.
or conditions to the world, but that it occupies just so much
room in Space as it requires for its movements, and that
thus its boundaries are perpetually shifting. My own view
of the matter is almost to the same effect. Every change in
the true reactions of real elements must find room within
the infinity of our Space-perception for its phenomenal
manifestation as space, position, and motion. But there
is nothing to compel the real existences to fill up at every
moment all the empty places which our Space-percep-
tion holds in readiness for impressions that may require
them.
The question therefore resolves itself into this, whether
the sum of real existence in the world is limited or unlimited,
a question in reference to which we follow alternately two
opposite impulses. On the one hand, the idea of infinity
gratifies us just because we cannot exhaust it in thought, by
enabling us to marvel at the immensity of the universe,
of which we then readily acknowledge that we are but
a part ; though, at the same time, by making it impossible
for us to comprehend the world as a unity or whole, this
infinity perplexes us. On the other hand, by conceiving
of the world as finite, we are indeed enabled easily to grasp
it as a whole ; but it vexes us to think that a hindrance
to its being greater than it is should have been imposed
from without. This last supposition, at any rate, is plainly
absurd. The world of reality is the sole source from which,
in the minds that form a part of it, the notion of these
countless unrealised possibilities springs. Hence arises the
false idea that the Real world is limited and conditioned by
what it does not produce, though it is the Real world
alone that does produce this empty imagination in our
minds. And this misconception has then absolutely no
limits. What would be the use of assuming an infinity
of real elements, if each one of them was finite? Surely it
would be still better that each element should be infinite.
Yet even then we should still have only an infinite number
Chap. VIII.] CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF UNIVERSE, 153
of infinite elements. Why not, in order to get rid of all
limitation, assume the existence of an infinite number of
worlds, both of infinite magnitude themselves, and com-
posed of elements whose magnitude was infinite ? There is
therefore prima facie no objection to the finite character of
real existence whereas, the character of infinity is opposed
by Physics, not merely as inexhaustible by thought, but
also as involving certain special mechanical difficulties.
The unlimited distribution of matter would make impossible
a common centre of gravity. No one point would have
any better claim to be regarded as such than the rest.
But what is our motive in looking for a centre of gravity ?
and what exactly do we mean by it ? The supposition
could not be entertained, unless it were regarded as self-
evident that the same laws of reciprocal action which obtain
between the particles of matter in 'our planet, and which we
call Laws of Gravitation, obtain also throughout the whole
range of existence. I well know how little precedent there
is for doubting this fact. It is, indeed, ordinarily taken for
granted without the slightest misgiving. And yet, in the
absence of positive proof derived from observation, it can
only be a bold argument from analogy. It seems to me by
no means a self-evident fact, that all the real elements which
are contained in the infinity of space, including even those
which are stationed at the furthest points, are held together
according to a single law by the uniting force of gravity,
just as if they were mere samples of the mass to which
it applies, and without individuality of their own. The Law
of Gravitation is only known to apply to the bodies of our
own planetary system. Besides this, there is only the con-
jecture, which may be a true one, that certain of the binary
stars are kept in their courses by a similar mutual attraction,
the law of which we do not as yet know. But that the same
influence by which one system of material elements is made
to cohere, extends as a matter of course to every other
coherent system in the Universe of Space ; this is by no
154 FORAfS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
means such an established and irrefutable truth as is,
e. g. the uniform diffusion of the undulations of light through
all Space.
'For a reason which has already been several times
touched upon, I am forced to proceed at this point by
a different path from that which is ordinarily followed in
the physical Sciences. If I really thought that the number
of the real elements, or of the systems which are formed
from such elements, was infinite, then, though I should
certainly not regard them as having no connexion with
each other, I should just as certainly not imagine that
the relation subsisting between them was so monotonously
uniform that they should be treated as mere samples of
homogeneous mass endowed everywhere with the same
force, so as to raise the question of their common centre
of gravity. In each of these several systems the inner
relation of the parts might be essentially peculiar, depending
on the plan which governed its structure. Similarly, the
several systems might be united by different kinds of rela-
tions into the one universal plan. Not that, in insisting on
this point, I have any wish to maintain that Real existence
is infinite, any more than I wish to maintain that it is finite.
I have no sympathy with the point of view from which this
question thus conceived seems to be one of real importance.
I have more than once expressed my conviction that every-
thing is subject to mechanical Laws ; but I have at the
same time asserted the essentially subordinate character
of these Laws, when considered with reference to the
Universe as a whole. I do not know if my expressions
have been understood in the sense in which they were
intended. Certainly they were not meant to imply that
previous to the creation of the world there existed a fixed
sum of real elements, along with a code of absolute me-
chanical Laws, and that an organizing power then entered
on the scene, and had to make the best of these resources.
I have throughout taken as my starting-point the living
Chap. VIII.] THE UNIVERSE NO FIXED QUANTUM. j
nature of the real existence, that unity whose ess
can only be expressed, if we are to attempt to real
to our intelligence, as the import of a thought. Out c
import there arose (what was not prior to it) the fundam
system of most general laws, as a condition which Re
imposes on itself and its whole action. But just bea
dependent on this import, the system possessed a wealth v
meaning and power of accommodation, adequate to provide
not merely for the uniformity of processes which never
vary, but also for the manifold variety of activities which are
required by the animating idea of the Whole. I should
be the last to deny the necessity and value of the other
point of view which, as represented by modern mechanics,
conducts calculations based on the abstract conceptions
of Mass and its constancy : Force, and the conservation
of Force, the inertia and invariability of the elements.
Not only do we owe to this method the greater part of
our present knowledge of Nature, but we may also safely
assume it as a guide throughout the whole range of our
possible observation. At the same time, I should be the
last to ascribe to these notions, being as they are abstrac-
tions out of the fraction of the world's course which is
accessible to us, that metaphysical certainty which would
fit them to serve as a key to the solution of questions
which are such as to transcend all experience of this,
kind.
What I have now to say in regard to the question of
infinity has been already indicated in several passages
of my work. If the reality of the world is to be found in a
thought which fulfils itself in every moment, the question as
to the finite or infinite character of this thought is as
meaningless as the question as to whether a motion is sweet
or sour. As regards, however, the different and ever-
changing related points, by means of which the thought
realises itself, we would remark, in the first place, that their
number is not absolutely finite or infinite. It is not, indeed,.
6 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
xed quantity at all. It is, at each moment, precisely
the realisation of the thought demands and its living
ity produces. This heterodox assertion I have already
ured on, thereby placing myself in opposition to the
ma of the constancy of Mass. Supposing we fancied that
had a standard in terms of which the sum of real exist-
ence at any given moment of its history = m^ it might very
ivell at the next moment be found to = p. In the
same way as the world might take up just so much space as
t should require at any given moment, so the Idea which
mimates it would create for itself just so many elements
is are needed in order to accomplish its development.
Not as if there had been some material substance present
rom all eternity, which was afterwards merely differently
distributed according as the Idea might require, nor yet as
f the Idea created new elements out of nothing. These
lew creations would spring from the Idea itself, which is the
:ause of all things. Enough, however, has been said on
:his point. It would be hopeless to attempt to bring these
;houghts home to anyone who was convinced that a fixed
quantity of matter had been ordained to exist from all
eternity. Whether, at any given moment, the number of
:he real and active elements is unlimited, or whether there
ire certain fixed limits within which the numbers vary,
t confess myself unable to say. The question itself involves
:onfusion, until we have fixed on the unit the number
3f whose recurrences is sought. It could have absolutely
10 meaning for those who have admitted the infinite
divisibility of matter. It would be intelligible only, if it
arere held to apply to individual atoms or to separate
md distinct groups of elements, as, e.g. the number of
.he stars. Here I will only say quite shortly that I am
:ontent to assume that the number of material existences
s limited, provided it is understood that this number
must suffice to enable them to carry out the behests of
the Idea, and that if this same condition is fulfilled, I am
Chap. VIII.] PRINCIPLES OF EVOLUTION. 15 7-
equally content to conceive of their number as infinite.
In this latter case, the impossibility of reckoning their
number would be due merely to a defect in us. It would
not be a fault on their side, or inconsistent with their
reality.
236. The progress of observation has led us to the
conviction that the formation of the earth's crust took place
gradually, and that organic life could not have existed
throughout the stages of this process in its present state.
This imposes on us the necessity of attempting to show
how the forms of life at present existing were developed out
of earlier and simpler ones. In the heat of the controversy
on this subject, care should have been taken not to confuse
two questions which ought to be separated. Only one
of them belongs to Metaphysic, that, viz. as to the determin-
ing principles which have been active throughout the course
of this development. I feel all the less inducement to-
make any addition to the rapidly increasing literature which
the discussion of this question has called forth, inasmuch
as, before this controversy had begun to rage, I endeavoured
to bring together whatever seemed to admit of being said,
with any claim to respect, in favour of explaining all cases
of adaptation as due to a fortuitous concourse of accidents,
a view which has a recognised place in the History of
Philosophy. In the second chapter of the fourth book of
the Microcosmus, I treated expressly of this derivation of
the Cosmos from Chaos, and I cannot convince myself
that the more recent arguments from the same point of
view add anything of importance to those well-known ones
of former times which are there mentioned. I content
myself with referring to what I then said in regard to
the details of the question. My conviction on the matter
as a whole needs not again to be stated here. The con-
troversy will become milder with time ; at least this will be
so, in so far as it is conducted in the interests of Science
and not from a feeling of invincible repugnance to every
158 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book II.
Idea which is suspected of favouring the cause of Religion.
An improvement in this respect is already to some extent
visible. Those who pray too much are destined, says
the proverb, to pray themselves through heaven and to keep
geese on the other side. A better fate has befallen those
who, out of a conscientious regard for the interests of
Science, have felt themselves compelled to derive Organic
Life from blind chance and purposeless matter. They
have invested their original principles with so much reason
and power of internal development, that nothing but the
caprice of their terminology which keeps to the names of
Matter, Mechanism, and Accident, for what other people
call Spirit, Life, and Providence, seems to prevent them from
relapsing into notions which they have before strenuously
opposed.
237. On the other hand, as regards the second question
to be distinguished, that, viz. as to the actual development
of Organic Life, this is purely a matter of Natural History.
Philosophy is not concerned to dispute or to deny any re-
sults of observation on this subject, which are based on
sufficient evidence. Not even Religion should presume to
prescribe to God the course which the world's development
must have followed subsequently to its creation. However
strange the path may have been, we might be sure that its
strangeness could not remove it from His control. Con-
sidering that the human body requires to be kept alive each
day by absorbing into itself nourishment derived from com-
mon natural substances, there can be no reason in claiming
for it a manner of origin so exceedingly distinguished. And
with regard to the whole matter we would say that man
esteems himself according to what he is, and not according
to that whence he arose. It is enough for us to feel that we
are now not apes. It is of no consequence to us that our
remote and unremembered ancestors should have belonged
to this inferior grade of life. The only painful conclusion
would be that we were destined to turn into apes again, and
Chap. VIHO FACTS OF EVOLUTION 159
it was likely to happen soon. It seems to me, therefore,
that from the point of view of Philosophy these scientific
movements may be regarded with the most perfect indiffer-
ence. Each result, so soon as it had ceased to be a favourite
conjecture and had been established by convincing proof,
would be welcomed as a real addition to knowledge. The
very remarkable facts of Natural History accumulated by
the unwearied research of Darwin, might be provisionally
welcomed by Philosophy with the warmest satisfaction,
whilst, on the other hand, the pretentious and mistaken
theories based on those facts might be not less completely
disregarded. All that Philosophy herself can contribute to-
wards the solution of these questions is, to warn us against
making unfounded assumptions, which, whilst they are
themselves to some extent of philosophical origin, rob
Science of its fairness. Whatever may have been the state
of the earth's surface, which first occasioned the production
of organic life, it cannot but be improbable that the required
conditions should only have been present at a single point ;
equally improbable, considering the diversity of the terres-
trial elements which were subjected on the whole to uniform
influences, that organic germs of the same kind only should
have been generated at all points ; and finally, it is extremely
improbable that this productive period should have lasted
only long enough for the occurrence of an instantaneous
creative act, instead of being so protracted that the con-
ditions, slowly altering while it still lasted, might superadd
fresh creations to the earlier ones instead of merely develop-
ing their further phases. Nor is there any difficulty in
imagining that these various organic beings, though pro-
duced at different times and on different spots of the earth,
would still present numberless analogies of structure. The
equation which contained the conditions of the union of
elements so as to be capable of life would restrict all possible
solutions within determinate limits. Hence, according to
what is at any rate the most probable supposition, Organic
160 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE. [Book H.
Life is derived from an original multiplicity of simple types
having a capacity for development.
Here we break off. We cannot pursue further the at-
tempts which are now being made to arrive at an explana-
tion of the first beginnings and the final destiny of things.
Our knowledge of the present state of the globe and of the
forces that act upon it, does enable us to form an idea, im-
perfect indeed, but not contemptible, with regard to its fate
in the future ; and it is of importance for Science to con-
sider to what end the processes which we now see in
operation would lead, supposing them to continue un-
checked and to follow the same laws. From this point of
view, we are able to appreciate those ingenious calculations
which draw conclusions as to the final state of the world
from our experimental knowledge of the economy of heat.
They are, however, nothing more than the indispensable
computations which draw out this portion of our physical
knowledge into its results. For this purpose we are obliged
to assume the continuance of the conditions which are oper-
ative at present. Whether this hypothesis will be verified,
or whether the end towards which things now seem to
point, will not sooner or later be shown by fresh discoveries
in a new light, no one can decide. At the same time, how-
ever, the fate which most attempts to forecast the future by
means of statistics have hitherto met, has been of the latter
kind. Hence, we must be on our guard against crediting
as a prophetic announcement with regard to the future,
conclusions which follow, no doubt, necessarily on the
arbitrary assumption that the given conditions are the only
ones to be taken into account. Still less do we intend to
busy ourselves with the fancies of those who relate to us,
just as if they had been themselves present, how things were
first produced ; how, e. g. the inorganic elements of the
earth's crust found themselves united in the form of crystals
capable of imbibition, and in systems endowed with life and
Chap. VIII.] SPURIOUS HISTORICAL SENSE. 161
growth; or, again, how the atmosphere of the primitive
world settled upon the earth in the shape of protoplasm,
and there struck roots of the most various kinds. This
insatiable desire to get beyond the general principles which
still admit of being applied to the investigation of these
problems, and actually to conjecture those special circum-
stances which are simply inaccessible to our knowledge,
may, by way of palliation, be considered to be characteristic
of that historical sense by which the present age is dis-
tinguished, thus contrasting favourably with former ages,
when, owing to their speculative bias, men sought for truth
not in matters of fact but in ideas that had no reality in
Space and Time. Yet I do not know in what the worth of
history would consist, if facts were in truth only described
as having occurred in this or that place, without any attempt
being made to pass beyond the facts and their succession,
and to lay bare the nerves which govern the connected
order of things always and everywhere. But for this pur-
pose history must above all things be true. Every fact of
the Past which can be demonstrated by certain proof we
shall esteem as a real and valuable addition to our know-
ledge. On the other hand, those rash anticipations of
knowledge, entertaining at first, but wearisome in their
recurrence, have nothing to do with this laudable ' histori-
cal sense,' but spring from the dangerous inclination to
anecdote simply for its own sake. It is thus that our own
generation, maintaining its opposition to Philosophy, en-
deavours to console itself for its want of clearness in respect
to general principles by a vivid exercise of the sensuous
imagination. If we come upon pile-dwellings in some for-
gotten swamp, we piously gather together the insignificant
remains of a dreary Past, supposing that by contemplating
them we shall grow wiser and learn that which a glance into
the affairs of everyday life would teach us with less trouble.
Compared with such objects as these how small a chance of
notice have the Philosophical ideas, which represent the
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. M
162 FORMS OF THE COURSE OF NATURE.
efforts of long ages to obtain a clearer insight into eternal
truth. If only these ideas could be stuffed ! Then it might
be possible that beside a fine specimen of the Platonic idea*
and a well-preserved Aristotelian entelechy even the more
modest fancies which in these pages I have devoted to
speedy oblivion, might attract the attention of a holiday
sight-seer.
BOOK III.
ON MENTAL EXISTENCE (PSYCHOLOGY).
CHAPTER I.
The Metaphysical Conception of the Soul.
THE old Metaphysic of the Schools reckoned among its
problems the construction of a Rational Psychology. This
name was not meant to imply that the science in question
could dispense with such a knowledge of its object as should
agree with experience ; the design was merely to bring the
general modes of procedure which were observed in that
object into connexion with metaphysical convictions as to
the possibility of all being and happening. I will not ask
here how much or how little the science accomplished ; but
I accept the end it set before itself as a limit for my own
discussions. There is at present a strong inclination to-
wards the empirical investigation of psychical phenomena,
in all their manifold complexity, and I am not opposing
this inclination when I confess some want of confidence in
the trustworthiness of its results. Speaking generally no
great doubt can be felt as to the nature of those associations
of impressions, by means of which the whole of our sensuous
view of things as well as the riches of our mental culture are
in the last resort acquired ; but the ingenious attempts which
have been made to demonstrate the way in which particular
portions of this total sum actually came into our possession,
M 2
1 64 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
have not the same certainty. Often, instead of being
founded on empirical evidence, they are merely descriptions
of the modes in which we can without any great difficulty
imagine the material in question to have originated ; some-
times they are accounts of processes of the possibility of
which we persuade ourselves only because we use as self-
evident means of explanation mental habits which it is really
our first business to explain. It is not my purpose, how-
ever, to lessen the deserved sympathy which these valuable
efforts have won ; but this book must come to an end some-
where, and therefore they are excluded from it ; and my
wish here is simply to overcome, for a moment at least, the
disfavour which any metaphysical treatment of these sub-
jects is apt to encounter.
When we say that we adopt an empirical stand-point we
must mean more than that we wish to stand still at this
point ; we really intend it to be no more than the starting-
place from which we may appropriate the field of experience
around us. Now, considered as such a point of departure,
the knowledge of those facts which are furnished by experi-
ence is indispensable to every psychology alike ; and even
those attempts which have been especially stigmatised as
transcendent, are in the end simply interpretations of the
material supplied by observation. The divergence of
opinion does not really begin till we ask by what method
we are to appropriate in the form of theory that which, from
the empirical position, we all see with the same eyes. In
speaking of the physical investigation of nature I pointed
out how slight and how arduous its progress would be if it
confined itself to bare observation and refused to connect
the given facts by ftaming hypotheses respecting that nature
of things which cannot be observed. And I may now
appeal for confirmation to the excellent attempts which
have been made in psychology to reach, at least at one
point, the beginnings of an exact science the point I refer
to is the question how the strength of a sensation is related
Chap. I.] REASONS FOR SOUL. FREEDOM. 165
to that of its external stimulus. For these attempts have at
once become involved in a mass of theoretical and specu-
lative problems, to the settlement of which a future ex-
perience may perhaps contribute much but which it will
certainly never completely solve. If then we are compelled
to use as a basis some hypothesis respecting the connexion
of physical and psychical phenomena, why are we to take
the first hypothesis that comes to hand ? Why not go back
to the most general ideas that we necessarily form respect-
ing all being and action, and so attempt to define the limits
within which we can frame suppositions, sometimes trust-
worthy and at other times at all events probable? But,
further, even supposing it were possible, in the investigation
of this special subject, to find a point of departure which
should be productive of results and yet should imply no
fixed pre-judgment as to the nature of the subject, a diffi-
culty would still remain: for though this freedom from
pre-suppositions would be possible for this ^ particular in-
vestigation, it would still be unacceptable to us as men.
We may be warned to abstain from discussing questions
which do not seem to be soluble by the special methods of
a particular science ; but the warning will never deter the
human race from returning to these riddles ; for a consis-
tent opinion about them is not less important and indis-
pensable to it than are those explanations of observed facts
which in this field can never be more than fragmentary. I
shall therefore attempt to extend these metaphysical con-
siderations to the sphere of Psychology, and so to bring
them to a conclusion. For the elaboration of many par-
ticular points I may refer to the corresponding sections of
the Mikrokosmus; here I wish to bring together the es-
sential points treated in the Medicinische Psychologic, (Leip-
zig) 1852), which I shall not reissue, and to show the
metaphysical connexion which in those two works could
not be sufficiently brought out.
238. Let us leave out of sight, to begin with, anything
1 66 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. I Book III.-
which the earlier part of this enquiry might offer by way of
foundation for what is to follow. If we do this, we shall
have to confess that mental life is given us, as a fact of
observation, only in constant connexion with bodily life.
Accordingly the supposition at once suggests itself that this
mental life is nothing but a product of the physical organi-
zation, the growth of which it is observed to accompany.
Yet such a view has never been more than a doctrine of
scientific schools. We meet with the word ' soul ' in the
languages of all civilised peoples ; and this proves that the
imagination of man must have had reasons of weight for its
supposition that there is an existence of some special nature
underlying the phenomena of the inner life as their subject
or cause. It is, I think, possible to reduce these reasons to
three, of very different value. The first I will refer to, the
appeal to the freedom which is said to characterise mental
life, and is distinguished from the necessity of nature, has
no weight. It is a conviction with which we begin our
enquiry and to which we hold, that all events in external
nature form an uninterrupted series of causal connexion
according to universal laws ; but this necessity is not a fact
of observation. There remain always vast tracts of nature,
the inner connexion of which is simply unknown to us and
which can therefore furnish no empirical verification of that
presupposition. But, when we come to mental life, not even
those for whom freedom is in itself a possible conception
can regard it as the universal characteristic of that life.
They can demand it only at one definite point, viz. the
resolutions of the will. Everything else, the whole course
of ideas, emotions, and efforts, is not only, in the souls of
animals and men alike, manifestly subject to a connexion
according to universal laws, but the denial of that connexion
would at once destroy the possibility of any psychological
enquiry; since it, like every other enquiry, can be directed
to nothing but the discovery of conditions universally valid,
239. The second reason which led to the conception of
Chap. I.] MENTAL AND MATERIAL DISPARATE. 167
the soul was the entire incomparability of all inner processes
sensations, ideas, emotions, and desires with spatial
motion, figure, position, and energy ; that is, with those
states which we believe we observe in matter, or which we
can suppose it to experience if we see in it only what the
physical view of nature gives it out to be. It is a very long
time since philosophy recognised this incomparability, and
it needed no new discovery or confirmation. It has escaped
no one except those who, out of their prejudice in favour
of a desired conclusion, have not been afraid of the logical
error by which two different things are held to be of the
same kind simply because as a matter of fact they are con-
nected with one another. We may imagine a quantity of
movements of material elements, and we may attribute to
them whatever degree of complexity we choose; but we
shall never reach a given moment at which we can say,
Now it is obvious that this sum of movements can remain
movements no longer but must pass into sweetness, bright-
ness, or sound. The only obvious change we could ever
anticipate from them would be into a fresh set of move-
ments. We shall never succeed in analytically deducing
the feeling from the nature of its physical excitant ; we can
only connect the two synthetically ; and the physical event
does not become a condition of the rise of the feeling until
the sum of motions in which it consists meets with a subject
which in its own nature has the peculiar capacity of pro-
ducing feeling from itself. In this fact a limit is at once
placed to all physiological and psychological enquiry. It is
utterly fruitless to attempt to show how a physical nervous
process gradually transforms itself (as we are told) into
sensation or any other mental occurrence. There remains
only the different but extremely important task of discover-
ing what psychical event o and what physical stimulus a
are as a matter of fact universally connected in the order of
nature, and of finding the law by which a undergoes a
definite change and becomes ft when a by a change equally
1 68 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
definite (but definable only by a physical standard and not
a psychical one) becomes b. This is a point at which the
professedly empirical method and the metaphysical change
their rdles. The former, in pursuing the dream of an
identity of physical and psychical processes, leaves the field
of experience far behind it and does battle with our most
immediate certainty that they are not identical : the latter,
when it refrains from describing an event which cannot
occur at all, is not denying the connexion between the two
series of events ; but it limits itself to a more useful enquiry,
it investigates the laws according to which the results of
that connexion change, and it forbears to ask questions,
which to begin with at any rate cannot be answered,
regarding the mode in which that connexion is in all cases
brought about.
240. On the other hand we must beware of drawing con-
clusions too definite from this incomparability of physical
and psychical processes. All that follows unavoidably from
it is that we should reserve for each of these two groups its
own special ground of explanation ; but it would be going
too far to assert that the two principles, which we must thus
separate, necessarily belong to two different sorts of sub-
stances. There is nothing to be said at starting against the
other supposition, according to which every element of
reality unites in itself the two primitive qualities, from one
of which mental life may arise, while the other contains the
condition of a phenomenal appearance as matter. On this
view, instead of having, on the one side, souls destitute of
all physical activity and, on the other, absolutely self-less
elements of matter, we might suppose that the latter, like
the former, possess in various grades an inner life, though a
life which we cannot observe nor even guess at, so long as
it has no forms of expression intelligible to us. And with
regard to the cause which would unite these two attributes
in what exists, this theory would be as much within its
right in refusing to discuss it as ours was in simply appealing
Chap, ij THE SUBJECT IS GIVEN. 169
to the fact of a connexion between two series of incompar-
able processes. It seems to me that every mode of thought,
which calls itself Materialism, ultimately rests on this
supposition, or on a little reflexion must be led to it ; the
matter from which such modes of thought would deduce
mental phenomena, is privately conceived by them as
something much better than it looks from outside. So it
comes about that it can be held a fair problem, to deduce
the mental life of an organism from the reactions of the
psychical movements of the corporeal elements in the
same sense in which its bodily life arises as a resultant from
the confluence of the physical forces of those elements.
And if we were confined to the external observation of a
psychical life not our own, I do not know of anything per-
fectly decisive that could be alleged against this supposition.
But, according ta it, every psychical manifestation would
be merely the final outcome of a number of components
destitute of any centre : whereas our inner experience offers
us the fact of a unity of consciousness. Here then is the
third and the unassailable ground, on which the conviction
of the independence of the soul can securely rest. The
nature of this position I proceed to explain.
241. It has been required of any theory which starts
without pre-suppositions and from the basis of experience,
that in the beginning it should speak only of sensations or
ideas, without mentioning the soul to which, it is said, we
hasten without justification to ascribe them. I should
maintain, on the contrary, that such a mode of setting out
involves a wilful departure from that which is actually given
in experience. A mere sensation without a subject is no-
where to be met with as a faot. It is impossible to speak
of a bare movement without thinking of the mass whose
movement it is ; and it is just as impossible to conceive a
sensation existing without the accompanying idea of that
which has it, or, rather, of that which feels it ; for this also
is included in the given fact of experience, that the relation
170 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III,
of the feeling subject to its feeling, whatever its other cha-
racteristics may be, is in any case something different from
the relation of the moved element to its movement. It is
thus, and thus only, that the sensation is a given fact ; and
we have no right to abstract from its relation to its subject
because this relation is puzzling, and because we wish to
obtain a starting-point which looks more convenient but is
utterly unwarranted by experience. In saying this I do not
intend to repeat the frequent but exaggerated assertion, that
in every single act of feeling or thinking there is an express
consciousness which regards the sensation or idea simply as
states of a self ; on the contrary, everyone is familiar with
that absorption in the content of a sensuous perception,
which often makes us entirely forget our personality in view
of it. But then the very fact that we can become aware
that this was the case, presupposes that we afterwards
retrieve what we omitted at first, viz. the recognition that
the perception was in us, as our state. But, further, there
are other facts which place in a clearer light what in the
case of single sensations might remain doubtful. Any
comparison of two ideas, which ends 'by our finding their
contents like or unlike, presupposes the absolutely indi-
visible unity of that which compares them : it must be one
and the same thing which first forms the idea of a, then
that of , and which at the same time is conscious of the
nature and extent of the difference between them. Then
again the various acts of comparing ideas and referring
them to one another are themselves in turn reciprocally
related ; and this relation brings a new activity of com-
parison to consciousness. And so our whole inner world
of thoughts is built up ; not as a mere collection of mani-
fold ideas existing with or after one another, but as a world
in which these individual members are held together and
arranged by the relating activity of this single pervading
principle. This then is what we mean by the unity of con-
sciousness ; and it is this that we regard as the sufficient
Chap. I.] UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 171
ground for assuming an indivisible soul As compared
with the thousand activities of this unity involved in every
act by which two ideas are referred to each other, it is
a matter of indifference whether at every moment that
particular act of relation is explicitly performed by which
these inner states are apprehended in their true character,
as states of this active unity. Although this reflexion is
possible, we can think of many conditions which frequently
prevent it taking place. But that it can take place at all
proves to us the unity of the active subject which per-
forms it.
242. Further discussion is, however, needed, in order to
show the necessity of our conclusion and to explain its
meaning. First, as to its necessity : even if we admit the
unity of consciousness, why are we bound to trace it back
to a particular indivisible subject ? why should it not re-
semble a motion which results from the co-operation of
many components ; seeing that this resultant, like the unity
of consciousness, appears perfectly simple and gives no
indication of the multiplicity of elements from which it
arose ? I answer : such an idea seems possible only be-
cause we state the mechanical law, to which we appeal, in
slovenly short-hand. We must not say, ' From two motions
there comes a third simple motion :' the full formula is,
When two different impulses act simultaneously on one and
the same material point, they coalesce at this point into a
third simple motion of this point ; they would not do so if
they met with different elements, nor would the resultant
have any significance if it were not a motion of that very
same element in which they met. If we wish then to make
an analogous construction of consciousness, it is indispens-
able that we should mention the subject whose states we
have to combine. Thus if a, b, c, . . . z are the elements
of a living organism, each of them may have at once a
physical and a psychical nature and each of them may be
capable of acting in accordance with its two natures \ bujt
*7* Tff CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
the fact still remains that these actions cannot stream out
into the void and be states of nobody, but must always
consist of states which one element produces in other
elements. Supposing this reciprocal action took place
equally among them all, then the impressions received and
imparted would be equalised, and the end of the process
would be that each one of the elements would reach the
same final state Z, the resultant of all the single impulses.
If then Z were a consciousness, this consciousness would
be present as many times as there were homogeneous
elements : but it would never happen that outside, side by
side with, or between these elements a new subject could
be formed, privileged to be the personified common spirit
of the society of interacting units. Doubtless, however,
the homogeneity we have assumed will not be found to
exist ; the constituents of the organism will differ from one
another; they will be conjoined in accordance with their
nature, and will have different positions, more or less
favourable to the spread of their interactions; and at what-
ever moment we suppose the course of these interactions to
be finished, the result will probably be that the different
elements will have reached different final states A, B, . . . Z,
depending on the degree of liveliness with which each
element has received the influences of the others, and on
the measure in which it has succeeded or failed in con-
centrating those influences in itself. In this case it becomes
still more impossible than before to say which of all this
array of resultant consciousnesses is the object of our
search, the soul of the organism : but in this case as in the
former, it is certain that there cannot arise, outside of and
beyond all these elements, a new subject which in its own
consciousness should bring together and compare their
states, as we who are investigating can compare them in the
linity of our consciousness.
Our only remaining resource would be to fall back on the
idea of Leibnitz and to say that although the countless
Chap. I.] MEANING OF THE UNITY. 173
monads which compose the living creature are essentially
homogeneous, there is nevertheless among them a frima
inter pares^ a central monad, which in virtue partly of its
superiority in quality and partly of its favourable position
between the rest, is capable of the intensest mental life and
able to over-master all the others. This central monad
would be what we call our soul, the subject of our one
consciousness; the others, though they too have psychical
movements of their own, would be for our direct inward
experience as inaccessible as the inner life of one person
in a human society is for that of any other. Thus the end
at which this attempted construction would arrive would not
be that it set out to reach. It too would have to recognise
the absolutely indivisible unity of that which is to support
our inward life : and, instead of the hope of showing this
unity to be the resultant of many co-operating elements,
there would remain the more moderate assumption that
these many elements stand to the one being in manifold
relations of interaction. Such a view has no longer any
special peculiarity, beyond, first, the idea that all elements
of the body have a soul-life, although this soul-life has not
much significance for ours; and secondly, (though this
applies only to the hypothesis I am describing, and not
to Leibnitz) the doubtful advantage of being able to attribute
to the one element which is the soul not only psychical
predicates but the predicates of an element which is opera-
tive after the fashion of matter.
243. I said that the meaning of the unity of consciousness,
as well as the necessity of assuming it, needed some further
explanation. My remarks on this meaning ought to be
saved by their connexion with the rest of a metaphysical
work like the present from the misunderstanding with which
my previous accounts of the subject have met. The con-
clusion we have now reached is usually expressed by saying
that the soul is an indivisible and simple substance ; and I
have used this formula in all innocence, as an intelligible
1?4 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
hame. How it can be misunderstood I have learned from
the way in which my esteemed friend Fechner in his
Atomenlehre characterises my view in opposition to his own.
It was natural to him as an investigator of Nature, and
probably his intimacy with the most eminent representatives
of the Herbartian philosophy made it still more natural, to
understand by substance a physical atom or one of the
simple real ' existences ' of that school. But I had given no
special occasion for this misunderstanding : on the contrary
I had put forward the proposition which was censured and
therefore could not have escaped notice ; ' It is not through
a substance that things have being, but they have being
when they are able to produce the appearance of a sub-
stance present in them.' I have discussed this point at
sufficient length in the Ontology, and have now only to
show its consequences for our present question. When
from the given fact of the unity of consciousness I passed
on to call the subject of this knowledge existence or sub-
stance, I could not possibly intend by doing so to draw
a conclusion which should deduce from its premisses
something not contained in them but really new. For my
only definition of the idea of substance was this, that it
signifies everything which possesses the power of producing
and experiencing effects, in so far as it possesses that
power. Accordingly this expression was simply a title given
to a thing in virtue of its having performed something;
it was not and could not be meant to signify the ground,
the means or the cause which would render that perform-
ance intelligible. Was substance to be one or many ? It
would have been too absurd to suppose this power of
producing and experiencing effects in general to have
its ground in one universal substance, and then to
expect that a grain of this substance, buried in each
individual thing, would quicken this general capacity into
the particular ways of producing and experiencing effects
which distinguish that thing from all other things. On the
Chap. I.] 'SUBSTANCE* ONLY MEANS UNITY. 175
other hand the supposition that each thing, instead of being
carved out of the matter of the universal substance, is
a substance on its own account would have at once led us
back to our starting-point, and we should have recognised
the name substance to be, what it really is, simply the
general formal designation of every way of producing and
experiencing effects, but not the real condition on which in
each particular case the possibility of doing so and the
particular way of doing so depends. I was therefore very
far from sharing the view of those who place the soul in the
mid-current of events as one hard and indissoluble atom by
the side of others or as an indestructible real existence, and
who fancied that its substantiality, so understood, offered
a foundation from which the rest of its phenomena could
be deduced. The fact of the unity of consciousness is
eo ipso at once the fact of the existence of a substance : we
do not need by a process of reasoning to conclude from the
former to the latter as the condition of its existence,
a fallacious process of reasoning which seeks in an ex-
traneous and superior substance supposed to be known
beforehand, the source from which the soul and each
particular thing would acquire the capacity of figuring as
the unity and centre of manifold actions and affections.
The reason why, in spite of this, I thought it worth
while to designate the soul as substance or real exist-
ence, I shall mention hereafter when I come to oppose
the pluralistic view suggested by Fechner: my point was
not so much the substantiality as the unity of the soul,
and I wished to emphasize the idea that it is only an
indivisible unity which can produce or experience effects
at all, and that these words cannot be applied in strict-
ness to any multiplicity, an idea which I attempted to
bring out more clearly in the Mikrokosmus, (i. p. xyS 1 ).
But, relying on the fact that the imagination is accustomed
to connect this idea of unity with the name ' substance '
*[E.Tr. 1.159.]
176 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
or 'real existence/ I considered that these two expres-
sions, even in that meaning of them which I have described
and repudiated, might still, when once the true account
of the matter had been given, be used as serviceable
abbreviations of it.
244. It is natural at this point to think of Kant's
treatment of that Paralogism of the pure Reason which
seeks to establish the substantiality of the soul. We may
sum up his criticism thus : It is a fact that we appear
in our thoughts as the constant subject of our states, but
it does not follow from this fact that the soul is a constant
substance; for even the former unity is in the end only
our subjective way of looking at things, and there are
many things which in themselves may be quite different
from what they must needs seem to us to be. This last
idea is certainly incontrovertible, but it does not affect
the point which constitutes the nerve of our argument.
I repeat once more, we do not believe in the unity of
the soul because it appears as unity, but simply because
it is able to appear or manifest itself in some way, what-
ever that may be. The mere fact that, conceiving itself as
a subject, it connects itself with any predicate, proves to
us the unity of that which asserts this connexion ; and,
supposing the soul appeared to itself as a multiplicity,
we should on the same grounds conclude that it was
certainly mistaken if it took itself really to be what it
appeared. Every judgment, whatever it may assert, testi-
fies by the mere fact that it is pronounced at all, to the
indivisible unity of the subject which utters it.
But, I am well aware, I shall still -be reproached with
having neglected the fine and subtle distinction which Kant
draws between the subject of our inward experience and
the unity of the Soul considered as a thing in itself; he
admits the unity of the former, but prohibits any conclusion
to that of the latter. It is a difficult task, and one in which
I have no interest, to dissect Kant's final ideas in this
Chap. I.] KANT ON UNITY OF SOUL. 177
section of the Critique of Reason 1 ; I shall content myself
with explaining clearly the difference between my view
and that which I conjecture to be his. Kant is without
doubt right when he is opposing that traditional argument
for the substantiality of the soul, the object of which was to
make that quality, when it had been inferred, a medius
terminus for fresh consequences, as, for instance, that of
immortality ; but he was mistaken when he looked on this
inference as a further goal which it is our misfortune that
we are unable to attain. In the very prohibition he utters
against a conclusion from the unity of the subject to that of
the substance, he admits that this conclusion would have an
important bearing, if only it could be drawn ; and all that
seems to him to be wanting is the links of argument which
might justify us in bringing the soul under this fruitful con-
ception of substance and all the consequences it legitimately
involves. That Kant cannot free himself from this idea, is
shown by a foot-note 1 which in the first edition of the
Critique is appended to the doctrine of the Paralogisms. It
runs as follows : ' An elastic sphere which collides with
another in a direct line, communicates to it its whole motion
and, therefore, (if we regard nothing but their positions in
space) its whole state. Now if, on the analogy of such bodies,
we suppose substances, one of which imparted to the other
ideas together with the consciousness of them, we can ima-
gine a whole series of these substances, of which the first
would impart its state, together with the consciousness of that
state, to the second, the second would impart its own state,
together with that of the preceding substance, to the third,
and this again would communicate to another, not only its
own state with the consciousness of it, but also the states of
all its predecessors and the consciousness of them. Thus the
states of all the substances which had undergone changes, to-
gether with the consciousness of these states, would be trans-
ferred to the last substance : and in consequence this last
1 [Kritik d. r. V. p. 290-2, Rosenkranz' ed.]
METAPHVSIC, VOL. II. N
178 THE CONCEPTION OP T&E SOUL. [Book III,
substance would be conscious of all these states as its own,
and yet, in spite of this, it would not have been the same per-
son in all these states. 7 In this way, according to Kant, the
identity of the consciousness of ourselves in different times
would be possible even without the numerical unity of the soul.
The various assumptions, which are made at starting
in this note, are so strange that a criticism of their admissi-
bility would be unbearably prolix : one can only say of
them, Certainly, if it were so, it would be so. But if
the communication of a completed state together with the
consciousness of it is possible, why should we not go further
and make an approach to the actual state of affairs by
assuming that, over and above this, the fact of this com-
munication will be an object of consciousness for the soul
receiving it ? In that case the process would resemble
the propagation of culture by tradition and instruction. It
is in this way, at least, that the busy soul collects by
industry the thoughts of its predecessors; but then it is
at the same time conscious that the thoughts it receives are
not its own, but what it has received. And fortunately
there is another point at which the comparison fails; for
the original possessor does not lose his thoughts by com-
municating them. All this, however, matters nothing : but
what is the meaning of the conclusion, 'and yet there
has not been the same person in all these states'? The
fact is the very reverse ; it was not the same sphere that
served an abode for the personality ; but the person is one,
in the same sense in which it is possible for any substance
capable of development to be one, although at the begin-
ning of its history it is naturally poorer in recollected
experiences than it afterwards becomes : and what Kant
maintains is nothing but a strange transmigration of the
soul, in which the personality, while it grows in content,
passes from one substratum to another. I will not dwell
longer on the oddities of this unfortunate comparison ; but
it shows and this is its only serious interest that there
Chap. I.] QUESTION OF SUBSTRATUM UNMEANING 179
seemed to Kant to be some meaning in the idea, that
beneath the concrete nature or content of anything there
lies in the intelligible world a thing in itself, destitute of
content, but serving as a means of consolidating the reality
of the concrete thing, or useful to it in some other way,
I know not what ; and that it makes some difference to the
unity of consciousness, whether its substratum consists
of the first, or second, or third of these things in them-
selves, whether it is always the same one, or whether it
is many of them in succession ; and this although there
were even less difference between them than there is
between those elastic spheres, the positions of which in
space at least gives a reason for supposing that there
is more than one of them. Nor was this at all the object
which the Paralogism criticised sought to reach. No one
who wished the doctrine of immortality to be assured,
could concern himself with anything but that continuity of
his consciousness which he desired not to lose ; he would
be heartily indifferent to the question whether the thing
in itself which was to be the substratum of that continuance
occupied in the series the position n or (n -f i).
I come back then to the point, that the identity of the
subject of inward experience is all that we require. So far
as, and so long as, the soul knows itself as this identical
subject, it is, and is named, simply for that reason, sub-
stance. But the attempt to find its capacity of thus knowing
itself in the numerical unity of another underlying substance
is not a process of reasoning which merely fails to reach
an admissible aim ; it has no aim at all. That which is
not only conceived by others as unity in multiplicity, but
knows and makes itself good as such, is, simply on that
account, the truest and most indivisible unity there can be.
But in Kant's mind, so at least it seems to me, the prejudice
is constantly recurring, that a thing may in a certain peculiar
sense be unity, and that this is metaphysically a much
prouder achievement than merely to make itself good as
N 2
C8o THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Bookpn,
jnity, since this last capacity may perhaps also belong to
;hat which is not really or numerically one.
245. A further question now becomes inevitable. On
ivhat does this living unity of self-consciousness rest ? Or,
to put the problem in its customary and shorter form, what
is the soul, and how are we to decide respecting its destiny,
if our decision can no longer be drawn from the claims
ivhich might be advanced in favour of every substance
is such, according to its traditional conception? Here
igain I need only answer by recalling the preliminary
:onvictions to which our ontology has led us. We know
;hat when we ask ' what ' anything is, we commonly mean
by this word two different things; firstly, that which dis-
tinguishes it from other things, and, secondly, that which
makes it a thing, like other things. The error which it was
our object to avoid lay in the belief that, corresponding to
these two constituents of our conception, there exist in
reality two elements capable of entering into an actual
relation to each other. But we found our most serious
obstacle in the habit of adding to these two constituents of
our idea a third, which though foreign to them is supposed
to guarantee their connexion : this third constituent is that
empty ' matter ' of existence on which the content of things
is supposed to depend. To anyone who is disposed to
agree with me in these ontological conclusions, it must
seem utterly inconceivable that we should ask for the c what '
of a thing, and yet look for the answer in anything except
that which this thing is and does; for that we should
enquire as to its * being, 1 and yet seek this anywhere except
in its activity. And in the same way here it must seem
equally unintelligible that we should suppose we do not
know the soul, because, although we know all its acts,
we are unluckily ignorant of the elastic sphere to which,
according to Kant's comparison, the nature manifested
in these acts is attached ; or that instead of seeking the
living reality of the soul in its production of ideas, emotions,
Chap. I.] NOT A PRE-MUNDANE EXISTENCE. 181
and efforts, we should look for it in a nameless ' being,'
from which these concrete forms of action could not flow,
but in which, after some manner never to be explained,
they are supposed to participate. But I have already
disposed of these generalities, and will not return to them.
Every soul is what it shows itself to be, unity whose life is
in definite ideas, feelings, and efforts. This is its real
nature : and if it were alone in the world, it would be idle
to ask how this reality is possible, since we have long ago
decided that the question how things are made is not
admissible. It is only the fact that the soul is involved in
a larger world, and meets with various fortunes there, that
makes it necessary to seek within this whole the conditions
on which its existence, and the origin or preservation of
that existence, depends. Within this sphere the soul shows
itself to be to a certain extent an independent centre of
actions and re-actions; and in so far as it does so, and
so long as it does so, it has a claim to the title of substance :
but we can never draw from the empty idea of substance a
necessary conclusion to the position which the soul occupies
in the world, as though its modes of action had their ground
and justification in that idea.
It will be obvious against what view this remark is
directed. A pluralism which considers the order of the
world derivable from a number of elements, perfectly inde-
pendent of one another, and subject only to a supple-
mentary connexion through laws, naturally includes in its
idea of the original nature of these elements indestructi-
bility and immutability. Unless then the soul is to be
connected with the juxtapositions of these stable atoms as a
perishable side-effect, the only resource of this view is to in-
clude it among the number of such eternal existences. Thus
the soul can rely upon its rights as a pre-mundane substance,
and rest assured that in no changes of the world, whatever
they may be, can either an origin or an end be ascribed to it.
The fact that this reasoning leads to a double result
1 82 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
is, on the face of it, inconvenient. We might be glad
to accept its guarantee for immortality, although no great
satisfaction is given to our desires by a mere continuity the
nature of which remains undecided ; but the other conclu-
sion which is forced on us at the same time, the infinite
pre-existence of the soul before the earthly life we know,
remains, like the immortality of the souls of all animals,
strange and improbable. Our monistic view has long since
renounced all these ideas. The order of the world, the
existence of all things and their capacity for action, it has
placed wholly and without reserve in the hands of the
one infinite existence, on which alone the possibility of
all interactions was found to rest; and it has nowhere
recognised a prior world of ideal necessity, from which
things might derive a claim to any other lot than that which
the meaning of the whole has given them in order that they
may serve it. Our first and foremost result is therefore
this : the question of the immortality of the soul does not
belong to Metaphysic. We have no other principle for
deciding it beyond this general idealistic conviction ; that
every created thing will continue, if and so long as its con-
tinuance belongs to the meaning of the world ; that every-
thing will pass away which had its authorised place only in
a transitory phase of the world's course. That this principle
admits of no further application in human hands hardly
needs to be mentioned. We certainly do not know the
merits which may give to one existence a claim to eternity,
nor the defects which deny it to others.
246. We cannot pass quite so quickly over the question
of the origin or genesis of the soul. How it can be brought
about, or how the creative power of the absolute begins to
bring it about, that an existence is produced which not only
in accordance with universal laws produces and experiences
effects and alterations in its connexion with others, but also
in its ideas, emotions, and efforts, separates itself from the
common foundation of all things, and becomes to a certain
Chap, ij ORIGIN OF SOUL IN ORGANISM. 183
extent an independent centre, this question we shall no
more attempt to answer than we have others like it. Our
business is not to make the world, but to understand the
inner connexion of the world that is realised already; and
it was this problem that forced us to lay down our limiting
idea of the absolute and its inner creation of countless finite
beings. This idea we found it necessary to regard as the
conception of an ultimate fact ; and we cannot explain the
possibility of the fact by using the images of processes which
themselves spring from it in a way we cannot explain. But
when the life of the soul does arise, it arises before our eyes
in constant conjunction with the physical development of
the organism : and thus questions are suggested as to the
reciprocal relations of two series of events which, as we have
already remarked, cannot be compared, and which therefore
might seem inaccessible to one another. Where, we may
be asked, does the soul arise, and in what way does it come
into this body which is just beginning to be, and which was
destined for it; since we are forbidden to regard it as a
collateral effect of the physical forces, and as having its
natural birthplace in this very body? The question may
seem natural, and yet it is only an imagination accustomed
to strange images which can ask it. We are not to picture
the absolute placed in some remote region of extended
space, and separated from the world of its creations, so that
its influence has to retraverse a distance and make a journey
in order to reach things; for its indivisible unity, omni-
present at every point, would fill this space as well as
others. Still less ought we, who hold this space to be a
mere phenomenon, to imagine a cleft between finite beings
and the common foundation of all things, a cleft which
would need to be bridged by miraculous wanderings.
Wherever in apparent space an organic germ has been
formed, at that very spot, and not removed from it, the
absolute is also present. Nor, I must once more repeat,
is it simply this class of facts which compels us to assume
1 84 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
such an action of the absolute. We may regard the process
by which things that possess a life and soul are formed as
something unusual and superior ; but the presence of the
absolute which makes this process possible is no less the
basis necessarily implied in the most insignificant interaction
of any two atoms. Nor again do we think of its presence
as a mere uniform breath which penetrates all places and
this particular spot among them, like that subtle, formless,
and homogeneous ether from which many strange theories
expect the vivification of matter into the most various forms :
but the absolute is indivisibly present with the whole inner
wealth of its nature in this particular spot, and, in obedience
to those laws of its action which it has itself laid down,
necessarily makes additions to the simple conjunctions
of those elements which are themselves only its own con-
tinuous actions, simple additions where the conjunctions
are simple, additions of greater magnitude and value where
they are more complicated. Everywhere it draws only the
consequences, which at every point of the whole belong to
the premisses it has previously realised at that point. It is
thus that it gives to every organism its fitting soul ; and it is
therefore needless to devise a way or make provision for the
correct choice which should ensure to every animal germ
the soul which answers to its kind. Again, so long as the
soul was regarded as indivisible substance, it could only be
supposed to enter the body at a single instant and in its
entirety : whereas, if we renounce these ideas of an external
conjunction, we need no longer wish to fix the moment at
which the soul enters into a development which at first is
supposed to produce only physical actions.
We have all along regarded the interaction of the absolute
with all the elements of the world as eternal and incessant.
It is present just as continuously in the first development
of the germ; and in the same way there is nothing to
prevent us from looking at the formation of the soul as an
extended process in time, a process in which the absolute
Chap. I.] ORIGIN QUASI-MATERIALISTIC. 185
gradually gives a further form to its creation. Doubtless
we shall never be able to picture this process to ourselves;
but at any rate there is no force in the possible objection
that such a gradual development contradicts the unity of the
soul. For we are speaking, not of a composition of pieces
already present in separation, but of the successive trans-
formations of something established at the beginning of the
process. And if this again should seem to contradict the
idea of one unchangeable substance, I recur to my previous
assertion ; it is not because the soul is substance and unity
that it asserts itself as such, but it is substance and unity, as
soon as, and in so far as, it asserts itself as such ; and if it
does this gradually in a greater degree, and with a growing
significance, I should not hesitate to distinguish in its
substantiality, and in the intensity of its unity, countless
different grades which it traverses by degrees when first
it is being formed, and the last and highest of which it may
perhaps be incapable of reaching during the whole of its
terrestrial and super-terrestrial existence.
And now, after our picture has been thus altered,
collecting its various traits, I may return to an earlier
statement : if anyone were in a position to observe the
first development of the soul, just as with the microscope
we can observe the physical development of the germ, the
result would infallibly be that everything would look to him
exactly as materialism believes it actually to take place.
As the structure progressively differentiated itself, he would
see appearing, not all at once, but by degrees, the faint and
gradually multiplying traces of psychical activity; but
nowhere would he meet with the sudden irruption of a
power, which seemed foreign to the play of the elements
active before his eyes : he would see the whole condition
of things which has been thought to justify the view that
all psychical life is a side-effect of the physical process of
formation. This condition of things we admit; and the
view based on it we reject. All the single manifestations
1 86 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
which could thus be observed might no doubt be regarded
as products of the interaction of the physical elements ; but
the unity of consciousness, to which at a later time our
inward experience testifies, cannot, in the absence of a
subject, be the mere result of the activities 'of a number
of elements, and just as little can this subject be created by
those activities. Nor again is it out of nothing that the
soul is made or created by the absolute ; but to satisfy the
imagination we may say it is from itself, from its own real
nature that the absolute pfojects the soul, and so adds to
'its one activity, the course of nature, that other which, in
the ruling plan of the absolute, is its natural completion.
247, I know well that our metaphysical enquiries are
-constantly and jealously watched by certain side-thoughts
of our own ; and here they raise the question whether we
are not in the interests of the intellect laying down positions
which will afterwards prove fatal to the requirements of the
emotional side of our nature. In subjecting the origin
of psychical life to the dominion of law, are we not once
more reducing the whole course of the world to that
necessary evolution of a mere nature in which no place
remains for any free beginning and, therefore, none for any
guiding providence ? I admit that there is ground for such
doubts, but not that it is my duty to meet them here. If
the need that is expressed in them is a justifiable one, still
it is only where its justification is successful that we can
attempt to satisfy it without cancelling what we have pre-
viously found to be necessary for the theoretic intelligibility
of the world. So long then as psychical life is realised in
countless instances after the same universal patterns, and
so long as the same processes are repeated countless times
in every single soul, we cannot refuse to admit a connexion
which follows universal laws and which here, as elsewhere,
shows like results following on like conditions, and the
same changes in the former following on the same changes
in the latter. We may put aside the question whether this
Chap. I.] INTERACTION BETWEEN DISPARATES. 187
connexion is all that the reality of things conceals or
includes : whatever may be necessary to complete it, it
cannot itself be denied.
There are two directions, therefore, in which a mechanical
point of view may extend its claim over these subjects. It
has been attempted long since in the case of the inward life
of the soul, and the conception of a psychical mechanism
is no longer unfamiliar to us : I have met with less sympathy
for that other idea of a physico-psychical mechanism, the
object of which was to base the commerce between soul
and body on a series of thoughts similar to those which we
apply to the interaction of physical elements. Accepting
with gratitude the pleasanter name 'psycho-physical mechan-
ism/ which by Fechner's ingenious attempts has been
introduced into science, I will once more attempt to defend
those outlines of my theory which I sketched in the
Medicinische Psychologic (1852). According to some views
my proposal is impossible ; and according to others it is
superfluous. The essence of it lay in the attempt to regard
the soul as an existence possessing unity, and the body as a
number of other inter-connected existences, and to regard the
two as the two sides, neither identical nor disconnected, from
the interaction of which mental life proceeds, that life being
in posse based on the proper nature of the soul, but stirred
to actual existence by the influences of the external world.
248. I need not be prolix in opposing those whotadduce
the incomparability of things psychical and material as an
objection against the possibility of any interaction between
them. Admitting this incomparability, it would still be an
unfounded prejudice to suppose that only like can act on
like, and a mistake to imagine that the case of an inter-
action of soul and body is an exceptional one, and that we
are here to find inexplicable what in any action of matter
upon matter we understand. It is only the false idea that
an action or effect 1 is a complete state, transferable from
1 [Cf. 57.
1 88 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
one substrate to the other, which misleads us into demanding
that any two things which are to influence one another
should be homogeneous : for, if that idea were correct, it
would of course follow that , to which the effect passes,
and a, from which it issues, must be sufficiently similar to
give it admittance in the same way. But, as a matter of
fact, the form of any effect proceeds from the nature of that
on which the external cause acts, and is not determined
exclusively by the latter ; and no species of conditions can
be adduced, the presence of which is indispensable to enable
one thing a to excite another thing b so to manifest its
own nature. To our sensuous imagination, it is true, no
interaction but that of similar elements (similar at least in
their external appearance) presents itself as a connected
image ; but it is only our sensuous imagination that seeks
to retain for every case of action the homogeneous character
which it fancies it understands to be an essential condition
in this particular case. And this is just where it deceives
itself. I have frequently pointed out how often we suppose
ourselves to understand something, when our senses are
simply occupied with a variegated and unbroken series of
phenomena. So long as we are merely looking at the
outside of a machine we do not imagine that we com-
prehend it : but when it is opened and we see how all its
parts fit into one another, and how at last it brings out a
result utterly unlike the impulse first imparted, we think
that we understand its action perfectly. And it really is
clear to us, in so far as the explanation of a complicated
process means its reduction to a concatenation of very
simple actions which we have made up our minds to con-
sider intelligible ; but the action which takes place between
each pair of the simplest links of the chain remains just as
incomprehensible as before, and equally incomprehensible
whether those links are like one another or not. The
working of every machine yet known rests on the fact that
certain parts of it are solid and that these parts communicate
Chap. I.] MATTER AND MIND NOT SEPARATE. 189
their motions ; but how the elements manage to bind one
another into an unchanging shape, and how they can
transmit motions and this is what is essential in the process
of the action of matter upon matter remains invisible, and
the similarity of the parts concerned in the action adds
nothing to its intelligibility. When then we speak of an
action taking place between the soul and material elements,
all that we miss is the perception of that external scenery
which may make the influence of matter on matter more
familiar to us, but cannot explain it. We shall never see
the last atom of the nerve impinging on the soul, or the
soul upon it ; but equally in the case of two visible spheres
the impact is not the intelligible cause of the communication
of motion ; it is nothing but the form in which we can
perceive something happening which we do not com-
prehend*
The mistake is to desire to discover indispensable con-
ditions of all action ; and we are only repeating this mistake
in another form when we declare the immaterial soul, as
devoid of mass, incapable of acting mechanically on a dense
material mass, or conceive it as an invulnerable shadow,
inaccessible to the attacks of the corporeal world. We
might without hesitation take an opposite point of view, and
speak of the soul as a definite mass at every moment when
it produces an effect measurable by the movement of a cor-
poreal mass. And in doing so we should be taking none
of its immateriality from it ; for with bodies also it is not
the case that they are first masses and then and therefore
produce effects or act ; but according to the degree of their
effects they are called masses of a certain magnitude. -The
soul again is no less capable of receiving effects through the
stimulus of material elements than they are from one an-
other, although it does not stand face to face with them in
an equally perceptible shape ; for as between those elements
themselves shape and movement, impact and pressure,
determine nothing but the external appearance behind
1 90 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
which, and the scene on which, the imperceptible process
of action goes on.
And, lastly, in our present metaphysical discussion we
need not have entered on these objections at all. We have
given up that simple and thorough division of reality, which
places matter on one side and the mind on the other, con-
fident and full of faith in regard to the former, timid and
doubtful about the latter. Everything we supposed our-
selves to know of matter as an obvious and independent
existence, has long since been dissolved in the conviction
that matter itself, together with the space, by filling which it
seemed most convincingly to prove its ^peculiar nature, is
nothing but an appearance for our perception, and that this
appearance arises from the reciprocal effects which exist-
ences, in themselves super-sensuous, produce on one
another and, consequently, also upon the soul. There
may, therefore, be some other way in which the soul is
separated from these existences ; but it is not parted from
them by the gulf of that incomparability which is supposed
to be a bar to all interaction.
249. So long as we believe this gulf to exist, we naturally
try to bridge it, and therefore raise the pointless question
respecting the bond which holds body and soul together.
What is the use of a bond except to hold together things
which, being perfectly indifferent to each other and destitute
of all interaction, threaten to fall asunder ? And how is a
bond to do its work except through the connexion of its
own parts, a connexion which one cannot suppose to be in
its turn effected by new bonds between these parts, but
which must rest in the end on their own interactions ?
And if in this instance it is clear that the binding force of
the bond consists simply in the interactions which flow from
the inner relations of its parts to one another, why should
the case be different between the body and soul ? Their
union consists in the fact that they can and must act on one
Another, and no external bond which embraced them both
Chap. I.] SOUL WHY NOT MERE CONSEQUENCE? 191
could supply the place of this capacity and necessity, unless
its inclusion of them were already based on their own
natures. Besides, how poverty-stricken is the idea of this
single bond, which in our parsimony we fancy will suffice
us ! Even supposing it to exist, where are we to find the
positive ground of the nature and form of those actions or
effects which, as a matter of fact, take place ? The reason
for their existence cannot be found by another appeal to the
indifferent bond ; it would have to be sought in the peculiar
natures of the things connected. Whatever number of
different interactions body and soul can effect in virtue of
the relation of their natures, so many bonds are there which
unite them and hold them together : but to look for the one
nameless bond which should take the place of all these, is
vain, absurd, and wearisome. Even if we understand it to
be merely a conditio sine qua non for the exercise of capa-
cities based on something else, we still must refuse to admit
it ; for the body and soul were never separated from one
another like two bodies which cannot act on one another
chemically until they are brought together. One word,
lastly, on the sarcasm which reproaches us with forming the
personality of man by adding two ingredients together. It
is just this addition that is made by the one external bond ;
and what we want is not it but the multiplicity of a complex
double and united life. But in spite of this unity we do not
look for man's personality in body and soul alike, but in the
soul alone. We seek in the body only the echo or appear-
ance of its action ; for the body is and remains for the soul
a part of the external world, though that part which it can
most directly rule and to whose influence it is most im-
mediately susceptible.
250. There is another question on which I wish to touch,
and these remarks at once suggest it. If the interaction of
body and soul is an easy matter, why not go a step further,
instead of still maintaining a separation into two interacting
sides? At how many points have we come close to an
192 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
opposite view ! We did not regard the soul as something
steadfast in itself from eternity, something which enters as
an indissoluble substance into the machinery of the body's
formation ; we admitted that they arise together. Even the
supposition that the soul arises gradually according as the
bodily organization approaches its completion, did not seem
to us impossible. What is there now to hinder the con-
fession that it is simply a consequence of this physical
concatenation of atoms ? And if on the other side it is
conceded that, so long as we abide by the customary
physical ideas, we cannot deduce the origin of a psychical
process from the co-operation of material atoms, why need
we hold to those ideas ? Why not adopt that wider view,
which holds that if a number of elements meet together,
then, according as the number of the connected parts and
the multiplicity of their relations increase, perfectly new
effects or actions may be connected with those meeting
elements, effects which do not follow on the interaction of
two atoms alone, and which therefore we never can discover,
so long as we try to find the conclusions of such complicated
premisses by merely adding together the interactions of
each pair of them?
In answering this question I must first go back to an
earlier statement. Even supposing we could unreservedly
approve of these ideas, still the only purpose we could put
them to would be to deduce from them what is given us in
experience ; that must not be put aside as a matter for
doubt, on the ground that our presuppositions are not found
to lead to it. Now what is connected with these associations
of many elements is not merely psychical states, phenomena,
events, or whatever we like to call them. For each of these
results inexorably demands a subject, whose state or stimu-
lation it is ; and psychical life, so far as it is a given object
of inward experience, includes for us the fact of a unity of
this subject, to which the events we have spoken of are or
can be referred as something that befalls it. I will not re-
Chap. I.I POSSIBLE SPONTANEITY OF SOUL. 193
peat my demonstration that the analogy of the formation of
physical resultants can never lead us to this unity, unless we
take beforehand as a fixed point the unity of the subject in
which a variety of elements is to combine : I will only add
that the ideas I have been mentioning offer no new expedient
which could lead us beyond that deduction of resultants.
Since so much that is new has to arise from the combination
of the atoms, it seems to me that we should have to make
up our minds to the final step, and maintain that from a
certain definite form of this combination there also arises,
as a new existence, that one subject, that very soul which
collects in itself the states previously scattered among the
subjects of the individual atoms. But the mere admission
that psychical unity springs from physical multiplicity is no
merit in the theory; it simply states the supposed fact, and
so gives expression to a very familiar problem, but it offers
us no further explanation of it. On the other hand, the
expression employed is scarcely peculiar to the view in
question ; for the psychical unity of which it speaks is simply
what we mean by the word substance. It is under this title
then, as substance, that the soul would become the founda-
tion on which our account of the rest of its life would be
based ; for by nothing short of this should we have complied
with the postulates which experience imposes on our at-
tempts at explanation. And at this point I should take
leave to pursue the same point of view still further. Ac-
cording to it, it is possible that a certain state of things
may be the real ground of a consequence which we cannot
analytically deduce from it but can only conjoin to it as
something new; but if this is so, it is possible that the soul,
once arisen, may go its own way and unfold activities which
have their sufficient ground in it alone (when once it has
come into being), and not in the least in those other facts
which led to its creation. There would remain therefore
not a shadow of necessity for the proposal to connect with
every activity of the soul as its producing condition a corre-
MBTAPHYSIC, VOL. II. O
194 THE CONCEPTION OF TffE SOUL. [Bookrlll.
spending activity of the body, and we should simply come
back to that psycho-physical mechanism which allows each
side a sphere of interaction, but at the same time accords
to each a field for an activity of its own in which the other
has no constant share.
251. I have still something to add to our hypothesis.
' When the elements /, q, r . ., are combined in the form F
an effect or action Z is conjoined with them, which does
not follow from the single effects of the elements when
taken in pairs : ' this is a pleasing expression, and one that
satisfies the imagination. But who has conjoined the effect
with them ? Or, not to insist unfairly on the words, how
are we to conceive the fact that a law holds good for the
various elements/, q, r. ., which determines the effect Z for
their form of combination F1 How are we to conceive
this other fact, that those elements take notice that at a
given moment this F is present, i. e. that a case has arisen
for the application of the law which was not present the
moment before ? Or lastly, if we recollect that that form
of combination signifies nothing but an affection of those
elements already present in them, in consequence of which
they are no longer/, ^, r . ., but TT, *, p . ., still the question
would remain, how did this change in the state of each
become noticeable by every other, so that they could all
conspire to produce the further action Z? I have already
raised these questions more than once, and the necessary
answer to them has seemed to be that the course of the
world is not comprehensible by a pluralism which starts
with an original multiplicity of elements reciprocally indif-
ferent, and hopes afterwards through the mere behest of
laws to force them to take notice of each other. Apart
from the unity of the encompassing Reality which is all
things at once and which determines their being and nature,
it is impossible to conceive the arising of any action at a
given place and time, whether that action be one of those
the content of which we believe to be deducible from the
Chap. I.] THE SUBJECT IN PSYCHO-PHYSICS. 195
given circumstances, or one of those which can only be re-
garded as a new addition to them. I repeat this here in
order to defend the hypothesis of the preceding paragraph.
For I should certainly never set anyone the task, out of ten
elements to make an eleventh arise equally real with them.
It is not from them that, on this hypothesis, the substance
of the soul would spring ; nor would it arise above them,
between them, or by the side of them, out of nothing. It
would be a new creation, produced by the one encompassing
being from its own nature as the supplement of its physical
activity there and then operating.
252.. To a certain extent no doubt I should be merely
disputing about words, if I insisted on these statements
still further in opposition to Fechner, considering that his
works testify so fully to his enthusiasm for a unity of all
things which should be at once ideal and effective. Yet it
would not be altogether a verbal quarrel ; I am anxious to
take this opportunity of declaring against a point of view
which may be at any rate surmised from the expressions he
has chosen. After what I have said I need not repeat that,
in my eyes, nothing is gained in the way of clearness by the
invention of the name 'psycho-physical occurrence,' or
* psycho-physical process.' I admit that the expression may
have a meaning when applied to a single element, in which,
as I said before, we conceive physical and psychical stimu-
lations to exist together. But when it is used to explain
that life of the soul, which is supposed to develope itself
from the co-operation of a system of elements, it seems to
me to be attractive only because of its indistinctness.
Where we find it difficult to define the connexion between
two members of a relation which must be kept apart and
distinct, we all feel some weakness for ideas which represent
the two as an original unity and thereby dismiss the object
of our enquiry from the world. In the present case I can
find no clear account of the definite single subject to which
each single instance of this process is ascribed, and no
o 2
196 THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL. [Book III.
statement of the manner in which these actions or effects
work into each other and form a composite whole. What
is more important, however, to me is the difference between
the lights in which we view what is perhaps the same set of
ideas. I allude to the general remarks at the end of the
second volume of Fechner's Elemente der Psychophysik (p.
515). In this passage I find that he observes upon and
supplies though in a peculiar form, what I looked for in
vain in other statements of the pluralistic hypothesis. I do
not doubt at all that, for those who are accustomed to the
terminology, the waves and principal waves of the psycho-
physical activity, like its sinking or its rising over certain
thresholds, are something more than short and pictorial
designations of actual facts in the life of the soul ; that they
are signs which, through their capacity of taking a mathe-
matical form, may lead to more definite formulations of
reciprocal relations of those facts. But I cannot help feel-
ing that in these descriptions of what happens the real con-
dition of its happening is also looked for; or, if this is a
misunderstanding, that at any rate there is much provoca-
tion for it. For if no idea of this kind had had a hand in
the matter, many of the explanations that are given would
be in reality nothing but elegant transcriptions of familiar
thoughts into this sign-language, transcriptions which do not
directly advance the enquiry : and the reader will not sup-
pose that he has gained anything by them unless he is
allowed to take these images for the discovery of something
hitherto unknown, of the instrumentation, so to speak, on
which the realisation of the psychical processes rests.
One of the last sentences of this celebrated book (p. 546)
may explain what it is I object to. The substrate of what
is psychical, we are told, is something diffused through the
whole world and connected into a system by universal
forces; the quantity of consciousness depends simply on
the quantity, and not on the quality of the psycho-physical
.motion ; and this quality should rather be connected only
Chap. I.] CASES OF A FORMULA. 197
with the quality of the phenomena of consciousness. Thus
every motion, whatever its form and whatever its substrate,
would, on reaching a certain specified value, contribute
something to consciousness, whether that consciousness be
our own or that of another person or a general conscious-
ness ; and every particular form of motion i.e. every par-
ticular collocation and series of velocity-components would
carry with it its appropriate psychical phenomenon of the
appropriate form, so soon as the components entering into
that form all exceed a certain quantitative value.
' In this way we dispense with the magical charm, the
qualitas occulta, which is supposed to qualify for psychical
effects only this or that exceptional form of motion. 7
' What is unconscious and what is conscious in the world
will represent merely two cases of the same formula, which
is the standard at once of their relation and of their tran-
sition into one another. 1
I maintain nothing respecting the meaning intended in
these words : I maintain only that they may easily be
understood, or misunderstood, to recommend a view, the
admissibility of which I certainly contest. However much
we may bring the phenomena of two different series of
events under one and the same forrnula and I do not
deny that it is possible to do so still all that the formula
in any case does is to describe the phenomena after they
are actually there ; it is not the reason why they are actually
there. If all the hopes here expressed of the psycho-physical
calculus were fulfilled, we should nevertheless still be unable
to dispense with that qualitas occulta> which brings, not to
an exceptional kind of motion, but to every motion the
capacity for an activity which does not lie in the motion
itself. I may be told that what I miss is already included
in the character of the motion as psycho-physical '\ and indeed
it is not so much the meaning of these sentences that I wish
to object to as the manner in which it is expressed. Still
there appears everywhere as something first and foremost a
igS THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL.
universal mechanism, which of itself is supposed to produce
this result, that, in relation to certain forms of motion, there
arises, as their natural and necessary consequence and as
the consequence of nothing beside them, a mental activity;
for even the general formula which is to include conscious
and unconscious as two cases, must obviously, as the common
element of which they are cases, mean not the mere abstract
formula, but always in the last resort that which is itself
unconscious, namely, motion. The beautiful thoughts in
which Fechner contradicts this interpretation will be put
aside by most of his readers as excusable day-dreams ; but
there are many who will make use of his expressions in
order to shelter under a great name their favourite doctrine
of the generatio aequivoca of everything rational from that
which is devoid of reason.
CHAPTER II.
Sensations and the Course of Ideas.
253. OUR mental life is aroused anew at every moment
by sensations which the external world excites. But the
things without us become the cause of our sensation not
through their mere existence, but only through effects
which they produce in us; through motions, in which
either they themselves approach the surface of our body
until they touch it, or which they from their own fixed
position communicate to some medium, and which this
medium in turn propagates from atom to atom up to that
surface. And therefore, though language describes things
as objects which we see and hear, we must not allow these
transitive expressions to suggest the idea that our senses, or
our soul by means of them, exercise some activity which
goes out to seek for the external objects and brings them
to perception. Our attitude is at first one of simple waiting ;
and although when we strain our eyes and ears in listening
or watching we may seem to feel in those organs something
of such an outgoing activity, what we really feel is not this
but a different activity, one by which we place them in
a state of the utmost sensitiveness for the impressions we
expect.
Now it is self-evident that sensations, which we have
at one time and not at another, can only arise from the
alteration of a previous state, and therefore only through
some motion which brings about this alteration. The old
idea therefore that the mere assumption of a specific sub-
200 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
stance or caloric was sufficient to account for our feeling
of heat was, apart from all other objections, intrinsically
false : for this caloric, even if it were present, could not, in
the absence of any motion, produce either the sensation
of heat or those other effects which would prove that it
itself was present. But that is one objection which I fear
will be raised against the doctrine that all our sensations and
perceptions depend on motions of the things which are to be
their objects. From an ontological point of view I regarded
a certain sympathetic rapport as the ultimate ground of
every possible interaction. But, I may be asked, if this
idea is sound, why should not things exist for one another
apart from any physical intermediation ; and why should
not we perceive things immediately, without having to wait
for the impact of their propagated motion on us? That
sympathy, I answer, the name of which was borrowed from
a dubious quarter, was not such a community of all things
as is destitute of order and degree. On the contrary, we
found that the elements of the whole stood to one another
in relations varying widely in their closeness or distance 3
and it was to these elements we ascribed an immediate
sympathy which needs no artificial means for its production.
The degree of this closeness or distance determines for any
two elements the number of intermediates necessary for
their interaction ; necessary, not because the laws of a pre-
mundane system of mechanics would render the interaction
impossible in the absence of these intermediates, but because,
in their absence, it would be in contradiction with the
degree and nature of the relation on which it is founded,
and with that meaning of the whole which again is the
foundation of whatever mechanical laws hold good in the
world. Thus in our view, the motions in question, the
physical stimuli of the senses, are not the instrumental
conditions, which place all things for the first time in rela-
tions to one another and to us, but expressions of that
existing and irremovable network of conditions which the
Chap. II.] EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULUS. 2OI
meaning of the world has established between the states of
those things. We know that in any chain, along which
an action or effect is propagated, there is necessarily pre-
supposed in the last resort a wholly immediate action
between each link and that which lies next to it. The fan-
tastic idea which extends this direct reciprocal influence to
anything and everything, and would accordingly place the
soul in a communion, free from all physical intermediation,
with distant objects, cannot therefore be theoretically proved
impossible. But inability to controvert a point of view
lies a long way from belief in its validity. Considering that
the whole of the known and waking life of the soul is based
throughout upon that physical intermediation, we can only
answer asserted experiences of an interruption of this con-
nexion by the most decided disbelief, and these experiences
could call for attention only if occasioning causes could
be assigned, adequate to produce such remarkable excep-
tions in the course of nature.
254. On their arrival in the body the external stimuli
meet with the system of nerve-fibres prepared for their
reception. The change which they set up in these nerve-
fibres becomes the internal sense-stimulus, which is the
more immediate cause of our sensation. We leave it to
physiology to ascertain exactly what takes place in this
nervous process. The answer to that question could have
a value for psychology only if it were so complete as to
enable us to deduce from the various modifications of the
process the corresponding modifications of the sensation
and to express the relation in a universal law : whereas the
mere subordination of the nervous process under a specific
conception is only of importance for the question whether
we have to consider it as a mere physical process or whether
it is itself something psychical. The latter view is frequently
met with. The sensation is said to be formed already
in the nerve, and to be transferred by it to consciousness.
If this assumption is to have any clearness it must name the
202 SENSA TIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
definite subject to which it ascribes the act of sensation ;
for sensations which nobody has cannot be realities. Now
this subject of sensation could not be found in the whole
nerve, as such, which is an aggregate of unnumbered parts :
it is only each single atom, however many of them we
suppose to be strung together in the whole nerve, that could
be, by itself, a feeling thing. But to this difficulty must be
added a familiar fact. The external sense-stimulus does
not become the cause of a sensation in us, unless the nerve
remains uninterrupted throughout its whole course, from its
peripheral point of stimulus up to the central portions of the
nervous system. If its continuity is broken by a cut, the
influence of the external stimulus on consciousness is re-
moved. Whether the idea, to which this fact naturally
gives rise, is correct or not, the idea that the soul has its
seat in a particular spot to which the incoming impression
must be directed, or in what other way we are to explain
the truth that this integrity of the nerve-fibre is an indis-
pensable condition of our sensation, we need not here
discuss. In any case there is a propagation of the stimula-
tion in the nerve itself, and all its parts cannot be at once
in the state of sensation pre-supposed. But it is impossible
that one and the same sample of sensation can be handed
on from one atom of the nerve to another like a packet ; all
that can happen is that each single element of the nerve
becomes, in virtue of its own state, a stimulus to the next
to produce the same state in itself. Now that this excitation
is not produced by a direct sympathy, is proved by that
interruption to its propagation which results from any
mechanical breach of continuity. Such a sympathy would
pass undisturbed across the point of section, and would
feel no effects from changes in physical relations of which
it would be from its very nature independent.
We are therefore compelled to introduce a physical
connecting link for the effect we have presupposed. Through
the external sense-stimulus there is produced in the first
Chap. II.] TRANSMISSION THROUGH NERVES. 203
nerve-element the physical state r and, in consequence, in
the same element the state of sensation s. By this change
the first element is compelled to awake in the second, its
neighbour, the same state r and, in consequence, the sensa-
tion s. Thus, through the physical impact of one element
on another there would be propagated at the same time the
creation of the corresponding sensation. But where would
this end ? Wherever and however this chain of atoms with
their internal excitations may at last connect itself with the
soul, the sensation of the soul, our sensation, would arise out
of the soul itself simply through the influence of the last
r with which the last nerve-atom stimulates it, in precisely
the same way in which this sensation was produced in link
after link of the chain. Whatever service then can be
rendered by the nerve in aid of the production of our
sensation, it can render just as well by transmitting a merely
physical change, as if each of its atoms experienced the
same psychical state which is to arise in us at the end
of the whole process. A piece of news which passes in the
form of a letter from hand to hand along a series of
messengers, reaches the recipient no more securely and is
no better understood by him if each of the intermediates
knows and feels it. Doubtless we shall never be able to
portray the action of that final r on the nature of the soul ;
but we cannot do so any the more by adding to the physical
process r the sensation j. This s in its turn could only
occasion the production of our sensation S in some per-
fectly indemonstrable way ; it could not itself pass over into
us. On the other hand the propagation in the nerve
of a physical process r up to this mysterious moment,
is something which the fact of experience alluded to
compels us to assume. It is sufficient, therefore, to regard
the nervous process as a propagation of something, taking
place in space and time in a definite direction and with
a definite velocity; the precise nature of that which is
propagated concerns us but little, and, since these are the
ft04 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
tmly forms of its propagation which are of importance, it may
be described as merely physical.
255* The conscious sensation itself, the red or blue that
we see, the sound that we hear, is the third and last link in
this series of occurrences, and it is familiar to us. We know
that this content of sensation admits of no comparison
either with the external sense-stimulus or with the nervous
processes. There is nothing in the redness of red, the blue-
ness of blue, or the sound of the heard tone, which suggests
a larger or smaller number of vibrations of a medium ; yet
science has indirectly discovered such vibrations to be the
occasion of these sensations. In the same way they give us
no information respecting that which directly occasions them,
the process which goes on in the optic or auditory nerve at
the moment when these sensations are produced in us;
they are consequences, not copies, of their stimuli. Thus
they are internal phenomena in the soul, and in this sense
of the words the doctrine of the subjectivity of all sensations
has long been the property of philosophy and required
no acquaintance with the functions of the nerves.
There is another sense of the words, according to which
the sensations are held to be merely internal phenomena,
and the external world to be neither resonant nor silent,
neither bright nor dark, but to possess only mathematical
predicates of number and magnitude, of motions and their
complications ; and in this sense of the words the doctrine
was. in antiquity an insufficiently proved inference, and
it remains so for the physiology of the present day. None
of the proofs which are commonly appealed to in support of
it, can close every way of escape to the opposite view.
Anyone who wishes to maintain that things themselves
remain red or sweet, will affirm, as we do, that it is not
through their being that they can appear to us as they are,
but only through effects which, in accordance with their
nature, they prdduce on us. These effects or actions, which
proceed from them and are sense-stimuli to us, are no doubt
Chap. II.] SENSATION SPECIFIC ENERGIES. 205
only motions and themselves neither red nor sweet; but
what is there to prevent our supposing that, by acting
through our nerves, they make that same redness or sweet-
ness arise, as our sensation, in our souls, which also attaches
as a quality to the things themselves? Such a process
would be no more wonderful than the performances of the
telephone, which receives waves of sound, propagates them
in a form of motion quite different, and in the end conducts
them to the ear retransformed into waves of sound. Any-
thing which deprives things of the medium through which
their excitations could reach us ; anything again which has
beforehand imparted to the medium motions which prevent
the passage of those excitations, would of course either
hinder things from appearing to us at all or would make
them appear with other qualities, and so would lead us
to suppose that none of these qualities belong to things
themselves at all.
There are no individual proofs by which these assertions
could be controverted ; and yet the doctrine of the mere
subjectivity of the qualities of sensation is certainly sound.
Their own nature makes it impossible for us really so to
represent them to ourselves as qualities of things, as we
profess to do. There is no meaning in speaking of a bright-
ness seen by nobody at all, of the sound of a tone which no
one hears, of a sweetness which no one tastes : they are all
as impossible as a toothache which nobody has got. There
is only one place in which what is meant by these words
can possibly exist, the consciousness of a feeling being;
and there is only one way in which it can exist, the way of
being felt by that being. Without doubt then, things are
red only so far as they appear to us ; in itself a thing could
only have a particular look if it could look at itself.
266. According to a theorem of the doctrine of specific
energies, every nerve, by whatever stimulus excited, invari-
ably calls forth sensations of one and the same kind, the.
.special sensations of its own sense; and it makes no differ-
206 SRNSA TIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
ence whether the stimulus is one appropriate to the nerve
or not. If this were a fact, its physical reason would not be
hard to imagine. Let us take a composite system of parts.
External stimuli, so long as they are not so violent as to
destroy the internal connexions of this system, will cause
a motion followed by an effort to return to equilibrium;
and these will take place in forms which essentially depend
on the structure of the system, which in that case remains
unchanged. So with the nerve ; disturbances of a certain
magnitude would injure it; but to less violent stimuli it
would always respond with the same reactions, and these
reactions would depend on its peculiar structure. But then,
if these reactions are to be different in the case of every
single nerve, the structure of the various nerves must
be different ; and this variety of structure we do not find in
the nerves themselves, though we may perhaps look for it
in the central portions to which they lead.
But in any case the facts themselves are generalised in
this theorem to an extent which actual observation does
not justify. We know nothing of waves of sound which
produce in the eye a sensation of light, nor of waves of
light which produce tones in the ear. The main support of
the hypothesis lies in the sensations of light which fre-
quently arise in the eye from impact or pressure, as well as
from electrical stimulation. But there are other considera-
tions which compel us to assume in the media of the eye
the presence of the same ether which serves for the diffusion
of the light outside ; and accordingly, when in consequence
of impact the ponderable elements of the tense eyeball fall
into oscillation, we can scarcely help supposing that they
impart this oscillation at the same time to the ether. Thus
the same objective motion of light which commonly, as an
adequate stimulus, comes from without, may be excited in
the eye by this oscillation of the eyeball, and a similar
motion might be excited by electric currents ; such motion
not being sufficient to cast any observable rays outwards,
Chap. II.] SENSATIONS NOT DEDUCIBLE. 207
but strong enough to stimulate the nerve to produce a sen-
sation of light. Again, in the case of the inadequate stimuli
which actually do create a sensation of sound, the question
is prudently avoided whether they may not do so by
accidentally exciting such vibrations as form the natural
stimulus of the auditory nerves. The excitation of taste by
electricity certainly depends on the adequate stimulus, the
chemical processes which are here set up ; the notion that
it can also be produced by laceration of the tongue seems
to have been an illusion, and it will be useless for insipid
dishes to look for help in this quarter : and as to the
remaining sensations, we do not know at all what the
adequate form of the stimuli is which actually must reach
the nerves in order to produce them.
We may leave it therefore to physiology to decide
whether the real meaning of the present widely-spread
doctrine of the division of labour is not rather this ; that
every nerve is excited to its function only by its own
adequate stimulus, and that other stimuli either leave it
unaffected or else interfere with it,, but that at the same time
there are stimuli of various kinds which, along with their
own effects, frequently produce the adequate stimuli as
side-results. The only interest psychology has in the
question lies in opposing the fondness for a mysterious
psychical activity which, on the authority of the facts I have
mentioned, is attributed to the nerves and not to the soul,
to which it really belongs. To speak of a substance of the
sense of sight, and to say that this -substance converts every
possible motion that reaches it into a sensation of light,
is not to describe facts, but to use a piece of physiological
metaphysic ; of which I am not sure that it is at all more
elegant than the metaphysic of philosophy.
257. However complete the separation may be between
sensations and the stimuli which occasion them, these two
series of occurrences are, as a matter of fact, connected, and
we shall not suppose that this connexion of fact is destitute
208 SENSA T20NS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
of any principle. We shall always find ourselves presuppos-
ing that like groups of sensations correspond to like groups
of stimuli, and different groups of the one to different
groups of the other; that the difference of these classes
of sensation is proportional to the difference which exists
between the classes of stimuli ; that wherever the stimuli of
a given group are arranged in a progressive series or, in
their progress, reach marked points of eminence, the corre-
sponding sensations are arranged in a similar series and
accordingly reproduce both the progress and the points
of eminence ; that, lastly, in the unity of the soul its various
kinds of sensation not only are together as a fact, but in
their meaning are coherent according to some rule, though
that rule may not be expressible in mathematical terms.
But of an empirical confirmation of this presupposition we
find but faint traces. Not only is it impossible to say why-
waves of ether must necessarily be felt as light ; but, even
if this fact were given as a starting-point, no theory, however
much it emphasized the unity of the soul, could prove that
this same soul must in consistency perceive waves of sound
as tones, and other affections as taste or smell. So far as we
can see, that unity produces, from a nature of its own
which is quite unknown to us, the various classes of sensa-
tion, each for itself and apart from the others; and, even
after we have come to know them, all that we can connect
with their impressions are vague and fantastic ideas respect-
ing the organization of a universal realm of sensations.
Again, when we come to the individual groups, the only
one which confirms our supposition is the group of sounds.
Here the increase in the height of a tone corresponds to an
increase in the number of waves within a given unit of time.
The ascending scale, which is just as clearly an ascent as is
the increase in the number of waves and yet is quite unlike
that increase, repeats in its own specific form the progress in
the series of stimuli. Wherever this series attains, through
the doubling of a previous number of waves, a marked im-
Chap. II.] SENSATION AND STIMULUS. 209
port, there the sensation follows with the marked impression
of the octave of the key-note, and thus again in its own
particular way represents sensuously the likeness and differ-
ence of the two series. On the other hand the colours,
though their prismatic order rests on a similar increase in
the number of waves, give no one who is unprejudiced
the impression of a similar progress ; and the reason of this
possibly lies in the peculiar nature of the nervous process
which intervenes between the stimulus and sensation, and
which we cannot take into consideration because we do not
know it. In the cases of the remaining senses we have no
exact knowledge of the nature of their stimuli, nor have
we succeeded in discerning any fixed relations between their
individual sensations. We do not possess even names for
the various smells, except such as describe them by their
origin or their incidental effects ; and among the multitude
of tastes the only ones that can be distinguished as well-
defined are the four forms of acid, alkaline, sweet, and
bitter. Hypothetical theories carry us no further. In the
case of sight and hearing alone we know that each sensation
rests on the total effect of a very large number of successive
impulses, and changes with the alterations of this number
within the given unit of time ; whether the single impact of
a wave of light or sound would be observable by our senses,
and if so in what way, is utterly unknown to us. Still we
can generalise this fact with some probability. Perhaps
it is true of all our sensations that they rest not on a con-
stant and indiscriminate stream of excitation, but on the
number of alternations of excitation and non-excitation
included in a certain time ; the nature of the process, which
thus in the form of oscillation stimulates the soul, might be
a matter of less importance, and the same perhaps for
all the nerves. But then again this supposition makes it no
easier to connect the various kinds of sensation with one
another in a progressive series; and we have further to
admit the possibility that our human senses do not include
METAPHVSIC t VOLlI. P
210 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Biok III.
the whole range of sensible existence, and that other living
beings may have other forms of sensation unknown to us and
answering to processes which entirely escape our perception.
268. There is at any rate one point at which the modern
psycho-physical investigations have resulted in the begin-
nings of an exact knowledge regarding the relation between
sensation and stimulus. The commonest observation of
a brightening light or a rising sound shows us that our
senses can detect very slight alterations in the strength of an
impression. But we never reach a moment at which,
judging merely by the direct impression, we could say that
one brightness was twice or thrice as strong, or one sound
half as strong, as another. In consequence of this inability
to reduce to numerical equivalents the more and less which
we perceive, it is impossible for us to place a series of values
of stimuli side by side with the values of the corresponding
sensations, and so to formulate a universal law according to
which the intensity of the latter would depend on the
strength of the former. There is however one judgment we
can pronounce, if not with absolute yet with sufficient
certainty, viz. that there is or is not an observable difference
between two sensations. To this point accordingly were
directed those experiments, the object of which was to
discover, first of all, what amount of increase a stimulus
requires in order that the sensation which belongs to it
as increased may begin to distinguish itself from the sensa-
tion of its previous strength ; or, again, to discover the limit
of slightness down to which the difference between two
strengths of the stimulus can be diminished without remov-
ing the possibility of the sensations being distinguished.
With regard to the moderate stimuli which are strong
enough to excite a distinct sensation, and yet do not
approach the point at which their intensity disturbs the
function of the nerve, Fechner and many others since,
following E. H. Weber's example, have made a very large
number of experiments; and these experiments lead with
Chap. II.] WEBER'S LAW. 211
sufficient unanimity to the result that that difference between
any two stimuli which makes it possible to distinguish
the corresponding sensations from one another, is not
a constant quantity, but, in the case of each class of sensa-
tions, amounts to a definite fraction of the intensity already
possessed by that one of the two stimuli from which we
start. We are not interested in following the various mathe-
matical formulations of Weber's Law, or the corrections
which its application has appeared to render necessary;
we may ascribe the latter to the influence of the particular
circumstances which, as in the case of most natural laws,
prevent the phenomena from answering precisely to a law
which in itself is valid.
The experiments themselves give no further result than
that described above; they do not tell us in what way
the difference between the stimuli makes it possible for
us to distinguish the resulting sensations whether it is
by producing a difference of strength between these sen-
sations, or whether we are aided by qualitative changes
set up in the content of the sensation and dependent on the
difference of the stimuli. Nothing but our direct impression
can decide this point, and it certainly does not seem to me
that this impression speaks quite clearly in favour of the
first alternative. A concentrated solution of an acid does
not simply give us the same taste in a stronger form which
a more diluted one gives us in a weaker form ; it also tastes
different. Two degrees of heat, though they rest on differ-
ences of intensity in the same stimulus, are felt as
different sensations and not merely as different degrees
of strength in the same sensation. If this is .not so
clear in the case of slight differences, the fact is all the
clearer that our direct impression makes us speak of heat
and cold as two positive opposites, and does not lead us
to recognise in them mere differences of degree. Lastly,
no one who experiments on degrees of brightness by means
of shadows compared with the ground on which they are
p 2
2 1 2 SENS A TIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
thrown, feels sure that he is merely comparing differences
of intensity in the same sensation ; the shadow is not only
a less degree of illumination, but it looks different from
the brighter ground black if it is on a white ground.
I do not wish to lay any great stress on these doubts;
still they would have to be removed before we could follow
with entire security the theory which deduces from the
experiments I have alluded to a law respecting the strength
belonging to the sensation, and its dependence on the
strength of the stimuli. Supposing them removed, we
should then regard the transition from the point at which
two sensations are indistinguishable to that at which their
difference is just observable, as an increase, the same in
amount in all cases, in the strength of the first of the two,
and so the law in question would take this form : Where
the intensity of a sensation increases by equal differences,
that is, in arithmetical progression, it implies in the strength
of the stimulus an increase in geometrical progression.
Thus the activity of sensation would be one of those
activities which it becomes increasingly difficult to heighten
as the degree of liveliness already attained increases.
259. Our present result, according to which the sensation
does not follow the growing strength of the stimulus at
an equal speed, would not, if taken by itself, present any
extraordinary problem. But none of the theories which
have been formed on this point explain why the continuous
curve of growth in the strength of the stimulus is not
continuously followed by the slower augmentation in the
strength of the sensation, why, on the contrary, there re-
mains an interval throughout which the stimulus strengthens
without showing any result, until at last, on its reaching
a final degree of strength, it produces an observable differ-
ence in the sensation. This difficulty, I think, is most
easily met by the physiological view which attempts to
explain it by reference to the mode in which the nerves
are excited. It is a problem soluble in mechanics, so
Chap. II.] HYPO THESES ON WEBER'S LAW. 213
to construct a system of material parts that a force which
impels continuously is nevertheless prevented by internal
hindrances from exerting its influence except intermittently
at certain moments. Following this analogy we should have
to suppose a structure of the nerve of such a kind that,
given a certain attained degree of excitation, a definite
concentration and heightening of that excitation is necessary
before such a motion of the nerve can be produced as will
afford a stimulus to the rise of a new sensation ; thus the
sensation would increase in intensity proportionally to these
intermittent excitations. On the other hand, we do not in
the least know how and where such an arrangement is to be
presumed in the nervous system. There is less probability
to my mind in the second hypothesis, according to which
the nervous excitation increases proportionally to the
stimulus and continuously. This hypothesis has to look
to the nature of sensation itself for the reason both of
the slower rate and of the want of continuity in its increase ;
there is nothing in the mere idea of sensation which could
with any probability be supposed to take the place of the
machinery which must, ex hypothesi^ be absent. Nor'is the
solution offered by the third view more convincing. The
sensation, it tells us, increases in strength proportionally
to the stimulus and the nervous process, but perception
brings the actually increased intensity of the sensation to
consciousness in a different relation and discontinuously.
The separation of these two processes, the sensation and
the perception of what is felt, we shall be able to justify
later on; but we certainly shall not be able to find in
the nature of a perceiving activity, as such, any reason for
its not perceiving something. If the idea could be made
plausible, that the act of distinguishing two impressions an
act which is always at the same time an act of comparison
is guided not by single differences between them, but by
their geometrical relation, still the only deduction we could
draw from this idea would be that, given two pairs of im-
214 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE
pressions, this act would find an equally great difference
between the members of each pair, supposing that in both
cases these members stood to one another in the same
ratio. But I do not know why that act should fail to dis-
tinguish at all those which did not stand in that ratio.
260. No method has yet been discovered of experi-
mentally determining the consequences which result from
simultaneous impressions on different senses; it is even
doubtful what goes on when the same sense is excited in
several ways at once. We are accustomed to the notion of
a mechanism of ideas ; but the attempt to go further and
to oppose to it the notion of a chemistry of ideas, can
be met only with the utmost distrust. As long as two
external stimuli a and b are producing effects in the same
nerve-element, there must ensue, in this physical sphere,
the formation of that resultant c which the conjunction of
all the mechanical conditions renders possible and therefore
necessary. To this resultant c> which alone reaches the
soul as an exciting motive, corresponds the simple sensation
7 ; and this y is not the resultant of the two sensations
a and /3 which the two stimuli, if taken separately, would
have produced, but appears instead of them, since they are
unable to arise. If, on the other hand, we suppose that
a and b y either because they are transmitted in different
nerve- elements, or because they do not form one indis-
tinguishable resultant within the nerve, have actually pro-
duced the two sensations a and ft the result will be that
the contents of the two sensations do not blend in con-
sciousness into a third simple sensation, but remain apart
and form the necessary pre-requisite of every higher activity
of mind in the way of comparison and judgment.
At the same time I must allow that there are objections
to this last view. For though the theoretical assertion that
the soul is compelled by its own oneness to attempt to fuse
all its internal states into an intensive unity, could decide
nothing so long as our inward experience offered no
Chap. II.] SIMUL TANEOUS STIMULI. 2 1 5
example of such a result, it is on the other hand indubitable
that the simultaneous assault of a variety of different stimuli
on different senses, or even on the same sense, puts us into
a state of confused general feeling in which we are certainly
not conscious of clearly distinguishing the different impres-
sions. Still it does not follow that in such a case we have
a positive perception of an actual unity of the contents
of our ideas, arising from their mixture ; our state of mind
seems to me rather to consist in (i) the consciousness of
our inability to separate what has really remained diverse,
and (2) in the general feeling of the disturbance produced
in the economy of our body by the simultaneous assault
of the stimuli. As to the first point, I recur to that dis-
tinction of sensation and perception, to which we found
the psycho-physical theory obliged to appeal. The act
of distinguishing two sensations is never a simple sensation ;
it is an act of referring and comparing, which may supervene
on those sensations, but need not always do so. Where it
is prevented, the result is not that the sensations melt into
one another, but simply that the act of distinguishing them
is absent ; and this again certainly not so far that the fact
of the difference remains entirely unperceived, but only
so far as to prevent us from determining the amount of the
difference, and from apprehending other relations between
the different impressions. Anyone who is annoyed at one
and the same time by glowing heat, dazzling light, deafening
noise, and an offensive smell, will certainly not fuse these
disparate sensations into a single one with a single content
which could be sensuously perceived ; they remain for him
in separation, and he merely finds it impossible to be con-
scious of one of them apart from the others. But, further,
he will have a feeling of discomfort what I mentioned
above as the second constituent of his whole state. For
every stimulus which produces in consciousness a definite
content of sensation, is also a definite degree of disturbance
and therefore makes a call upon the forces of the nerves ;
2 J6 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
and the sum of these little changes, which in their character
as disturbances are not so diverse as the contents of con-
sciousness they give rise to, produce the general feeling
which, added to the inability to distinguish, deludes us into
the belief in an actual absence of diversity in our sensations.
It is only in some such way as this, again, that I can
imagine that state which is sometimes described as the
beginning of our whole education, a state which in itself
is supposed to be simple, and to be afterwards divided into
different sensations by an activity of separation. No activity
of separation in the world could establish differences where
no real diversity existed ; for it would have nothing to guide
it to the places where it was to establish them, or to indicate
the width it was to give them. A separation can only
proceed from a mixture of impressions which continue to be
diverse, and then only if, owing to favourable circumstances,
the single constituents of the mixture are, one after the
other, raised above the rest by an access of strength, so as
to facilitate comparison and the apprehension of the width
of the individual differences : if ideas of the single im-
pressions have once been acquired, it may then be possible
to dissociate them even in the unfavourable case of such
a mixture as that described above. In this way it might
perhaps happen that many apparently simple sensations may
be dissociated into several sensations of the same kind ; for
example, in a colour we might separate the other colours
which formed its constituents, or in a tone the partial tones
of which we were unconscious at first, or in tastes and smells
the elementary sensations which were combined in a variety
of different ways and of which at present we have no know-
ledge. Thus within these narrow limits a real chemistry
of sensations, combining different elements into a new
quality of sensation, is not inconceivable. But after all our
experience up to the present time it remains uncertain
whether this intermingling into new resultants has not in all
cases already taken place among the physical excitations
Chap. II.] ' DISAPPEARANCE OF SENSA TION. 2 1 7
in the nerve or in the central portions of the nervous
system.
From these premises again, a conclusion might be drawn
respecting those sensations which attach to others in the
way of contrast, and do not need a particular external
stimulus. I do not think they can be considered reactions
of the soul unoccasioned by anything physical. It might be
possible to take that view of the false estimates of magnitude
which make a sudden silence ensuing on deafening noise,
or a darkness ensuing on dazzling light, appear extra-
ordinarily deep; for these are not sensations, but com-
parisons. And yet even in these cases the probable cause
of the judgment is the distance between the degrees of
excitation in the nerve, a distance just as great as that
between the sensations. But a colour ft cannot attach to
another a by way of contrast or complement through a mere
reaction of the soul. Even if we imagine in the soul a dis-
turbance which seeks a compensating adjustment, the aim
of that search can be no more than an opposite Non-a, the
whereabouts of which is unknown. That it is ft and nothing
but ft which gives the desired satisfaction we know only
from experience ; to seek the reason of the fact in a com-
parison of the two impressions a and ft, is to seek it in
something far from self-evident; it must lie in the way
in which the nerve acts, and this activity of the nerve must
attach the excitation which leads to ft to the excitation
which produces a, in the character of an effort to attain
equilibrium.
261. Neither observation nor theory have so far thrown
any light upon the interval which intervenes between the
occurrence of a sensation and its disappearance from con-
sciousness. If we say that it gradually diminishes in
strength until at last it reaches zero or disappears below the
threshold of consciousness, we merely describe what we
think we can imagine to be going on ; no one can observe
the process, since the attention necessary for observing it
218 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS: [Book III.
makes it impossible. Whether this hypothetical view has a
sufficient theoretical justification, is doubtful. Beside the
presupposition that a diminution of the activity of repre-
sentation, from its strength at a given moment down to its
disappearance, must be continuous, the physical law of per-
sistence is called in, in order to make the undiminished
continuance of the sensation appear as the natural course
of events, and its disappearance from consciousness as the
problem to be explained. This last idea is not free from
difficulty. A material atom undergoes no internal change
during its motion, at least according to the ordinary view
of that motion, and its state in any new place q is exactly
what it was in its former place/ ; it follows therefore that it
itself contains nothing which would at any point resist a
further motion, and that the cause of the change or the
checking of this motion must come from outside. The soul,
on the other hand, when it feels a, falls into an internal
state differing from its state when it feels ft : if we consider
it capable of reacting against stimuli at all, we must admit
that there may lie in its own nature the permanent motive
which stirs it to oppose every one-sided manifestation of its
capacity that may be forced on it, and therefore stirs it also
to eliminate the state of sensation forced on it by the external
stimulus. If indeed it were able completely to annul what
has occurred, it would be wholly impassive and therefore
incapable of interaction ; but might not its opposing effort
be strong enough to repress the sensation into a condition
of permanent unconsciousness?
If we leave this question, which cannot be decided, we
may seek the causes of hindrance or checking partly in the
new impressions which arrive from outside, partly in those
far less familiar ones which are constantly being brought to
the soul by the changing states of the body. The first of
these, the struggle of ideas with one another, served as the
foundation of Herbart's theory of the internal mechanism of
the soul-life. I put aside at present the doubts which are
Chap II.] .CHECKING OF IDEAS. 219
suggested by the metaphysical basis of this theory ; the un-
changeability of a soul which yet experiences changing
internal states ; its effort to fuse them all into a unity, and
the shipwreck of this effort on the differences of the ideas ;
the assumption, lastly, that the soul finds a satisfaction in
at least lessening the strength of the parties whose opposi-
tion it has to tolerate. We accept simply as a hypothesis
what Herbart offers us as the foundation of his theory, the
hypothesis that ideas check one another according to the
degree of their strength and of their opposition; and we
utilise his just rejection of figurative m-jdes of speech.
Consciousness, as he tells us, is not a spa. e in which ideas
appear side by side. Even if it were a space, still the ideas
are not extended things which require a definite place to
exist in, rigid bodies which are incapable of condensation,
and therefore push one another from this narrow stage.
Nor, lastly, is there any original repulsion of ideas against
ideas ; it is only the unity of the soul in which they attempt
to exist at the same time, that turns their mere difference
into a struggle. The question now is, Does our internal
observation confirm these hypotheses?
262. We have in thought to separate two things which
never appear apart in the real world ; the content to which
the activity of representation or sensation is directed, and
this activity itself which makes the content something repre-
sented or felt : to both of these we might attempt to apply
the conceptions (a) of opposition and () of variable strength.
(a) Now I cannot find anything given in internal observation
which testifies to a checking of ideas according to the degree
in which their contents are opposed. Doubtless we hold a
simultaneous sensation of opposite contents through the
same nerve-element to be impossible ; but I do not know
that the idea of the positive and of affirmation exercises any
special repulsion against the idea of the negative and of
negation; on the contrary, every possible comparison of
opposites implies that the two members of the comparison
220 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
do not check one another. If, on the other hand, we apply
the opposition to the representing activity, it is doubtless
self-evident that two of its acts which are opposed in respect
of their action will cancel one another ; but this proposition,
if self-evident, is also fruitless, for we have no right whatever
to presuppose that the ideas of two opposite contents rest
on an opposition of the representing activities in respect of
their mode of action. Thus we do not know where in such
action we are to find oppositions which are to have a me-
chanical value.
(U) The conception of a variable strength of ideas suggests
similar doubts. In the case of the sensations of an actually
operating sense-stimulus, it did not seem worth while to
draw the distinction I have just used ; the hearing of a
louder noise, or the seeing of a brighter light, is always at
the same time a greater activity, excitation, or affection ;
and it is not possible to hear loud thunder as loud and yet
to hear it weakly, or to feel a brighter light to be brighter
and yet to feel it less strongly than a dimmer light. But
the case may well be different with our ideas ; by which
name I understand, in accordance with usage, the image in
memory of an absent impression, as opposed to the sensa-
tion of the present impression. The difference between the
two is clear enough. The remembered light does not shine
as the seen light does ; the remembered tones do not sound
as heard tones do, although they reproduce in their succes-
sion the most delicate relations of a melody; the idea of
the intensest pain does not hurt, and is nothing compared
to the least real injury. I will not enquire whether this
difference is due to the fact that an idea, as a remembrance
having its origin in the soul only, is not accompanied by
any bodily excitation, whereas such an excitation accom-
panies every sensation and is the cause of its beginning and
continuance ; or whether that view is correct which, in spite
of its not receiving much support from the direct impression
of internal experience, assumes that in sensation and idea
Chap. II.1 CLEAR AND DIM IDEAS. 221
alike there is always a physical nervous excitation, and that
the difference in the two cases is only one of degree.
Now whatever we remember we can certainly represent in
idea in all the degrees of which its content is capable ; but
it is not so clear that the representing activity directed to
this content can itself experience the same changes in mag-
nitude. We cannot represent more or represent less to
ourselves one tone of a given height and strength, or one
shade of a colour ; the attempt to do so really introduces a
change in the content, and we are representing a stronger or
weaker tone, a brighter or duller colour, instead of merely
representing more or representing less the same tone and
the same colour. Nor does internal observation give us any
more justification for regarding this activity of representa-
tion, like the activity of sensation, as proportional to the
content to which it is directed. The idea of the stronger
does not call for or cause any stronger excitation or greater
effort than the idea of the weaker. The images of memory
resemble shadows, which do not differ in weight like the
bodies that cast them. Thus it appears so far as if the con-
ception of a variable strength, when applied to our ideas,
may hold good of their content, but not of the psychical
activity, to which the mechanical theory at starting certainly
intended it also to apply.
263. To this it may be objected that the capacity of being
heightened, possessed by the representing activity, cannot be
disclosed by a trial made on purpose. Such an experiment,
it may be said, naturally brings before us the maximum
attainable by that activity in reference to the content chosen,
and does not bring to our notice the lower degrees to which
it sinks, and through which it passes on its way to extinction.
It cannot be denied, we may be told, that the distinction of
clearer and dimmer ideas signifies something which really
exists in consciousness and which confirms our belief that
the activity has various grades although we cannot directly
observe them. To this objection I should give the following
222 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
answer. I cannot convince myself that internal obser-
vation testifies without more ado to the reality of dim ideas
in this sense of the word. If the image of a composite
object in our memory is dim, the reason is not that the
image is present, with all its parts in their order, and that
consciousness sheds only a weak light over the whole. The
reason is that there are gaps in the image ; some of its parts
are entirely absent ; and, above all, the exact way in which
those parts that are present are connected, is usually not
before the mind, and is replaced by the mere thought that
there was some connexion or other between them ; and the
wideness of the limits within which we find this or that
connexion equally probable, without being able to come to
a decision, determines the degree of dimness we ascribe to
the image. Let us take as an example the taste of a rare
fruit. We either have a complete idea of this taste, or we
have none at all : and the only reason why we suppose that
we really have a dim idea of it is this ; we know from other
sources that fruits have a taste, and the other characters
which are present to our memory and which tell us the
species of the fruit, move us to think only of that particular
class of tastes which belongs to this species ; the number of
the tastes which lie between these limits and between which
we hesitate, determines again the degree of the obscurity of
the idea, which we suppose ourselves to possess though we
are really only looking for it.
To take another example ; we try for a long time to re-
member a name, and then, when one is suggested to us, we
at once recognise it to be the right one. But this does not
prove that we had an obscure idea of the right one, and now
recognise it as the right one by comparing it with the name
that is uttered. For on what is this recognition to rest?
The name that is uttered might be wrong ; so that, before
we could proceed, we should have to show that the obscure
idea with which that name was found to be identical, is the
same idea we are trying to find. Now this idea we are
Chap. 110 TRUE STRENGTH OF IDEAS. 223
trying to find is distinguished from others for which we are
not looking, by its connexions with remembrances of some
qualities or other in the object whose name it is or whose
content it signifies ; for we cannot try to find the name of
something, unless this something can be distinguished from
other things which we do not mean. When, then, the right
name is uttered, the sound of it fits these other remem-
brances of the object without trouble or resistance, and in
its turn calls them up anew or extends them ; and this is
the reason why it seems to us the right one ; whereas any
wrong one that is uttered would be foreign to the other
ideas that come to meet it. And supposing that the word
we wanted to remember were one we did not understand,
still there must be some memory or other even of it re-
maining behind, with which the uttered word must agree ;
whether it be the number of syllables, or the quality of the
vowels, or some prominent consonant, or merely the cir-
cumstances in which we heard it, or the momentary general
feeling with which its sound was once connected. In none
of these cases therefore have we an obscure idea ; we are
merely looking for the idea which we have not got at all,
and helping ourselves in the way I have mentioned. But
no idea that we really have, whether simple or complex, can
be heightened in the strength with which it is represented ;
and the complex idea only seems to be so, so long as it is
imperfect. No one who thinks of all those ideas of parts
which together form the idea .of the Triangle, and also of
the way in which they are really connected, can further
strengthen his activity of representing this complete content.
If the geometrician seems superior to the beginner in this
point, it is not because he represents this content more, but
because he represents more than this content, viz. the innu-
merable relations which are conjoined with this figure in
connected knowledge.
264. I am not rejecting what we all regard as a correct
interpretation of the facts, the assumption, I mean, that
224 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
ideas push one another out of consciousness, and change
one another into permanent unconscious states of the soul.
For these states we retain a name which is really self-
contradictory, unconscious ideas, in order to indicate that
they arose from ideas and are capable, under certain cir-
cumstances, of being re-transformed into ideas. But all
that this assumption actually says is that the ideas have
exercised a certain power against one another, and that
some of them have come off victorious over the rest ; it
does not follow as something self-evident, though we natur-
ally infer it, that they must have owed their power to a
degree of strength which belongs to them as such. In fact
we had no means of measuring this strength of theirs at all
before the struggle took place ; we only attribute it to them
by reasoning backwards after we have seen the issue of the
struggle. And further, the victory does not always fall to
that side which in itself is the stronger ; favourable circum-
stances may give it to the weaker. Since then this assump-
tion of a variable strength is found to apply not to the
activity of representing but only to the content of the ideas
represented : and since on the other hand, if we follow
experience, we cannot maintain that the idea of the stronger
content always overcomes that of the weaker, but meet with
numberless cases of the opposite event, the result is that
we must look for the source of the power exerted in some-
thing that attaches to the representing activity and is in its
nature capable of degrees of intensity.
I may say at once that this power rests neither on any
strength in the activity itself nor on that of the content
represented, but on the amount of our interest in the latter.
If we could observe the first stirrings of a soul still destitute
of experience, we should certainly find that that sensation 1
which, in its total effect, is the greater agitation of the soul
1 ['Sinnliche Empfindung ' translated merely ' sensation/ to avoid the
use of 'sensation of sense, and 'feeling* which has been reserved for
< Gefuhl.']
Chap, II.] INTEREST OF IDEAS. 225
and therefore the stronger in respect of its content, over-
comes the others which, measured by the same standard,
are the weaker. But in the developed life, which alone we
can observe, the strength of the sensation is of far less
moment than that which, in the connexion of our memo-
ries, intentions, and expectations, it means, indicates, or
foretells. Many external stimuli, therefore, are unregarded
by us, if the strong sensations which they would natu-
rally produce have no relation to the momentary course
of our thoughts. Very slight stimuli attract our atten-
tion if they are intimately connected with these thoughts.
And this is still more the case with our mere remem-
brances which are unsupported by any present bodily
excitation.
This interest of our ideas, which constitutes their power,
has a constant element and a variable one. I cannot sup-
pose that any sensuous impression could be originally
entirely indifferent to us. Each, it seems to me, as being
an alteration of our existing state, must create an element
of pleasure or pain ; the former, if it occasions an exercise
of possible functions within the limits in which this exercise
answers to the conditions of the well-being and continuance
of the whole ; the latter, if it sets up changes which in their
form or magnitude contradict those conditions. The gene-
ral economy of the vital functions may be assumed to be
nearly constant ; and therefore, when the impression is
repeated at later periods, the same element of emotion will
always attach to it, just as the same kind of light-waves,
repeated thousands of times in succession, always calls forth
the same sensation of colour. But this fixed component of
the interest is far outweighed by the variable one which an
impression acquires in the course of our life through its
various connexions with others, connexions which enable it
to recall these others in memory. One impression, which
in itself is accompanied by an insignificant constant element
of emotion, may, if it is connected with a second, the ac-
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. Q
226 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book HI.
companying emotion of which is strong, excite a more lively
interest than a third impression, the feeling of pleasure or
pain attached to which comes between the two. But this
interest of an impression changes not only with the number
of those with which it is connected and with the constant
emotion attaching to them, but also with our momentary
state of feeling at the time when it occurs. And for this
state of feeling the total content of the impression has more
or less value, according to the closeness or distance of its
relationship to that which is moving our feeling at the
moment. If in the case of the representing activity as such
it was difficult to point out different degrees of strength, it
seems not less self-evident that all emotions, on the other
hand, have various degrees of intensity. The force of ideas
therefore seems to me to rest on their concatenation with
emotions ; and if I spoke of their strength I should use the
word merely to express the fact that they are victorious
over others, and the understanding that their victory occurs
in this way and in no other.
265. Respecting the connexion of ideas, a point to which
these remarks have already led us, we have little to recall.
We know that, on the renewal of an idea a, another idea
b which we have had before may return to consciousness
without requiring any separate external reason for its re-
appearance. This fact, which alone can be directly ob-
served, we interpret as a reproduction of the idea b by
the idea a, without meaning by our use of the word to give
any account of the process through which a succeeds in
recalling b. But then from this fact we infer that, even
in the time during which both a and b had vanished from
consciousness, there must have been a closer connexion
between them than is given alike to them and to all other
ideas by the fact that they belong to one and the same soul.
This specific connexion we call the association of the ideas
a and , a name again which denotes a necessary pre-
supposition but gives no explanation of the exact nature
Chap. II.J ASSOC1A TION OF IDEAS. 2 2 7
of this connexion, i. e. of that which distinguishes it from
the more remote connexion obtaining between all the
states of one subject. Any attempt to find such an explana-
tion would be fruitless : but there is another question,
which ought to be answered, viz. What are the universal
rules according to which this inexplicable junction of ideas
takes place ? It is customary to distinguish four kinds
of association. Two of them I hold to be fictions of
the brain, and the other two I reduce to one. The former
consist in the assertions that similar or like ideas on the
one hand, and on the other hand opposite ideas are pre-
eminently associated ; and to these assertions I find nothing
in internal observation to correspond. I do not know,
at least, that the idea of one tone usually recalls all other
tones to memory, or the idea of one colour all other
colours ; or again, that the idea of brightness suggests that
of darkness, or the sensation of heat the remembrance
of cold. Where anything of this kind seems to occur,
it is plainly due to different causes from the simple associa-
tion of these ideas as such. If we are calculating, and
at a given moment are engaged in comparing quantities
and referring them to one another, there is a special
reason why the idea of the plus we affirm should make
us think of the minus we reject. In the night we who are
busied with plans for the future have abundance of reasons
for thinking of the day we long for : and so on in many
cases not worth counting up. The third and fourth classes
are composed of the associations of those impressions
which are perceived either at the same time as parts
of a simultaneous whole, or one directly after another
as parts of a successive whole; and their existence is
testified to in a variety of ways at every moment of our
daily life, the connected guidance of which rests wholly on
them. But the separation of these processes into two
classes seems to me needless. Not because the apprehen-
sion even of a spatial whole takes place, as is supposed,
Q 2
228 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
through a successive movement of the glance which tra-
verses its outlines : I shall have later on to mention the
reason why this movement is necessary in order to make
reproduction secure ; but it is none the less indubitable
that the momentary illumination of an electric spark makes
it possible to perceive objects and gives us images of them
in memory. What is of more importance is that in
temporal and spatial apprehension it is just the absence
of observable connecting links between a and b which joins
these two together so closely and in so pre-eminent a degree,
that we give the name of association to their conjunction
alone, although there must be some conjunction between
a and c, b and d, as well. I shall return to this point
immediately ; but, before going further, I will merely point
out how superfluous it is to distinguish from the indirect
reproduction of one idea b by another a the case so far
considered the direct recalling of the same a by a. We
should know nothing whatever of this fact, the reproduction
of a former a by the present a, if the two were simply
present, with no distinction between them, at the same
time. To know the present a as repetition of the former
a, we must be able to distinguish the two ; and we do
this because not only does the repeated a bring with
it the former one which is its precise counterpart, but
this former one also brings with it the ideas c d which
are associated with it but not with the present a, and
thereby testifies that it has been an object of our per-
ception on some former occasion but under different
circumstances.
206. Respecting the great ease with which a successive
series of ideas is reproduced in the order of their succession,
a fact which it would be superfluous to illustrate, an
attractive theory has been developed by Herbart. Let us
suppose that the external impressions ABC... follow one
another in time, and that the first of them awakens the idea
A\ on its appearance in consciousness, which is never
Chap. II.] REPRODUCTION OF SERIES OF IDEAS. 229
empty, this idea A will at once sustain a check from
the contents already present in consciousness ; and, owing
to this check, its strength will have been reduced to a at
the moment when the new idea B is aroused. The only
association formed therefore will be between a and B the
association a B and there will be no association A B in
consciousness at all/ The combination aB, again, sustains
the same check, and will be weakened to the degree a b at
the moment when C makes its impression C: the associa-
tion that arises will be a b C, and no other will arise. Again,
when D acts, it finds ub C checked into a/3<r: it is this
therefore, and only this, that connects itself with D. If
now the series of external impressions, or that of their
ideas, is repeated, A will not call up all the rest forth-
with, nor will it call them up with the same degree of
liveliness, for it never was in actual fact connected with
them : not until it itself has sunk to the strength 0, will
it reawaken B with which alone it was associated; nor
until a B in its turn has sunk to a b y will it reproduce C ';
and in this way the series is repeated in memory in its
original order.
The advantages of this view are not indissolubly con-
nected with the conception, which we were unable to
accept, of a variable strength of our ideas. Associations
are not formed between those impressions alone which
we hold apart as separate ideas^ each having its distinct
content; but every idea connects itself also with the
momentary tone G which characterizes our universal vital
feeling^ or the general feeling of our whole state, at the
instant when the idea appears ; and, as many experiences
testify, the recurrence of the general feeling G reproduces
with no less liveliness the ideas which were formerly con-
nected with it. But, again, the arrival of a new idea A
changes this feeling G into g l : then the second idea
B connects itself with this association Ag and in its turn
changes g l into g 2 : with this new association, and with
230 SENSATIONS AND THE COURSE OF IDEAS. [Book III.
it alone, is connected C ; and in this way the succession
of these &&& becomes the clue by help of which the repro-
duction of the ideas, in their turn, arranges itself; G must
be changed again into^ before .# can be again produced by
the association gB.
In the next chapter I shall mention other considerations
which recommend this point of view to us; I content
myself here with the remark that it promises to be of use
when we come to consider the reproduction of the com-
ponent parts of a spatial image by one another. If we
assume that the perception of the spatial image ABCD
is brought about by the eye traversing this whole succes-
sively and repeatedly in various directions ABCD> ACDB J
ADCB) . . . , the question will still remain, how does it
come about that a later consciousness understands the
various series, arising from these voluntarily chosen direc-
tions, to be merely various subjective apprehensions of the
single objective order A BCD'} If this understanding is to
be attained, it will be necessary that, at every step we choose
to take within A . . . Z>, the position of each element re-
latively to its neighbour should be indicated by a definite
general feeling g arising in the course of this movement ;
and this feeling must be of such a kind that the various ^'s,
which arise in the different directions of the movement from
part to part, when compared and adjusted, give as their
result these fixed actual positions of the single ideas in the
total order A B CD. How we are to conceive this process
more in detail, I shall show later on.
I close here these brief remarks on the forces which are
active in the course of our ideas. I have not noticed
the more general share taken in it by the body. Highly
significant as that share is, I should seek it in a different
direction from the present one. There are no physical
analogies either for associations or for reproductions ; and
although it is asserted that they too are merely products
of co-operating nervous currents, those who make this
Chap. II.] PHYSICAL ELEMENT IN ASSOCIATION. 231
assertion have not yet been able to show, even in a general
way, what we should require to have shown, how these
processes can be mechanically construed at all. But this
again is a point to which we shall have to return at a later
time.
CHAPTER III.
On the Mental Act of Relation 1 .'
267. IF we glance at a number of coins laid side by
side in no particular order, each of them produces its image
in the eye, and each image produces the corresponding
idea. And yet it often happens that, when we look away,
we cannot tell how many coins we have seen. That, never-
theless, we have seen each and all of them, and, therefore,
that their images have been conscious ideas, we know from
the fact that sometimes we succeed in counting them over in
memory, without needing to have the external impression
repeated. This and countless similar experiences convince
us that we have some ground for distinguishing between
feeling and the perception of what is felt 2 ; but at the same
time they show that we must not press this distinction
further than the statement that the consciousness of the
relations existing between various single sensations (among
which relations we reckon here the sum formed by the
sensations when united) is not given simply by the existence
of these relations considered as a fact. So far we have con-
sidered only single ideas, and the ways in which they either
exist simultaneously in consciousness and act on each
other, or else successively replace one another; but there
exists in us not only this variety of ideas, and this change of
1 [ Von dem beziehenden VorstelUn' Cp. sect. 80, end. There is
no English verb for * to put in relation ; ' to ' refer* has been used where
a verb seemed indispensable.]
3 [In this sentence Empfindung, elsewhere translated ' sensation ' to
distinguish it from Gefuhl, which is translated 'feeling/ * emotion 1
(see 266), is rendered * feeling, 1 because we have no verb in English
corresponding to the substantive sensation.']
COMPARISON. 233
ideas, but also an idea of this variety and of this change.
Nor is it merely in thought that we have to distinguish
that apprehension of existing relations which arises from an
act of reference and comparison from the mere sensation of
the individual members of the relation \ experience shows
us that the two are separable in reality, and justifies us in
subordinating the conscious sensation and representation
of individual contents to the referring or relating act of
representation, and in considering the latter to be a higher
activity, higher in that definite sense of the word according
to which the higher necessarily presupposes the lower but
does not in its own nature necessarily proceed from the
lower. Just as the external sense-stimuli serve to excite the
soul to produce simple sensations, so the relations which
have arisen between the many ideas, whether simultaneous
or successive, thus produced, serve the soul as a new internal
stimulus stirring it to exercise this new reacting activity.
268. The possibility of all reference and comparison
rests on the continuance in an unchanged form both of
the members which are to be referred to one another, and
of the difference between them. When once two impres-
sions a and b have arisen, as the ideas 'red' and 'blue,'
they do not mix with one another, disappear, and so form
the third idea c, the idea 'violet.' If they did so, we
should have a change of simple ideas without the possi-
bility of a comparison between them. This comparison is
itself possible only if one and the same activity at once
holds a and b together and holds them apart, but yet, in
passing from a to b or from b to a, is conscious of the
change caused in its state by these transitions : and it is in
this way that the new third idea y arises, the idea of a
definite degree of qualitative likeness 1 and unlikeness in
a and b.
Again : if we see at the same time a stronger light a and
a weaker light b of the same colour, what happens is not
1 [Aehnlichkeit.]
234 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION.' [Book III.
that there arises, in place of both, the idea c of a light
whose strength is the sum of the intensities of the two.
If that idea did arise, it would mean that the material to
which the comparison has to be directed had disappeared.
The comparison is made only because one and the same
activity, passing between a and , is conscious of the
alteration in its state sustained in the passage ; and it is in
this way that the idea y arises, the idea of a definite
quantitative difference.
Lastly : given the impressions a and a, that which arises
from them is not a third impression = 2 a; but the activity,
passing as before between the still separated impressions,
is conscious of having sustained no alteration in the
passage : and in this way would arise the new idea 7, the
idea of identity^.
We are justified in regarding all these different instances
of y as ideas of a higher or second order. They are not
to be put on a line with the ideas from the comparison of
which they arose. The simple idea of red or blue, as it
hovers before us, does not suggest to us any activity of our
own which has contributed to its existence ; but, in return
for this loss, it gives us a directly perceptible content.
The ideas y, on the contrary, have no content at all of
their own which can be perceived by itself. They are
therefore never represented in the strict sense of the word,
as the simple idea is ; never represented, that is, so that
they stand before us now as resting perceptible images.
They can be represented only through the simultaneous
reproduction of some examples or other of a and , and
through the repetition of the mental movement from which
they arose.
269. I may look for the objection that this description
of the way in which the relating activity proceeds is strange
and incapable of being clearly construed. I admit the
objection, but I see no reproach in it. It is possible that
1 [Gleichheit.]
Chap. III.] MATHEMATICAL METAPHOR. 235.
better expressions may be found, to signify what I mean :
my immediate object is to indicate what happens at least
with such clearness that every one may verify its reality in
his own internal observation. It is quite true that, to those
who start from the circle of ideas common in physical
mechanics, there must be something strange in the concep-
tion of an activity, or (it is the same thing) of an active
being, which not only experiences two states a and b at
the same time without fusing them into a resultant, but
which passes from one to the other and so acquires the
idea of a third state y, produced by this very transition.
Still this process is a fact ; and the reproach of failure in
the attempt to imagine how it arises after the analogies of
physical mechanics, falls only upon the mistaken desire of
construing the perfectly unique sphere of mental life after a
pattern foreign to it. That desire I hold to be the most
mischievous of the prejudices which threaten the progress
of psychology; and at this point, which seems to me one of
the greatest importance, I once more expressly separate
myself from views which are meeting now with wide-spread
assent : first (a), from the attempts to construe the life of the
soul materialistically, psycho-physically, or physiologically,
without regard to its specific peculiarities; and, secondly
(/3), from a view which must always be mentioned with
respect, that view of the psychical mechanism, by which
Herbart rendered, up to a certain critical point, great
services to science.
As to the first point (a), these attempts either persistently
pass over the problem whence that unity of consciousness
comes, which is testified to by the most trivial exercise of
the activity of representation in comparison; or they
deceive us by the apparent ease with which single formulas,
believed to have been discovered for single psychical
events, gives rise in their combination to new formulas, in
which even the desired unity is supposed to be attained.
But this whole superstructure of oscillations upon oscilla-
236 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION? [Book III.
tions, of embracing waves upon partial waves, this discovery
of unities in the shape of points of intersection for different
curves, all this leads to pleasing wood-cuts, but not to an
understanding of the processes they illustrate. Mathe-
matical formulas in themselves determine nothing but
quantitative relations, between the related points which
have been brought into those formulas by means of uni-
versal designations. Such formulas, therefore, subsume
the definite real elements or processes, to which they are
applied, under a universal rule; and no doubt these
elements or processes may really fall under the rule in
respect of those properties in virtue of which they were
subsumed under it. But the universal rule in its formal
expression no longer reminds us of the special nature of
the object to which it is applied ; and thus, partly owing to
the different values given to the quantities contained in it,
partly through its combination with other formulas, a
number of consequences can be drawn from it, respecting
which it remains entirely doubtful whether they mean
anything whatever when they are applied to the definite
object in question ; or, if they do mean anything, what the
actual processes and agencies are which in the real thing
lead to an occurrence corresponding to the result of the
calculation. The first of these two cases I will not discuss
further, though examples of it might be adduced. If we
have begun by calling the conditions under which an effect
appears, a threshold, we must, of course, have something
that either passes over it or fails to reach it; and then
these portraits of the deductions drawn from a metaphor
easily pass for self-evident facts. If in a calculation, in
which x signifies the liveliness of a sensation, we come to a
negative x, we consider ourselves justified in speaking of
negative sensations too. There are various ways of making
mythology : at present the mathematical turn of imagination
seems to take the lead. Respecting the second case I
shall meet with a readier assent. Formulas do not produce
Chap. Ill ] HERBART' S ' SELF-PRESERVATION: 237
events ; they copy them after real causes have created
them, and they copy only individual aspects of them. No
coincidence of formulas, therefore, can ever prove that the
events which meet or fuse in them, also fuse as a matter of
course in the real thing without the help of any particular
cause to bring about this union. If this cause, without
which the event is metaphysically unintelligible, could be
included in the calculation, and that in such a way that
every peculiarity of its procedure found a precise mathe-
matical expression, then, and only then, would these
quantities be rightly denominated, and only then could the
calculus securely predict from their universal relations the
further consequences which may be drawn.
27O. In opposition to Herbart, again (j3), I must repeat
the doubts I expressed long ago in my Streitschriften
(I, Leipzig, 1857). When Herbart calls that which goes
on in the simple real being when it is together with others,,
its self-preservation, he raises hopes that in his general
view the specific conception of activity will get its rights ;,
a conception which we shall always believe to signify
something special and something really to be found in the
world, although we find it quite impossible to define what
we mean by it, when we oppose it to a mere occurrence, in
any way approaching to a mechanical construction. Did
we deceive ourselves in this view of Herbart's intention ?
Ought we to have taken self-preservation for an active form
of speech describing a mere occurrence, which, without
anything being done by anybody, simply ends, as a matter
of fact, with the result that something continues in
preservation, the non-preservation of which we should
rather have looked for as the probable end of the occur-
rence ?
The further course of the Herbartian psychology would
confirm this interpretation. For, according to this psycho-
logy, if the soul was ever active at all, it never was active
but once It asserted itself against the stimuli which came
238 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION? [Book III.
from without, by producing the simple sensations : but
from that point it became passive, and allows its internal
states to dominate its whole life without interference.
Everything further that happens in it, the formation of its
conceptions, the development of its various faculties, the
settlement of the principles on which it acts, are all me-
chanical results which, when once these primary self-preserva-
tions have been aroused, follow from their reactions ; and the
soul, the arena on which all this takes place, never shows
itself volcanic and irritable enough to interfere by new
reactions with the play of its states and to give them such
new directions as do not follow analytically from them
according to the universal laws of their reciprocal actions.
But the limitation of the soul's activity to these scanty
beginnings was neither theoretically necessary at starting,
nor is it recommended by its results. It was due to
Herbart's quarrel with an earlier psychology, with the
assumption of a number of original faculties which, doubt-
less to the detriment of science, were then considered to
contain everything necessary to the production of results,
whose causes are in reality formed only by degrees and
ought to have been made the object of explanation. Here
lie Herbart's unquestionable merits, and I need not repeat
that I fully recognise them. But they lie side by side with
that which I regret to have to call his error. The mere
plurality of these faculties, even the view of them as mere
adjacent facts the real connexion of which remained
unintelligible, could not, taken alone, justify Herbart in
going so far the other way as to base the development of
the mind upon a single kind of process and the conse-
quences flowing from it. For he himself both knew and
said that the simple sensations from which he started are
just as independent of one another as were the faculties he
rejected ; that we cannot conceive any reason why a soul
that feels ether-waves as colours must, in consistency,
perceive air-waves as sounds; that therefore the soul
Chap. III.] DEDUCTION OF SPACE-PERCEPTION. 239
has just the same number of primal faculties irreducible to
one another as of single sensations different from one
another. He did not on that account surrender the unity
of the soul, or doubt that in it this multiplicity is bound
together by some connexion, albeit that connexion entirely
escapes us. Now if this one nature of the soul can produce
simultaneously, or, so to speak, on the same level of its
action, such manifold expressions of its essence, why should
it not in the same way produce manifold expressions suc-
cessively at different periods of its development? Why
should not its own internal states, through their increasing
multiplicity, win from it new reactions, for which in their
simpler forms they gave no occasion ? There is certainly
nothing impossible in the idea of a constantly renewed
reaction, in which that whole essence of the soul that is
always present casts new germs of development into the
machinery of its internal states ; and a view that rejects
this source of aid could have proved it to be superfluous
only by its own complete success. That I do not find this
view everywhere thus successful, I shall have to mention
again ; here I will refer to three points.
First, the deduction of the perception of Space. I have
already spoken of its impossibility and will not refer to it
again at length. We must content ourselves with regarding
this perception as a new and peculiar form of apprehension,
which, proceeding from the essence of the soul, attaches, as
a reaction of the kind just described, to a definite manifold
of impressions, but does not of itself issue from that mani-
fold. The second point is attention : I shall have to
mention it directly in the course of the present discussion.
Thirdly, in the case of any act of reference or comparison,
Herbart's psychology seems to me to take no account of the
eye which perceives the relations obtaining between the
single ideas ; the consciousness of the investigator which
has performed this task of perception everywhere takes the
place of the consciousness investigated, which is required
240 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION? [Book III.
to perform it. It is of no avail to answer that it is implied
in the very notion of the soul as something that represents,
that it perceives everything that exists and occurs in it, and
therefore that it perceives the relations in which its single
ideas stand to one another : the need of a deduction of the
perception of space is by itself sufficient to disarm this re-
joinder. For Herbart agrees that the impressions which
muster in the simple essence of the soul, are together in the
soul in a non-spatial way. A consciousness which as a
matter of course perceived their reciprocal relations, could
only apprehend them as they are, as non-spatial. But this
is not what happens : consciousness changes them and re-
produces in perceptions of something side by side in space
what in themselves are only together with one another in a
non-spatial way. Here then the perception is at the same
time a new creation of the form in which it takes place :
but even in those cases where there is nothing novel in the
reaction to surprise us, the perception of relations is no
mere mirroring of their existence, but at the least the new
creation of the very idea of them.
271. Expressed in Herbart's terminology, my view would
take the following form. The soul is stimulated by the
external sense-stimuli s 19 as stimuli of the first order : and
in consequence it forms the simple 1 sensations which we
know, and to which perhaps the simplest feelings of
sensuous pleasure and pain ought to be added as creations
which arise with equal readiness. But the various relations
(whether of simultaneous multiplicity or of temporal suc-
cession) which exists between the sensations or the images
they have left in the memory, do not simply exist, they form
for the soul new stimuli s 2 , stimuli of a second order, and the
soul responds to them by new reactions. These reactions
differ according to the difference of their stimuli, and can-
not be explained from these secondary stimuli themselves,
but only from the still unexhausted nature of the soul,
1 f'Einfachen sinnlichen Empfindungen/ v. note on p. 224.]
Chap. Ill j UNIVERSAL CONCEPTIONS. 24!
which they stir to an expression of itself for which there was
previously no motive. Among these reactions we count
the perception of Space, which holds a certain simultaneous
manifold together; the time-ideas of a change, which are
not given *by the mere fact of temporal change ; lastly, not
only these ideas 1 of the kind y, which measure theoretically
the existing relations between different contents, but also
among other things, the feelings of pleasure and pain which
are connected with these relations. Obviously, on this
view, any condition of feeling or any series of referring
activities, directed in the way of comparison or judgment to
different contents of given ideas, may become in its turn a
new stimulus to the soul, an -object of a still higher reflexion ;
but it would be mere trifling to reckon up reactions of a
third and fourth order, unless a detailed psychology, for
which this is no place, had succeeded in pointing out
distinctly in internal observation the processes which would
justify us in assuming this ascending scale of orders. And
for the purposes of metaphysic such a course would bring
us no further than we are brought already by the recogni-
tion, once for all, that the soul is in no case a mere arena
for the contentions of its internal states, but the living soil,
which, in each instantaneous creation that it brings into
being, has produced at the same time new conditions for
the generation of still higher forms.
272. There is only one point, therefore, with regard to
which I will continue these remarks. Those ideas 1 y, the
origin of which I touched on above, were, so far as they
were then considered, in themselves no more than definite
single ideas of a quantitative or qualitative difference, or of
a single case of identity. It is only when we suppose this
same referring activity of knowledge to be applied to many
repeated cases of a similar kind, that we understand how
the general ideas of quantity and quality arise in the same
way. As to the origin of universal conceptions generally,
1 [v. 268.]
METAPHYSIC. VOL. II. R
242 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION? [Book 11 1.
we are sometimes told that they arise from our uniting many
single examples : those parts of the examples which are like
one another are accumulated, those which are opposed
cancel one another, those which are dissimilar dim one
another. But this mechanical mode of origination pre-
supposes that the individual ideas, in balancing one another
so as to produce the universal, have disappeared and been
lost ; and the contrary is the fact. They continue to exist ;
and it is not out of them that the universal is produced, but
side by side with them : it could not be felt at all as uni-
versal, as something that is true of them among others, if
they had vanished and simply left it behind as their produc-
tion. The structure of the different kinds of universal con-
ception is very complex, and it is the business of Logic to
analyse it. Psychology can do no more than base their
origin on a more or less intricate exercise of the referring
activity through which we apprehend the different relations
of the constituents which have to be united in them. The
idea produced by this group of activities is not of the same
kind as those ideas, which, as the direct result of external
impressions, represent a perceptible fixed content ; it is a
conception, and the apparently simple name which language
gives to it is never more than the expression of a rule which
we require ourselves to follow in connecting with each other
points of relation which are themselves conceived as uni-
versal. We can fulfil this requirement 1 only if we allow
our imagination to represent some individual example or
other, which answers to this rule, while at the same time we
join to our perception of this individual the consideration
that many other examples, and not this one only or ex-
clusively, can with equal justice be used as the perceptible
symbol of that which cannot in itself be perceived.
273. The fact of attention still remains to be mentioned.
It was depicted by psychologies of an earlier date as a
inoveable light which the mind directs on to the impressions
1 [On the nature of Universal Ideas, cp. Logic, sect. 339.]
Chap. III.] A TTENTION. 243
it receives, either with the view of bringing them for the
first time to consciousness, or else in order to draw the
impressions already present in consciousness from their
obscurity. The first of these alternatives is impossible ; for
the supposed light could not search in consciousness for
something which is not there : the second at least leaves
the obscurity in which the ideas are supposed (without any
reason being given for it) to find themselves, very obscure.
The necessary complement of this view would lie in the
perception that the direction of this moveable light cannot
be accidental, but must depend on fixed conditions, and
that therefore it must naturally be the ideas themselves that
attract attention to themselves. But I think the view I am
speaking of was right in regarding attention as an- activity
exercised by the soul and having the ideas for its objects,
and not as a property of which the ideas are the subjects.
The latter notion was the one preferred by Herbart. Ac-
cording to him, when we say that we have directed our
attention to the idea /, what has really happened is merely
that , through an increase in its own strength, has raised
itself in consciousness above the rest of the ideas. But,
even were the conception of a variable strength free from
difficulty in its application to ideas, the task which we
expect attention to perform would still remain inexplicable.
What we seek to attain by means of it is not an equally
increasing intensity of the represented content, just as it is,
but a growth in its clearness ; and this rests in all cases on
the perception of the relations which obtain between its
individual constituents. Even when attention is directed
to a perfectly simple impression, the sole use of exerting it
lies in the discovery of relations ; it could achieve nothing,
and a mere gazing at the object, even if it were heightened to
infinity, would be utterly fruitless, if there were nothing in
the object or around it to compare and bring into relation.
If we wish to tune a string exactly, we compare its sound
with the sound of another which, serves as a pattern,, and
R2
244 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION? [Book III.
try to make sure whether the two agree or differ ; or else
we take the sound of the string by itself and compare it at
different moments of its duration, so as to see that it re-
mains the same and does not waver between different
pitches. We shall assuredly find no case in which attention
consists in anything but this referring activity ; and, on the
other hand, there are moments when we cannot collect our-
selves, when we are wholly occupied by a strong impression,
which yet does not become distinct because the excessive
force of the stimulation hinders the exercise of this construc-
tive act of comparison. So closely is the distinctness of a
content connected with this activity that, even after the eye
has repeatedly traversed the outlines of a sensuous image,
we use a new expedient to secure the image in our memory :
we translate its impression into a description, in which,
through the aid of the developed forms of language, the
internal relations of the image are subsumed under the con-
ceptions of position, direction, connexion, and movement
(all of them conceptions of relation), and which prescribes
a rule enabling us to re-create the content of the impression
through successive acts of representation or thought.
274. The interest which the idea a possesses at a given
moment, has two factors, the stable value of the idea for
emotion, and the variable significance which this value
possesses for our total state at the particular time. And
this interest is the condition which on the one hand awakes
attention and enchains it, and on the other hand diverts
and distracts it. The latter case occurs when the associated
ideas , c, which a reproduces, exceed a in momentary
interest ; then it is that the course of our thoughts moves
in those strange leaps, which we know so well, which we
understand in their general conditions, but the direction of
which we can seldom follow in any particular instance. It
is however in this fact, that the idea a is, to a greater or less
extent, able through % its associations to attract and bring
back our attention to itself, that the greater or smaller force
Chap. HI.] ATTENTION AND REFLEXION. 245
consists which it exerts on the course of our ideas ; and
further, it is in this that there lies the measure of strength
which we are accustomed to ascribe to the idea as an in-
herent quality. If a has merely served as a point of transi-
tion to the more rapid awakening of other ideas , c, neither
of which reconduct us to a, we regard a as an idea that was
weak, or that only raised itself slightly above the threshold
of consciousness ; and alas ! by this figure of speech we too
often suppose ourselves to have described the real condition
on which the slight influence of the idea depends. But it
is not at the moment when a is passing through conscious-
ness that we rate it as clear or obscure, strong or weak ; it
is only at a later time, and when other occasions reproduce it
and convince us that it must have been in consciousness at
a former moment, that it appears to us as an idea that was
weak ; and it appears so, because we do not remember any
referring act of attention which at that time, by analysing
its content, made it strong, or which, by pursuing its rela-
tions to other ideas, assigned it a determinate position in
the connexion of our inner life. Lastly it is obvious,
according to our general view, not only that every activity
of attention that has been put forth may become an object
to a higher consciousness, but also that there need not be
any such reflexion on what has been done. The oftener we
have made like relations between a number of points of
reference the object of acts of comparison and reference,
the more is there connected with the new example, in the
manner of a fixed association, the idea of the universal
relation under which its relations are to be subsumed.
When impressions first occur, we are often unable to
connect and judge them without consciously considering
how we are to use our ideas in order to do so ; but, when
the impressions are repeated, these acts of connexion and
judgment frequently take place without any such considera-
tions being necessary : and so we are easily deceived into
thinking that in these cases there was really no operation to
246 ON THE MENTAL ACT OF 'RELATION.'
be performed, and that the mere existence of the relations
between the single impressions makes the perception of
those relations a matter of course.
My object in devoting this chapter entirely to the refer-
ring activity was to emphasize its decisive importance. I
may remind the reader that it is really this activity whose
delicacy is directly measured by the psycho-physical experi-
ments respecting our capacity for distinguishing impressions,
and that all assertions as to the strength of sensations, are,
in so far as they rest on these experiments, theoretical
deductions drawn from this immediate result of observa-
tion.
CHAPTER IV.
The Formation of our Ideas of Space.
275. THE concluding remarks of the last chapter may
serve to introduce the discussion which is to follow on the
psychological genesis of our ideas of space and the localisa-
tion of the impressions of sense. In this discussion I must
use the freedom claimed by every one who holds, as I do,
that our perception of space is merely subjective. In con-
sistency no doubt we should have to consider our own body,
as well as the organs of sense by means of which it takes
possession of the external world, to be nothing but appear-
ances in ourselves ; to be, that is, the ordered expression of
a different non-spatial order, obtaining between those super-
sensuous real elements, which the all-embracing meaning of
the world has made into a system of direct immediate links
of connexion between our soul and the other constituents
of the world. It is not impossible to make this point of
view clear to oneself in a general way, and to see that the
questions, now to be dealt with, respecting our sensuous
commerce with the outer world, might be expressed in the
language of that view; but to carry it out in detail would
lead to a prolixity as intolerable as it would be needless.
Needless, for this reason, that, if the perception of space is
once for all fixed by the nature of our mind as our mode of
apprehension, this perception has a rightful existence for us,
and we can hardly propose to look down upon that which
has the power of shedding clearness and vividness upon re-
lations which can be perceived by us only in this way and
not in the form they actually possess* It is enough to have
248 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
assured ourselves at a single point in metaphysic that spa-
tiality is only our form of apprehension, perhaps also a form
belonging to every being that has a mind. After it has
been shown in a general way how the true intelligible rela-
tions of things admit of an ordered manifestation within this
form, we may again merely in a general way, subsume this
special instance of those relations, the structure of our own
body, under that general demonstration ; but in the further
course of our enquiry we shall everywhere substitute for the
conception of the system of intelligible links of connexion
between ourselves and the world that spatial image of our
body which, unlike the conception, can be perceived. Ac-
cordingly, we presuppose here the ordinary view; for us, as
for it, the world is extended around us in space ; we and
the things in it have determinate places in it ; the actions or
effects of those things on us are propagated in determinate
directions up to the surface of our body, and, passing some-
how to the soul, produce in its perception a spatial image ;
the component parts of which have the same reciprocal
positions either exactly the same or within definite limits
the same as the external things by which they, as sensa-
tions, were produced.
276. Owing to the directness of the impression we receive
from the external world, it seems as though the spatial per-
ception of that world came to us without any trouble on
our part, as though we need only open our eyes to take
possession of the whole glory of the world as it is. Yet, as
we know, and as many experiences at once remind us, it is
not by merely existing that things are objects of our per-
ception, but solely through their effects upon us. Their
spatial relations, no less than others, come to our knowledge
not by the mere fact of their existence, but only through a
co-ordination of their effects upon us, a co-ordination which
corresponds to the relative position of the points from which
those effects proceeded. And, conversely, the possibility
of correctly concluding from the impression these effects
Chap, IV.] RETINAL IMAGE, HOW SEENt 249
produce on us to the spatial relations of their causes, de-
pends on the extent to which those effects preserve their
original co-ordination in being propagated up to the point
at which they impress us.
But here begin the misunderstandings which obscure the
way before us. Our bodily organs offer an extended sur-
face, on the various points of which these impressions may
be grouped in positions similar to those held by the points
in the outer world, from which they came-. It is therefore
possible for an image to be produced which has the same
aspect as the object whose image it is ; and this possibility
has often seemed enough to make all further questions
superfluous. But in fact it has only doubled the problem.
If it was not clear how we perceived the object itself, it is
no more clear how we perceive its image ; and the fact that
one resembles the other makes matters no plainer. So long
as this image consists simply in a number of excitations of
nervous points arranged in a figure corresponding to the
figure of an external object, it is no more than a copy,
brought nearer to us or diminished, of that which may be
the object of a future perception, but it does not give us any
better rationale of the process through which that thing be-
comes the object of perception.
The question how this fact of nerve-excitation becomes
an object of knowledge for the soul at once gives rise to
divergent views. We may imagine the soul to be imme-
diately present in the eye : there, as though it were a
touching hand, with its thousand nerve-points it apprehends
the individual coloured points exactly in the position they
actually have in the eye ; and to many this view seems to
make everything clear. They forget that it would be just
as difficult to show how the feelings of touch which the
hand receives justify us in referring the various points
apprehended to definite positions in space: before they
could do so we should have to presuppose that each posi-
tion of the hand in space was already an object of that
250 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
perception which was precisely what we were trying to ex-
plain ; then, no doubt, it would be certain that every point
of colour lies at that spot in space where the hand appre-
hends it. Others appeal to the physiological fact that
stimulations of the nerves are conducted to the brain by
isolated fibres, which may be supposed to lie (where they
end in the central portions) in the same order in which they
begin in the organ of sense. Thus, it is said, each impres-
sion will be conducted by itself and free from intermixture
with others, and all the impressions will retain, in being
conducted, the same geometrical relations of position which
they possessed in that organ. All that this idea accom-
plishes, again, is to bring the copy, which has taken the
place of the distant external thing, rather nearer to the spot
where we suppose the mysterious transition of the physical
excitation into a knowledge of that excitation to take place.
But how does this come about? How does the soul
come to know that at this moment there is a stimulation of
three central nervous points, which lie in a straight line or
at the corners of a triangle ? It is not enough that that
which happens in these points should have differences in its
quality, and produce on the soul an effect corresponding to
those differences : but it would also be necessary that the
spatial relation of the stimulating points should not only
exist, but should also produce an effect on the soul and so
be observed by it. Perhaps' at this point we might conceive
of the soul itself, or of its consciousness, as an extended
space, into which the excitations of the nerves might be
continued in their original order and direction : and then
the whole solution of the riddle would consist in a mere
transition. But, even if we supposed the many impressions
to have thus really appeared in the soul in exactly that shape
in which they came from the external objects, still this fact
would not be the perception of this fact. Even if we re-
garded each of these excitations not simply as the condition
of a future sensation, but as a present state of the soul, a
Chap. IV.] SPATIAL IDEA NOT IN SPACE. 251
conscious sensation, yet, in spite of this, the perception of
the relations between them would remain to be accomplished
by a referring consciousness, which in the unity of its activity
excludes the spatial distinctions holding between its objects.
When we perceive the points a, b, c, in this order side by
side, our consciousness sets a to the left and c to the right
of b : but the idea of #, through which we thus represent a,
does not lie to the left, nor the idea of c to the right, of the
idea of b ; the idea itself has not these predicates, it only
gives them to the points of which it is the idea. And, con-
versely, if we still suppose consciousness to be a space, and
further that the idea of a lies in it to the left of the idea of
#, this fact would still not be the same thing with the know-
ledge of it; the question would always repeat itself, How
does the extended soul succeed in distinguishing these two
points of its own essence, which at a given moment are the
places where that essence is stimulated ; and by what means
does it obtain a view of the spatial line or distance which
separates the two from one another ? The connecting, re-
ferring, and comparing consciousness, which could perform
this task, could never be anything but an activity which is
unextended, intensive and a unity even if the substantive
being to which we ascribed this activity were extended. In
the end the impressions would have to pass into this non-
spatial consciousness; and therefore we gain nothing for
the explanation of the perception of space by interposing
this supposition, a supposition which in any case is im-
possible for us to accept.
277. Let us return then to the other idea, that of a super-
sensuous being, characterised only by the nature of its
activity. Now it is doubtless incorrect to think of the soul
under the image of a point, for, if a thing is non-spatial, its
negation of extension ought not to be expressed in terms of
space ; still the comparison may be admitted here where we
only wish to draw conclusions from that negation. This
premised, it is obvious that all those geometrical relations
252 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III,
which exist among the sense-stimuli and among the nervous
excitations they occasion must completely disappear in the
moment when they pass over into the soul : for in its point
of unity there is no room for their expansion. Up to this
point the single impressions may be conducted by isolated
nerve-fibres which preserve the special nature of each im-
pression ; even in the central portions of the nervous system
similar separations may still exist, although we do not know
that they do so ; but in the end, at the transition to con-
sciousness, all walls of partition must disappear. In the
unity of consciousness these spatial divisions no more exist
than the rays of light which fall from various points on a
converging lens continue to exist side by side in the focal
points at which they intersect. In the case of the rays
indeed the motion with which they came together makes it
possible for them to diverge again, beyond the focal points,
in a similar geometrical relation; in the present case, on
the other hand, the required continuation of the process
consists not in a re-expansion of the impressions into a real
space, but in the production of an idea the idea of a space
and of the position of the impressions in that space. This
perception cannot be delivered to us ready-made. The
single impressions exist together in the soul in a completely
non-spatial way and are distinguished simply by their quali-
tative content, just as the simultaneous notes of a chord are
heard apart from one another, and yet not side by side with
one another, in space. From this non-spatial material the
soul has to re-create entirely afresh the spatial image that
has disappeared ; and in order to do this it must be able to
assign to each single impression the position it is to take up
in this image relatively to the rest and side by side with
them. Presupposing then, what we do not think need be
further explained, that for unknown reasons the soul can
and must apprehend in spatial forms what comes to it as a
number of non-spatial impressions, some clue will be needed,
by the help of which it may find for each impression the
Chap. IV.] QUALITATIVE LOCAL SIGN. 253
place it must take, in order that the image that is to arise in
idea may be like the spatial figure that has disappeared.
278. We may illustrate this requirement in a very simple
way. Let us suppose that a collection has to be arranged
in some new place in exactly the same order that it has
at present. There is no need to keep this order intact
during the transport; we do whatever is most convenient
for the purposes of transport, and when it is finished we
arrange the several pieces of the collection by following the
numbers pasted on them. Just such a token of its former
spatial position must be possessed by each impression,
and retained throughout the time when that impression,
together with all the rest, was present in a non-spatial way
in the unity of the soul. Where then does this token come
from ? It cannot be the point in external space from which
the sense-stimulus starts, that gives to it this witness of
its origin. A blue ray of light may come from above or
from below, from the right or from the left, but it tells
us nothing of all this ; it itself is the same in all cases.
It is not until these similar stimuli come in contact with our
bodies that they are distinguished, and then they are
distinguished according to the different points at which they
meet the extended surface of our organs of sense. This
accordingly may be the spot at which the token I am
describing has its origin, a token which is given along with
the stimulus in consequence of the effects produced by it at
this spot, and which in the case of each single stimulus
is distinct and different from that given along with any
other stimulus.
And now that fact regains its importance, which we could
not admit as a short-hand solution of these problems ; the
isolation of the conducting nerve-fibres. I cannot help
remarking in passing that physiology is mistaken when
it finds the exclusive object of the structure of the nervous
system in the unmixed conduction of individual excitations.
In the optic nerve we find this structure devoted to that
254 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
purpose ; but the olfactory nerve, which possesses it no less,
shows very little capacity for arousing such a multiplicity of
separate sensations as would correspond with the number of
its individual fibres. Nor is it only in the nerves that
we meet with these elongated unramified fibres; we find
them in the muscles also^ and yet the isolated excitation of
a single fibre certainly cannot be the object here, where the
simultaneous and like stimulation of many fibres is required
for the attainment of any useful result. Thus we must sup-
pose, I think, that the wide diffusion of this structure
of the fibres has a more general explanation. Perhaps
their forms were the only ones possible to the forces which
shape an organic form, and a foundation for greater effects
may have been producible only through adding together
such elementary organs. Perhaps again the physical pro-
cesses, on which the activities of life rest, are necessarily
connected, within narrow limits, with the fineness of the
fibre, and could not take place in masses of a thickness
discernible to the naked eye. But however this may be,
however this structure came into being, when once it
is present, it can< without doubt be used for the purpose
of separating the impressions of sense. Each single fibre,
at the spot where it receives the stimulus, can attach to
it the extra-impression described, and can transmit it to
consciousness, stamped with this character, and preserved
by the isolation of the fibre from mixture with other physical
excitations.
279. A further assumption is necessary before we can
make use of this process to explain the localization of
impressions. We must suppose that similar stimuli give
rise in each nerve-fibre to a special extra-impression, an
extra-impression which is different in the case of every
single fibre, and which connects itself, in the manner of an
association, with that main impression which depends on
the quality of the stimulus, connects itself, therefore, in
such a way that neither of .the two impressions, the main
Chap. IV.] LOCAL SIGN AS EXTRA-IMPRESSION. 255
one and the extra one, interferes with the peculiar nature
and tone of the other. It must be confessed that we have
no anatomical knowledge of a diversity in the single nerve-
fibres so manifold as this assumption requires. But this
diversity may consist not only in properties which escape
all the expedients our external observation can employ, but
in the very spatial position of the fibre ; we might suppose,
that is, firstly, that in a number of fibres lying side by side
interactions take place which produce different states of
susceptibility in the fibres lying at different spots in this
system; and, secondly, it is no less possible that the
excitations of each fibre may acquire a particular tone from
the effect produced on it by occurrences in the surrounding
tissues. But this question of detail, again, we must leave
undiscussed ; what is certain is that no other view of the
matter can dispense with an assumption similar to that for
which we have suggested an explanation. In order to know
whether a push we felt when our eyes were shut came
against our hand or our foot, it is necessary that, the two
pushes being in other respects of equal measurement,
the total impression should be different in the two cases.
In such a case it is of no use to appeal to associations, and
to say that on a former occasion the impression of the push
was connected with a, simultaneous visual perception of
the place that received it, and that now when the push
is repeated it reproduces this perception. For in the course
of life we unfortunately so often receive pushes on all parts
of the body, that the impression in question will have
associated itself almost indiscriminately with the images
of all of them : it will be impossible, therefore, in the case
of a repetition to decide to which of these parts the impres-
sion is to be referred, unless in this new case the impression
itself once more tells us to which of them we are to refer it :
it is necessary, in other words, that the impression now
recurring should be provided with a clear token of its
present origin. Let A B C, then, stand for three diverse
256 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
stimuli, pqr for three different spots in an organ of sense,
TT ic p for three specific extra-impressions, which those spots
connect with the main sensations occasioned by ABC:
then the difference between these connected local signs * p
will be the clue by means of which the sensations falling
upon/ qr can be localised in separate places in our percep-
tion of space. The associations ArrAicAp will signify three
similar impressions which have fallen on the different spots
pqrtf. the organ of sense, and which are prevented by this
very difference in their local signs from being fused into one
sensation, a fusion which could not have been prevented
if the three A's had been perfectly identical 1 ; since, where
no distinctions exist, no activity of consciousness can make
them. The associations ATT B* Cp, on the other hand, will
signify three dissimilar impressions which affect those three
different spots in the organ at the same time ; these impres-
sions, owing to their qualitative difference, need nothing
further to prevent their fusion into one sensation, and all
that TTjcp give them is their spatial arrangement. Lastly,
AKJ&*CK would be the same three dissimilar stimuli, acting
on one and the same spot q in the organ of sense, and
therefore, as we seem obliged to suppose, appearing succes-
sively at the same point in our perception of space.
280. I have no desire to conceal the difficulties which
arise when these considerations are pursued further. As
long as we abstain from considering the differences between
the organs of sense, and only try to fix in a general way the
requirements we have to satisfy, it is possible to form many
different views respecting the nature and genesis of local
signs. The simplest would be one I have mentioned in
passing, that the extra-process destined to accompany the
main impression takes place directly, and at first as a
physical excitation, in the same nerve-fibre which is affected
by an external stimulus. In that case it would depend on
the form of excitation which was found to be the general
1 [I. e. if Air, A*, A/> had been simply A, A, A or Air, Air, Air.]
Chap. IV.] MAIN AND EXTRA-IMPRESSION FUSED. 257
mode of activity in the nerves, whether it could permit
the simultaneous conduction, without intermixture, of two
different processes : and even if we found that this was not
possible in the case of two excitations of the same kind,
still it might be so when one of the two processes was
the extra-excitation which accompanies the main move-
ment issuing from the stimulus, but is not of the same kind
with it. However, the whole supposition of a double
conduction fails to attain its object. For it involves the
tacit presupposition that two processes, which, without being
otherwise connected, proceed along the same nerve-fibre,
thereby acquire a permanent association : and this pre-
supposition rests in the end on a mode of thought which
we were unable to accept, on the notion, I mean, that the
mere fact of the excitations existing side by side in space is
sufficient to give rise to the idea of their intrinsic connexion.
On a former occasion I compared consciousness, by way of
figure, to a single vessel ; and the various excitations, which
were conducted to this vessel and flowed into it through
different pipes, were supposed at last to meet in it and mix
indiscriminately together. We need not keep to this
figure ; but however we like to picture the transition into
consciousness, the mere fact that A and ?r, B and <c,
C and p were together in space, will give conscious-
ness no token that it is to connect them exactly in
this way instead of joining A to K, B to p, and C
ton.
Accordingly, the other supposition seems to me more
natural than this of a double conduction, the supposition
that the main impression and the extra-excitation really give
rise in each fibre to one total state, which is conducted as a
total state and occasions nothing but one total sensation. If
this sensation remained by itself alone, we should feel no
occasion to distinguish different elements in it, any more than
violet, if we knew nothing but it, would suggest to us to sepa-
rate red and blue from one another in it. But many different
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. S
258 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book HI.
stimuli are in process of time connected with one and the
same extra-process ; and it may be that the comparison of
these cases would arouse an activity of separation which
would analyse the total impressions into their component
parts, but which would at the same time learn to refer the
local sign, thus separated, in' each case to that qualitative
impression from which it was parted in thought and in
thought alone. It is possible to find instances in which
this actually occurs. The effect produced by a tone must
be apprehended as an excitation which is at first one and
total, in the sense above described : but not only does the
comparison of many successive tones enable us to distin-
guish the quality from the height of each, but further, when
we hear several tones at once, we are able to attach each
quality to the height of the note from which it was thus
separated. The artificiality of this point of view may make
us distrust it, but we shall not find it easy to escape this
artificiality by taking another road.
Let us put aside altogether, what is quite unessential, the
image of the soul as a point at which all the impressions
conducted to it discharge themselves. Let us suppose,
what we shall afterwards find confirmed, that the soul
perceives the physical nervous processes directly at the spot
where they reach the final form in which they are destined
to be objects of its perception. Still there remains the
question we would so gladly avoid : supposing the soul has
apprehended many impressions in this way, either at the
same time or one after the other, it can analyse each of
them into the components described above; what deter-
mines it then not to allow these components to fall asunder
but to hold them together in a way corresponding to the
connexion from which it has previously disjoined them?
We see, then, that the artificiality lies in the fact itself, or
in that view of the fact which alone remains open to us
now, in the enigmatical nature of associations generally.
I reminded 1 the reader in a former passage that in using this
Chap. IV.] LOCAL SIGNS MUST BE IN SERIES. 259
name we are merely designating a fact we are obliged to
assume, without being able to give any account of the
means by which it is brought about. And now it seems to
me that the source of the doubts that beset us here is that
we cannot persuade ourselves to renounce our search for
a mechanism which would bring about this connexion of
states after the analogy of physical processes. Such a
construction we shall certainly never find. On the other
hand, if we are tempted to regard associations as a peculi-
arity of the psychical activity, to which there is no analogy
elsewhere, we are held back by the undoubted fact that we
do not yet possess any intelligible general point of view
which would exhibit the ratio legis in every case, and which
would explain not only the connexion at this point but its
absence at that point : instead of this we are forced in each
particular case to make assumptions which appear artificial
because they are always constructed ad hoc. I believe then
that the hypothesis I have been speaking of here, that of
the origin of the local sign in the stimulated nerve itself,
might be maintained ; but, later on, I shall substitute for
it another hypothesis, according to which the extra-
production of the local sign is less direct : and my reason is
not that the second hypothesis is free from the difficulties
of the first, but that it offers other advantages. At present
we will proceed for a moment with our general remarks.
281. If the local signs ?r K p merely differ generally in
quality, it is true that they would suffice to prevent three
perfectly similar stimuli from coalescing, and to make them
appear as three instances of the same felt content. But the
only result would be an impulse to hold the sensations
apart in a general way; there would be nothing to lead us
on to give to the sensations thus produced a definite local-
isation in space. It is this that is left unnoticed by those
who regard the isolated conduction of three impressions by
three fibres as a sufficient reason, taken by itself, for their
being perceived as spatially separate. Even if (in the
a6o FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
absence of the extra local signs) this isolation were a
sufficient condition of the three impressions being distin-
guished as three, yet the question whether they were to be
represented at the corners of a triangle or in a straight line,
could only be decided by a soul which already possessed
that capacity of localisation which we are trying to under-
stand. In this case the soul would stand, as it were with a
second and inner vision, before the open key-board of the
central nerve-terminations, would see them lying ready side
by side, and doubtless would very easily refer the arriving
excitations to the places occupied by those keys on which
they produce some observable motion. If this is impossible,
as it is, just as little would it be possible for the local signs
given along with sensations to produce a real localisation of
the sensations, if these local signs simply differed without
being also comparable. If they are to lead to this localisa-
tion they must necessarily be members of series or of a
system of series, in each of which there must be some
general characteristic in common, but within its limits a
difference, measurable in some way, of every individual
from every other. If
* = 7T + A, p = 7T-f 2 A, Or K = p A,
then, but only then, can these signs be the reason why a
perception, which can and must apprehend these arith-
metical differences in some spatial way or other, should
place B* nowhere but in the middle between An and Cp.
And if more than one series of this kind is involved, so
that the general character of the local signs in the one is
qualitatively distinguished from that of the other, still even
in the transition from series to series this alteration of
quality must somehow proceed by measurable differences ;
otherwise we should not know how great, in terms of space,
is the declination of some of the impressions from the
straight line which is the shape others are to take in the
perception.
282. This postulate is closely connected with the settle-
Chap. IV,] UNCONSCIOUS LOCALISA TION. 261
ment of another question. Wherever the local signs may
arise, there is no doubt that, to start with, they are physical
excitations which arise, on occasion of the stimulus, in the
stimulated spot, this spot having an individuality or special
nature of its own. We have gone on to assume as self-evident,
that they then produce sensations, states of consciousness,
just as the main impressions do which they accompany; and
that, from a comparison of the associations which have thus
arisen, a referring activity decides what relative position
each impression is to take among the rest. Now is this
necessary? Or does it suffice to regard TT * p simply as
physical processes which do not themselves appear in
consciousness, and merely determine the direction in which
consciousness guides each impression to its place in the
perceived space ? Now, supposing we adopt the second of
these alternatives, the difficulty remains that it will be just
as necessary for the unconscious faculty of localisation as it
was for the conscious, that the local signs should stand in
the reciprocal relations we have indicated; otherwise this
faculty will have nothing to determine it to the definite
directions spoken of. This will at any rate be necessary if
we are to hold in this case to that general rationality of the
phenomena which alone gives any interest to attempts to
explain them : for of course it is possible to take a purely
fatalistic view, and to say, It simply is the fact that, if the
spot / is stimulated the ensuing sensation must take the
place x, and if the spot q is stimulated the ensuing sensation
must take the place y\ and there is no rule or reason why
the existence of one of these relations should involve that
of the other. On this assumption any further hypotheses
as to the nature of the local signs would be superfluous :
but then on this assumption all investigation would be
superfluous, for there would be nothing to investigate. If
however that general rationality of phenomena is admitted,
then I find no sufficient clearness in the theory that our
determination of place in perception is conducted uncon-
262 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
sciously. For this reason : according to the theory there is
something which determines the position to be given to
each single impression in the space perceived. This some-
thing, this ground of determination, must remain conjoined
with this single impression and with it alone (for it holds
good of it and of no other impression). It cannot be
merely a prior process determining the future localisation ;
it must be a permanent definite mark attached to that idea
whose localisation it is to further. And, since the idea
now appears in consciousness, it is difficult to imagine how
the grounds of determination can leave such an after-effect
attached to the idea, as would operate in consciousness and
yet not appear in that same consciousness.
Here again there lie more general difficulties which
interrupt our course. It is, once more, because we are
accustomed to observe the external world, that we naturally
separate any occurrence produced by causes into a preceding
impression on the one side, and a subsequent reaction on
the other. In a chain of processes, in which each link is
the sufficient reason only of the next, we may make this
distinction between the first link a and the last link z ; but it
is useless to interpose between the next neighbours a and b
another impression, which it is supposed that a must have
already made before it can call forth b as a reaction. We
are separating what is really a unity, the occurrence which
is at once reception of an impression and reaction against
it ; and it is this false separation which in the present case
makes it seem natural that the external stimulus should first
produce in the soul an impression which is not yet con-
sciousness, and that the conscious sensation should after-
wards follow on this impression as a reaction. But it is
easy to see that this interposition can be carried on ad
infinitum. On such a view, the activity of sensation, in its
turn, could not react in consequence of the unconscious
impression till it had been stimulated by it if, that is, the
impression had produced in it a second unconscious state :
Chap. IV.] GRADUATED QUALITATIVE TOKENS. 263
and it would be only to this second stimulation that the
activity of sensation would respond with its conscious
manifestation. On this point I accept Herbart's opinion :
a conscious idea is directly an act of self-preservation
against a disturbance. This disturbance does not first
appear apart, and then call forth the idea as a reaction.
The disturbance only threatens, its threat is only effective,
it itself only exists in so far as it asserts itself in the idea
itself which, but for it, would not have existed. But I will
not pursue these doubts. They cannot be definitely set at
rest. We have assuredly no right to interpose some mere
lifeless impression between two adjacent links of a causal
connexion: but still it remains undecided whether, as a
matter of fact, the physical excitation in the nerve, and the
psychical process of sensation, do form such adjacent links
of a chain. It is not necessary that the sufficient ground
for the arousal of a sensation or idea should consist in the
connecting link of an unconscious state of the soul ; but it
is possible that it may consist in this. Accordingly I do
not put forward my view as anything more than the hypo-
thesis that I prefer. It may be stated thus : if the physical
processes if * p are the local signs directly used by a
referring activity when it determines the position of the
sensations in the perceived space, they are so used not as
physical processes, not through the instrumentality of
unconscious impressions aroused by them in the soul, but
in the shape of conscious sensations resulting from them.
I shall return to the objections which stand in the way of
this supposition, and consider them in detail.
283. These then are the general postulates to which the
local signs have to conform. And it is these postulates
alone that I regard as a necessary metaphysical foundation
for our spatial perceptions. Shortly expressed, they come
to the one requirement, that all the spatial relations of the
stimuli acting on us should be replaced by a system of
graduated qualitative tokens. In adding some instances in
264 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
fuller detail I am quite aware of the many abiding diffi-
culties which could only be removed by an accurate consi-
deration of all the experience that is available to us, or that
may become so. Nothing but experience can disclose to
us the means by which the local signs we require are really
produced ; and I do not think this production takes place
in the same way in the case of the two senses which have
to be considered.
In the first case, that of sight, the first of the suppositions
mentioned appeared to me improbable, I mean the suppo-
sition that the local signs arise directly in the spot stimulated.
Even supposing that the same kind of light Z, falling on
various points of the retina, produced sensations of colour
somewhat differing from each other, C in the point/, and c
in q y still there will always be another kind of light /, which
occasions in q that same sensation C which L excites in /.
Accordingly it cannot be this difference of quality in the
impression that gives the reason for referring that impression
to a definite spot/ or q. On the other hand, there seemed
to me to be a real importance in the fact that, from the
yellow spot on the retina for our purposes let us say, from
the central point E of the retina where the sensitiveness
is greatest, there is a gradual diminution of irritability in all
directions, until at the edges of the hemispherical distribu-
tion of the nerves this irritability entirely disappears. This
fact, again, taken by itself is not sufficient for our purpose :
for a weak stimulation of a spot lying near the point E
would necessarily have the same effect as a stronger stimu-
lation of a spot at a greater distance from E. But if a
stimulus in the way of light falls on one of these side-spots
p, it also makes the eye turn to such an extent and in such
a direction that the ray meets, instead of /, the point of
clearest vision E. This direction of the glance, as it is
commonly called, is accompanied by no idea of the end it
actually serves, or of the means by which it is brought about.
It must therefore be regarded, at any rate originally, not as
Chap. IV.] VISUAL TOKEN. MOVEMENT. 265
an intentional act, but as an automatic movement, a
physical effect due to the stimulus and unknown to the
soul. Accordingly the following hypothesis seemed to be
admissible : in the central organs the single fibres of the
optic nerve are mechanically connected with the motor
nerves of the muscles of the eye in such a way that the
stimulation of each of the former is followed by a definite
excitation of the latter, from which it results that the eye is
turned in a particular way. How this mechanical con-
nexion of the sensory and motor nerves is effected, is a
question which does not touch our present object ; and the
settlement of it may be left to Physiology, which has to raise
the same question in regard to many other reflex motions.
284. The motions just described would satisfy the re-
quirements to be fulfilled by the local signs. If p is the
point stimulated, / E would be the arc which has to be
traversed in order that the point of clearest vision E may
be stimulated instead of / ; if q is stimulated, the corre-
sponding curve is q E ; these motions will be different in
every case, but the difference between them will be merely
one of magnitude and direction. But then, on my hypo-
thesis, it was not these motions themselves, but the sensa-
tions excited by them, which were to be directly used as
the signs n * p of the spots f q r. Now a movement, in
occurring, occasions a sensation or feeling of our present
state, which is different from the feeling of the non-occur-
rence of the movement : and we even when at rest distin-
guish the momentary position of our limbs, produced by
former movements, from that position which is not now
present: these are facts which need no proof, however
simple or however complicated may be the conditions
which give rise to these feelings. But a further assumption
is necessarily involved. We must suppose that the percep-
tible differences of the feelings in question correspond in
their turn to the slightest differences of those movements
which the eye needs in order to turn its glance from one
266 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
point of the field of vision to its next neighbours : and this
hypothesis may arouse graver doubts. These doubts,
however, really apply, I think, only to a point which is ot
no decisive importance here. No doubt, as a matter of
fact, we notice those minimal movements, which the glance
has to make in passing from one point of the field of vision
to the next point, and from that again to the next ; but to
our immediate feeling they seem merely a greater or smaller
alteration of our state, a greater or smaller degree of a
change which does not alter its character. We cannot
here, any more than in the case of our other sensations,
reduce the magnitude of these steps to comparable arith-
metical values, so as to judge that one of them is double or
half as great as another. The reason why this becomes
possible is that the movements described bring a number
of distinguishable points one after another to the spot of
clearest vision, and the images of these points, instead of at
once disappearing again, remain for sensation side by side
with one another: and it is only the number of these
distinguishable points which enables us to interpret the
differences in our feelings of movement as expressive of
equal or unequal spaces traversed, or of definite differences
between these spaces. Thus if the eye were shut or did
not see, it would doubtless be aware, from the immediate
feeling of movement, that the curve/ E is smaller than the
curve q E (which it would describe if it continued the same
movement), and that q E is smaller than r E ; but these
feelings would not enable it to determine the co-ordinates
of that point x in the field of vision which would meet its
glance if it were opened or began to see. It is only the
series of images which pass before the seeing eye while it
moves, and which remain side by side for some time so
that they can be compared, that enable us to give an
accurate quantitative interpretation to the different sections
of a series of feelings of movement. If we follow with our
eyes from beginning to end a line of one colour drawn
Chap. IV.]] COMPARISON OF IMPRESSTONS. 267
before us, doubtless we are conscious of a continuous and
homogeneous movement of the glance ; but suppose there
is a stroke drawn across the line near the beginning, mark-
ing off a small part of it, we cannot guess how many more
fractions of the same size the rest of the line will contain :
it is only by marking them off that we can tell their number
and be sure that they are equal. How is it again that we
learn this last fact, the equality of the distinguished parts ?
Is it by keeping the head fixed and turning the eye in such
a way that these parts of the line, from a to z, are brought
one after the other into the direction of clearest vision?
And do we then judge that the movements b c, c d, d e, up
to yz, in each of which the eye starts from a different
position, and which really would not be equally great, are
equally great, and therefore that the parts a b, b c . . . y z
are also equal? We cannot ascertain their equality in this
way. Any attempt to do so accurately is really made thus :
in looking at the starting-point a, , c of each line ab^bc^cd
we place the eye so that the direction of its glance forms in
every case the same angle with the direction of the piece to
be judged, e. g. a right angle : the movements which the
eye has then to make in order to go from a to b, b to c^
y to z, are not only equal in magnitude (supposing the lines
to be equal), but they are identical, since the position from
which they start is in each case the same, and the position
in which they end is in each case the same. If, on the
other hand, the lines are unequal, one of the movements
is readily felt in a general and inexact way to be smaller or
greater than another, since the position of the eye, at any
rate at starting, is the same in each case.
Thus, as with all sensations, our original capacity of
estimating impressions quantitatively would (apart from the
results of practice) rest on the possibility of generally recog-
nising what is exactly like as like, and what is different as
different. And I do not think that for our purposes any
more delicate sensibility is required. I do not mean that
268 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
the two local signs TT = / E and p = r E 1 would enable the
soul forthwith to set the two sensations A and B connected
with them at definite points in a circular field of vision : it
suffices that these signs secure to the impressions their
positions in relation to one another ; that, for example, they
make it necessary to set B between A and C and nowhere
else. With these explanations as to details, I think we may
hold to the theory that the feelings of movement IT * p are
the direct local signs oY the sensations. But each of these
feelings themselves is at bottom a series of momentary
feelings of position answering to the various places traversed
by the eye in its movement. In order to keep the signs as
simple as possible I merely mention this here, and shall use
TT to indicate the whole series of the successive sensations
*& n i9 ff 2 > which follow each other as the eye turns
along the curve/ E.
285. The further application of these ideas will be as
follows. If we assume that the first impression of light
felt in our lives affected the lateral spot /, it will follow
that there succeeded an actual movement / JS, and that,
during this movement, there took place the series ?r of
successive feelings of the position of the eye. If the same
impression is repeated, the same movement will ensue ;
and the fact that an identical stimulation has occurred
in the past will make no difference to the present one.
But the case will be otherwise if at the moment of their
second stimulation another stimulus affects the spot ^, and
solicits, with a force equal to that of the first stimulus,
a movement of the eye directly opposite to that which
is required by p. The result here will be that the eye
remains at rest : but at the same time the two impulses to
movement, which in their effects cancel one another, will
not on that account be a mere zero ; as excitations of the
nerves they will remain, just as the force of gravity in two
1 [The letters on the right hand stand now not for the movements
themselves but for the feelings answering to them.]
Chap. IV.] FEELING APART FROM MOVEMENT. 269
masses remains, although those masses counterbalance one
another in the scales and therefore do not move them.
The operation of that force consists in the bending of the
beam and in the pressure exerted on the point of suspen-
sion. And I see no reason why, in the case before us, the
two excitations, which are prevented from producing an
effect in the way of movement, should not still be repre-
sented in the soul by two definite feelings, so that the
equipoise of opposed forces would be something different
from the repose due to the mere absence of excitation.
No doubt, if this is so, we must once more reform our
idea of IT or *. So far we have regarded them as feelings
which arise from the movement set up ; thus they will not
occur unless the movements do. But I do not doubt that
the stimulation of the spot/, apart from the actual move-
ment connected with it, can arouse a feeling by its mere
existence and occurrence, and that by means of this feeling
the presence of a thwarted impulse may be indicated to
consciousness and so distinguished from the mere absence
of the impulse. This feeling we should now regard as the
first link ?T O in that series IT =/-", which is produced
during the movement p E, and of which each link ir m will
now stand for a momentary feeling of position and also for
the momentary remnant of a thwarted impulse to move-
ment. Now, taken by itself, TT O will be simply a feeling,
a way in which we are affected, and it will not of itself
point to its causes or its possible effects. But then in that
first experience the whole further series TT connected itself
with the first link ; this series is associated with TT O and, on
the repetition of TT O , it also will be reproduced. Accordingly,
though there is no movement of the eye, there arises the
recollection of something, greater or smaller, which must be
accomplished if the stimuli at / or ^, which arouse only
a weak sensation, are to arouse sensations of the highest
degree of strength and clearness. This is what happens at
first ; but if the soul has learnt that the movements of the
270 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
eye, reported by its feelings, are movements, are, that is,
alterations of the relation in which the organ of sensation
stands to a number of what may be treated as fixed
simultaneous objects ; and if finally the soul both can and
must apprehend the differences between such relations
in a spatial form, in this case the idea of that something
to be accomplished will be transformed into the idea of
a greater or smaller spatial distance between the impressions
falling on/ and q and that middle point of the perceived
space which corresponds to the point E in the eye. If,
lastly, we add that to each of the many stimuli which at one
and the same time excite the spots pqr . . . of the retina,
there is now conjoined the corresponding series TT K p of re-
produced feelings, the result will be that owing to move-
ments once performed and now remembered, the eye, even
when at rest, will be able to assign to each impression
its position among the rest.
288. I should be very prejudiced if I felt no alarm at the
artificiality of these ideas. But my intention was not
to recommend the hypothesis at all costs, but honestly
to recount all the presuppositions it involves ; and, further,
I do not know that it is possible to reach the end we aim
at in any simpler way, or that the artificiality lies anywhere
but in the facts themselves. The fact itself is strange
enough and it cannot be got rid of that we can see an
unnumbered mass of different-coloured points at once, and
can distinguish them. It must be possible, therefore, that
what we require should be effected : it must be possible for
a large number of impressions to be in consciousness
without mingling together ; there must be in each of them
something, some * reason,' which makes it appear now at
one point in space, and now at another point ; and these
various * reasons ' again, which are present simultaneously,
must operate without intermixture, each of them in ex-
clusive relation to the definite impression it belongs to.
In other words, the same complicated relations which
Chap. IV.] SPATIAL PERCEPTION ACQUIRED. 271
we assume between the feelings of movement, must exist
between any other possible elements which we might
substitute for those feelings. The only question, therefore,
is whether internal experience witnesses to the truth of
our hypothesis, or whether any other source of knowledge
opposes to it objections which are insuperable.
As to the first point, of course, I cannot tell whether
others find in themselves what I find in myself. If I ask
what meaning an impersonal knowledge (if the phrase may
be used) would attach to the words 'two elements/ and g
are at a distance from one another,' I can imagine an
answer by means of the idea of a universal space in which
I myself have no fixed position. But for my sensuous
perception of the seen points / and ^, the only possible
meaning of the statement that these points are at a dis-
tance from each other is that a certain definite amount
of movement is necessary if I am to direct my glance
from the one to the other; the different positions of the
single points are felt by me simply and solely as so
many solicitations to movement. But then I can base
nothing on this experience. My individual disposition
cannot be communicated. I cannot therefore contradict
those who tell me that they observe nothing of these
feelings of movements, however much I may be convinced
that they deceive themselves and, though they really have
the feelings, do not recognise them for what they are.
I must content myself therefore with pointing out to them
that, in my view, the spatial perception of the world is
not something suddenly given us by nature as soon as
we open our eyes, but is the result of successive experience
and habituation ; only this habituation goes on at a time in
our lives of which we have no distinct recollection. The
skill of the piano-player, once acquired, seems to us a natural
gift that costs no trouble; he glances at the notes, and
complicated movements of the hand immediately follow :
in this case we know what a laborious process he has
272 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
gone through, and with what difficulty practice has set up
these associations of ideas with one another and with
the movements we see, mere links of connexion which
no longer show themselves in the consciousness of the
practised artist. Exactly the same thing may happen
in the case under discussion ; and there need be no distinct
recollection in consciousness of the actual movements
through which we once learnt to localise our sensations.
But, it will be answered, this may be a probable account
of the slow development of a child, and as a matter of fact
we see that its eyes turn towards any light that is brighter
than usual: to an animal on the other hand the spatial
knowledge of the world comes with so little trouble that we
cannot in its case believe in such a prolonged process
of learning. To this I reply that in reality we do not at all
know what it is that an animal sees directly it is born, nor
what sort of perception of space it has. In order merely to
account in general for the early use it makes of its limbs we
have to assume a number of mechanical reflex movements.
It is therefore conceivable that the unhesitating way in
which it makes for an object lying in the direction of its
glance may really rest merely on a reflex movement set up
by the stimulus ; and the fact that many of its other earliest
movements are unsuccessful would then go to show that it,
like man, only gradually acquires an 'ordered knowledge of
that remaining part of the spatial world which lies outside
the direction of its glance. Again, the small amount of
experience we possess respecting the rise of an optical idea
of space in persons born blind and afterwards operated on,
will not suffice to decide the question. In all cases the
patient has already learnt, through touch and movement,
to find his way in the spatial world. Doubtless the ideas
of space thus developed may be very unlike the space that
manifests itself to a man who can see : for a touch can
apprehend only a few points at once, and can only approach
distant objects by means of considerable movements ; and
Chap. IV.] GENESIS OF SPACE AS A WHOLE. 273
therefore the space of the blind man may be not so much
what we mean by space, as an artificial system of con-
ceptions of movement, time and effort : and, as a matter of
fact, the few reports we possess tell us of the astonishment
with which the blind man, after a successful operation,
learns what the appearance of space or the spatial world is.
Still, in spite of such differences, we cannot tell to what
extent this previous practice may assist the formation of
the visual perception which ensues : in any case it cannot
be analogous to the first formation of all ideas of space ;
and finally, there is even a difficulty in discovering what it
really is that is seen at first, since the patient who is just
beginning to see, cannot express his first experience in the
language of sight.
287. There are many questions which psychological
optics would have to settle respecting the further develop-
ment of the spatial ideas : but it is not the business of
metaphysic to discuss them. I will only briefly remark
that there is no foundation for any of those views which
ascribe to the soul an original tendency to project its
impressions outwards, and that in one particular way and
in no other ; all this has to be learnt through the combina-
tion of experiences. How it is actually learnt piece by
piece we cannot discover ; how it may be learnt, it is easy
to understand in a general way; but there are particular
points in the process which cannot at present be understood
at all. What we have accounted for so far is nothing more
than the arrangement of the points in the field of vision,
the internal drawing of the total image ; but this image
itself as a whole has as yet no place and no position, for
the perception of the total space, in which its place and
position are to be, is still entirely wanting. The move-
ments of the eye as it opens, shuts, and turns, make
the seen image appear, disappear, and change. We there-
fore naturally associate this image with the eye in such a way
that we conceive it as lying in any case in front of us to
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. T
274 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
use the later language of the developed perception of
space : what is behind us an expression which at this
stage has really no meaning does not exist at all, and has
no more to do with space than the general feeling we have
in the hand or foot has to do with clearness or dimness.
And so it would remain, if we could not move our bodies
and could only turn our eyes to a very slight extent.
But as soon as we have learnt to turn on our axis and
to refer the consequent feelings of movement to their
true cause, the movement, we discover that our first field of
vision a b <r, instead of suddenly disappearing altogether,
passes successively into b c d, c d e . . . xy z, y z a, zab, and
a b c. The unbroken series of images which returns into
itself awakes in us the idea of a complete circular space
with no gaps in it ; and this idea, by the help of similar
movements of the eye in other directions, soon passes into
the ordinary perception of the spherical space that sur-
rounds us on all sides.
At the same time, this idea could neither arise nor attain
any clearness unless the idea of the third spatial dimension,
that of depth, were being simultaneously formed. In its
own nature the soul has certainly no impulse to project its
visual impressions outwards; it does not yet know this
'outside;' and in any case it could not project anything
merely generally outwards, it could only project impressions
into a definite distance ; and that definite distance it has as
yet no means of determining. Just as little is it possible,
as has been supposed, for the soul to represent its impres-
sions as lying directly on the eye; for this again means
simply the negation of distance, and distance must be
known if it is to be negated. The simple fact is really that
the impressions are there, and are seen, but they have
no assignable position in the third spatial direction, for this
is still unknown. That there is such a third direction,
we learn only from experience; and we learn it most
easily from our finding ourselves moving through the
Chap. IV.] ERECT VISION. 275
images we see, and from the fact that, in consequence
of this movement, the single images undergo various dis-
placements, some of them being hidden, and others which
were hidden coming into view. And this greatly increases
the difficulty of applying the general idea we have thus
acquired, in estimating the degree of distance in any
particular case; a problem which we leave to physiology
and the special psychology of sense-perception.
Lastly, I will touch very briefly on one vexed question ;
why do we see objects upright, although the image of
them on the retina is upside down ? We must remember
that we do not observe the image on our eye with a second
eye, which further could compare its own position with
the position of the object. There is nothing before us
but the image itself; all the geometrical relations of the
picture on the retina utterly disappear as it passes into
consciousness; and, in the same way, the fact that as
a whole it has a certain position in the eye does not in
the least prejudge the question how it is to appear later
in a spatial perception gained through some further means.
We are absolutely dependent on this other perception. If
there were only a seen space, we could give no answer
at all to the question what is above and what is beneath
in that space. These expressions have a meaning only
if we presuppose another idea of space, an idea for
which these two directions are not merely generally op-
posed to one another, but are uninterchangeably different.
When we have this idea, and not till then, we can say that
that in the visual world is ' above,' the image of which we find
or have to seek in the fixed direction towards the ' above '
of the other space. It is our muscular feeling or general
sense which (even when unaided by the sense of sight)
instructs us respecting the position of our body, that gives
us the other perception of space. For, the body being in
its usual upright position, the downward direction means
the direction of weight, and when we oppose our forces to
376 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
it the result is a number of feelings of effort ; and by these
feelings the downward direction in this other, non-visual,
perception of space is uniformly and uninterchangeably
distinguished from the upward. Consequently, if a and b
are places in the field of vision, b appears to us as beneath
# , when the sight or touch of b is attained through a move-
ment which, in the language of the muscular sense, is
a downward movement ; or when (our body being upright)
the image of b always enters the field of vision along with
the images of the lower parts of our body, and never along
with those of the upper. This last requirement is satisfied
by what is commonly called the reversed position of the
image on the retina, since the imaging surface of the eye
lies behind the centre of rotation ; and it would equally
be satisfied by an upright position of the image, if that
image arose in front of the centre of motion and on the
anterior convex surface of the eye. Thus there is a contra-
diction between the reports of the eyes and of the muscular
sense when we use an inverting telescope which gives an
upright position to the image on the retina. In such a case,
even if we have no other visual image to compare with the
telescopic one, we at once notice an opposition to the reports
of the muscular sense : we feel that in order to reach the
tops of the trees we see, we should have to move our
hand in a direction which, for that sense, is downward.
288. I have still to mention that localisation of im-
pressions which we obtain through the sense of touch.
Here again the basis of our view is given by JS. H. Webe^s
attempts to fix experimentally the conditions under which
we can distinguish two impressions on the skin, which are
qualitatively alike but locally different. The skin is lightly
touched with the two blunted points of a pair of compasses :
and the experiments showed that the extent to which the
two points have to be separated in order to be distinguished
as two, is very different at different parts of the body. For
the finger-ends, the edges of the lips, the tip of the tongue,
Chap. IV.] LOCALISA TION B Y TOUCH. 277
a distance of half a line suffices : while at many parts of the
arm, leg, and back, one of twenty lines is necessary. An
explanation seemed to be offered at once by the structure
of the nerve-fibres. The sensory nerve-fibre, though isolated
and unramified during its conduction, separates at its
peripheral end into a number of short branches, and so
distributes itself over a small space of the skin for the pur-
pose of receiving stimuli from without. It was thought,
then, that all the excitations which affect one of these nerve-
ends simultaneously would, through the unity of the fibre
which has to conduct them further, be destined to form one
resultant, and to be incapable of being distinguished from
one another. If, again, these excitations occurred one after
the other, they might be distinguished in their qualitative
character, but would give no ground for local distinctions.
On the other hand it was supposed, if two impressions fell
on two different nerve-spaces, this alone would not make it
possible to distinguish them as two : this possibility arising
only if, between the two stimulated spaces, there lay one or
more of such spaces which remained unstimulated. This
last supposition is in any case inadmissible ; for at every
moment there are a great many unstimulated nerve-fibres ;
if any particular ones among them are to be used for the
purpose of distinguishing two impressions a and &, there
must be something in them which shows that they lie
between the two stimulated nerve-spaces; and this pre-
supposes the possibility of accomplishing what has to be
explained, the localisation of the sensations.
In other respects too the point of view described fails to
give a sufficient basis for this localisation. Nor was this
exactly its purpose : it was intended only to explain why
two impressions can sometimes be distinguished and some-
times not. But even in this point I found myself unable to
accept it. Two points of the compasses which when they
touch the skin simultaneously give only one impression,
often leave two distinguishable impressions when they are
278 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
laid against the skin in turn ; and their two impressions
appear as locally distinct, though no accurate estimate of
the distance can be given ; moreover, within one radius of
sensation the onward movement of a point can be dis-
tinguished from its continued pressure on the same spot.
Lastly, the conduction of the excitations by the same or by
different nerve-fibres did not seem to me to decide anything ;
the partitions of the fibres are not continued into conscious-
ness, and there all the impressions must in the end come
together, qualitatively distinguishable, if they were different,
and indistinguishable if they were not. But neither for the
like impressions nor for the unlike did the theory assign any
ground of local separation, still less any clue by means of
which each of them might have its own place given to it.
280. Thus I found myself obliged in this case, no less
than in that of the impressions of sight, to look for local
signs, abiding certificates of local origin ; these local signs
would be attached, in the form of qualitatively distinguish-
able extra-impressions TT, *, p, to all excitations A, B, C,
according to the particular spots /, #, r of the skin which
they affect. Let us suppose that a stimulus, strictly limited
in its local extent say the prick of a needle affects the
spot /. Owing to the connexion between different parts of
the skin it is impossible that the operation of this stimulus
should be confined to a point destitute of any extension :
whatever alteration it produces directly at the point of
contact will produce in the neighbourhood of that point a
number of little stretchings, pressings, and displacements.
Now, though there is a general uniformity in the structure
of the skin, it is by no means exactly alike at all parts of the
body. The epidermis is thicker at one place, finer at
another ; when the skin is attached to the points of bones
it is stretched, at other places the extent of its possible dis-
placement is greater. It differs again not less widely
according to the nature of its substratum : it is not the
same when spread over a cushion of fat as when it is
Chap. IV.] VARIATIONS IN TACTUAL SENSATION. 279
stretched over bones, flesh, or cavities. Lastly, at different
places in the body these various situations may pass into
one another either suddenly or slowly. We may therefore
perhaps assume that at any point / in the body the wave it
of little extra-agitations, called forth by the stimulation of
that point, will differ from any other wave K which accom-
panies the stimulation of a spot q. But these extra-excita-
tions would avail us nothing if they simply occurred without
becoming objects of our perception ; and this last requisite
will depend on the distribution of the nerve-fibres. Let us
suppose a case. Within the field of distribution of one and
the same fibre, let p q r be the single ends of that fibre :
then the local sign TT of the spot / will consist in the sensa-
tions of those extra-impressions which the direct stimulation
of / calls up in its neighbourhood, and the conduction of
which to consciousness is secured by the nerve-terminations
q and r that receive them. Now if the structure of the skin
within this field of distribution were perfectly uniform, the
nerve-fibre which unites p q r would reach precisely the
same final state whichever of these terminations were the
place directly stimulated : the impressions could not be
distinguished, whether they were simultaneous or successive.
But if the structure of the skin varies within this field, the
stimulation of/ will produce different extra-excitations in
q and r from those which the same stimulation of q will
produce in p and r. Accordingly, if one and the same im-
pression A affects different places in succession, the uniting
fibre will bring this impression to consciousness in company
with different local signs TT K p and we shall have a motive
for the separation of three sensations, although as yet no
motive for a definite localisation of them. If the impressions
are simultaneous, the uniting fibre may either conduct them
side by side without intermixture, or it may be only capable
of conducting a single resultant of their influences : which of
these alternatives is correct is a question we cannot discuss.
Let us now return to the other idea. Let/ q r stand for
280 FORMATION OF OUR IDEAS OF SPACE. [Book III.
three different nerve-fibres ; but let the stimulus A act on a
spot of the tissue where there is no nerve-termination : then
the effect produced must distribute itself until it finds a
nerve-termination on which it can discharge itself. Now if
in the whole field of p q r the structure of the skin was uni-
form, I should say that it matters nothing whether it is one
or two of these fibres that receive the like impressions,
which would be accompanied by like local signs ; for in no
Case could the impressions be distinguished, and the only
use of the multiplicity of the fibres would be the general
one of securing the entrance of the stimuli into the nervous
system ; for there can be no doubt that the excitation of
the tissue could not propagate itself to any very consider-
able distance. On the other hand, if the texture and state
of the skin within this whole field varies rapidly, the different
local signs which arise at point after point would be useless
unless there are a great number of closely congregated
nerve-terminations, each of which can receive the wave of
excitation of a small circuit, before that wave has lost its
characteristic peculiarity by meeting with others which
began at different places and spread over the same field.
It seems to me that these suppositions answer to the results
of observation. On the back and trunk there are long
stretches where the structure of the skin is uniform, and
here impressions can only be distinguished when they are
separated by wide distances. In the case of the arm and
leg, the power of distinction is duller when the stimuli
follow another in the direction of the longitudinal axis of
those limbs the direction of the underlying muscles ; it is
sharper when the stimuli are arranged round the limb, in
which case the skin is supported alternately and in different
ways by the swell of the muscles and the spaces that inter-
vene between them.
290. The name local signs, in its proper sense, cannot
be given to these extra-excitations themselves, but only to
the sensations they occasion. Now it strikes us at once
Chap. IV.] FEELING AND MOVEMENT. 281
that there is one of our postulates which those sensations
altogether fail to satisfy. It is true that they differ in
quality, while at the same time they admit of resemblances ;
for example, if we touch any part of the skin that is
stretched above a bone, whether it be the forehead, the
knee-cap, or the heel, feelings are distinctly aroused which
have a common tone. But these feelings are not quantita-
tively rateable members of a series or system of series.
They cannot therefore serve directly to fix the locality of
their causes ; and, besides, what we require in this case is
not the localisation of the sensations within an absolute
space, but within that variable surface of the body, to the
various points of which they are to be referred. We must
have learnt the shape of this surface beforehand, and have
discovered through observation to what point p in it that
impression A belongs, which is characterised by the local
sign TT : until this is done we cannot refer a second stimulus
B TT to the same point in the surface of the body. This
can be done easily enough if we can use our eyes ; but how
is it to be accomplished by the blind man, who, beyond
these feelings, has nothing to help him except movement ?
Without doubt the help that movement gives him is of
decisive importance ; but how it is possible to use this help
is not so easy to understand as is often supposed. While
the movement is going on, we have of course a certain
definite feeling which accompanies it ; but then this feeling
is in itself nothing but a manner in which we are affected ;
it itself does not tell us we have to guess that it is caused
by a movement of the limbs. This discovery, again, is easy
when we can use our eyes, and so notice that our hand is
changing its place while we are experiencing the muscular
feeling ; but the blind man has to make out in some other
way that the alteration of his general feeling is not a mere
change of his internal state, but depends on the variable
relation into which he or his bodily organs enter towards a
series of permanent external objects.
202 fUKMATlUJN Utf UUK 1D&AS U*
Now it seems to me that the condition which makes such
a knowledge as this attainable, consists in this, that the
skin, like the eye, has a number of sensitive and moveable
points. If an organ of touch in the shape of an antenna
possessed in its tip the sole point at which the skin of the
whole body was sensitive ; and if its capacities were strictly
limited at every moment to the power of bringing one
single object-point A to perception, the result would be
that, when a movement of this organ led from A to B, the
perception of A would altogether disappear and the wholly
new perception of B would take its place. No doubt while
this was going on a muscular feeling x would have been
experienced ; but how could it occur to us to interpret that
feeling as the effect of a spatial movement ? However often
we passed from A to B and from B to A, and experienced
the feelings + #, we should never discover what those feel-
ings really signified ; this transition would remain a perfectly
mysterious process, of which all we knew would be that it
transformed our idea A into B. On the other hand, if the
hand, like the eye, can feel the three impressions A B C at
once ; if this image of pressure changes during the move-
ment by regular stages into B C I>, C D E\ and if by a
movement in the opposite direction we can again reach the
parts that have disappeared, or grasp them with one hand
while the other moves away from them, these facts must
certainly tend to suggest the idea that the muscular feelings
which accompany the succession of sensations arise from a
variable relation of ourselves towards independent objects
that is, from movement. As soon as this is discovered, it is
possible in a way which I need not further describe for
the limitless variety of combination between the sensations
of that part of the body which touches, and the not less
sensitive part which is touched, to conduct us to a know-
ledge of the surface of our body, and to the localisation and
arrangement of our single sensations in that surface.
CHAPTER V.
The Physical basis of Mental Activity.
IN passing on to consider the forms in which soul and
body act on one another, I must observe that there are a
number of special questions for the answers to which there
is not as yet any sufficient foundation ; and of these I do
not consider it my duty to treat. All that can be considered
proper to this metaphysical discussion are the fundamental
conceptions used by various theories in interpreting the
facts. We may leave out of sight an infinity of so-called
experiences, all of which are not by any means equally well
attested, and which alter every day with the progress of
observation. They will gradually define the object of some
future theory, but, so far at least, they do not contribute to
the criticism of these metaphysical foundations.
291. It has been said that the soul is the same thing
ideally that the body is really; or that the two are the
different sides of a single whole. Such wide expressions
will not give us what we want. When once we have dis-
tinguished body and soul as two parties between which
manifold interactions take place, we need ideas more
definite and more capable of being pictured, in order to
conceive the processes through which these reciprocal in-
fluences make themselves felt. And among the questions
which require a clear and unambiguous answer is that con-
cerning the spatial relations of the soul the question, to
adopt the current phraseology, of the seat of the soul. There
was a time when some philosophers looked down with pity
284 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
on the maladroitness supposed to be involved in the very
asking of this question. Nevertheless, unprejudiced persons
will always raise it afresh ; and therefore it must be answered
and not ignored. I might attempt to answer it at once, by
connecting it with the preceding discussions ; but I prefer
to leave them out of sight, and to repeat the considerations
by which on other occasions I have attempted to indicate
my view. Let us take, then, the various ideas which are
really intelligible to us respecting the spatial relations of
anything capable of action, and which we are in the habit of
applying to them, and ask which of them answers to the
special case of the human soul.
292. To be in a place means simply and solely to exert
action from that place and to experience the actions or
effects that reach that place : if we put these two powers
out of sight, it is impossible to attach any meaning to the
assertion that a thing is at this place/ and is not at that other
place q, where, as at/, it neither exerts nor experiences any
action. Now it is possible to conceive an existence standing
in a direct, and at the same time an identical, relation of
interaction with all the other elements of the world. There
is one case in which this is a current idea ; it expresses what
we mean by the omnipresence of God. No element of the
world needs to travel a long road, or to call in the help of
other things in order to bring its own state to the presence
and knowledge of God; nor have the divine influences to
make a journey in order to reach distant things : the inter-
action here is perfectly direct. But then it is also one and
the same in all cases, and has not different degrees ; at any
rate there is no measure of distance, according to which the
interaction is necessarily stronger or weaker; the only
reason why its work may be greater in one case than in
another is that the meaning of things, or of what goes on in
things, gives a reason for an interaction of greater weight in
one instance and of less weight in another. In this alone
consists our conception of omnipresence; the infinite
Chap.V.] INTERACTION OF SOUL AND BODY. 285
spatial extension which forms the theatre of that omni-
presence we are far from ascribing to God as an attribute
of His nature ; and on the other hand we see no contradic-
tion between the plurality of the points at which His activity
manifests itself, and the perfect unity of His nature.
Now the attempt has often been made to ascribe this
omnipresence to the soul, within the limits, that is, of the
body in which it resides : and the cause of this mistaken
idea is most commonly to be found in the aesthetic im-
pression which makes it seem as though the whole of the
body were penetrated by a psychical life, and every part of
it were the immediate seat of sensation and a direct organ
of the will. But there are some simple physiological facts
which show us that this beautiful semblance of omnipresence
is the result of a number of intermediating agencies ; that
the soul knows nothing of the stimuli that reach the body,
and loses its power of setting up movements the moment
the continuity of the conducting nerve is broken ; that there-
fore the space within which body and soul act directly on
one another is limited, and must be found somewhere,
though we cannot yet define its limits, within the central
portions to which all impressions are conducted, and from
which all impulses to voluntary movements start. We may
refuse to believe this ; we may answer that a natural feeling
tells us all that the soul feels directly in the touching hand,
and that this natural feeling cannot be created by such
intervening agencies. But the objection will not help us.
There are certain peculiar double feelings of contact which
arise when we touch an object with an instrument held in
the hand ; but we do not consider ourselves justified in con-
cluding from this that the soul can occasionally prolong its
activity to the end of a stick or a probe. And yet we fancy
that we have a direct feeling at that point of their contact
with a foreign body.
298. The natural sciences have familiarised us with the
idea of another interaction, which . is direct, but also
286 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
graduated. This is our notion of the attractive and re-
pellent fundamental forces of masses. These forces need
no intermediation; they send their action to infinite dis-
tances, whether the space traversed by that action is full
or empty ; but the intensity of the action diminishes with
the increase of the distance. If we applied this notion
to the present case, we should conceive of the seat of
the soul as a point, or at least as a limited district of the
brain, on which the interactions of the soul with the
surrounding parts would be at the maximum of intensity,
while the further they left it behind the more they would
diminish in strength, although actually extending to infinity.
But a sober observation finds no witness to this outward
activity. The slightest intervening space that separates
things from our senses makes them simply non-existent to
us, except where there are verifiable processes through
which we act on things indirectly, and they on us, and which
therefore help us over this spatial interval. Any amount of
freedom being permitted in suppositions of this kind, the
assumption might be suggested that the force of the soul
diminishes in the ratio of a very high power of the distance ;
in this case it might exert no observable influence upon the
lengths of nerve which extend even a slight distance from
its mysterious seat. All that is certain is that, however
close to the root of the nerve a breach of its continuity may
be, the outgoing force of the soul is never able to produce
on the other side of this breach the effects which it
commonly produces in the nerve. But, be this as it may,
to assume that there is a fixed limit whether the surface
of the body, or the smaller zone within which the roots
of the nerves lie at which the outgoing force ceases to
operate, is simply equivalent to a surrender of this whole
point of view. There is nothing in one spherical surface
of empty space that can make it, rather than any other
such surface, the limit at which an activity ceases to diffuse
itself. If there is any such limit, the reason of its existence
Chap.V.] SEAT OF THE SOUL. 287
must lie in the fact that the force does not stream outward
aimlessly through empty space, but that there are other
real conditions on which its activity and the absence of
its activity depend.
294. But it is not worth while to pursue any further
this idea of limited action at a distance. There is a more
decided view, which has always been preferred to it, and to
which many natural processes bear witness. According to
this view, action never takes place except in contact, and
therefore we must assume one single seat of the soul, fixed
or variable, in the form of a point ; and apart from other
reasons a local habitation of this kind appeared most suited
to that which is immaterial and a unity. Yet this idea was
at once found to involve a crowd of difficulties. Let us
first suppose the seat of the soul to be, not changeable
but fixed. In this case we must assume either that all the
nerve-fibres join at this point of intersection, or else that
there is a formless space whether parenchyma or cavity
into which all nervous excitations discharge themselves, and
are able to reach the soul which resides at some point of
this space. But as to the point of intersection, anatomy,
instead of discovering it, has simply made its existence
incredible ; and as little is it possible to discover a formless
space, having edges where all the nerve-fibres terminate,
and offering a field within which the excitations of these
fibres can spread until they reach the soul. It might
possibly be the case that the soul needs no such primary
assembly of all the primitive fibres, but stands in direct
interaction with a few of them, which would be, as it were,
the delegates of the rest: but, so far, we know of no
anatomical fact which makes this probable. Secondly,
then, we may suppose that the place where the soul resides
is not fixed but moveable. This idea leads us back to the
notion of limited action at a distance. At any given moment
the soul would have to be at the particular spot, where
an excitation is arriving an excitation which cannot
288 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
become a sensation unless the soul is there; and if it is
to be at this spot, it must have been already acted upon
from this spot and so induced to move to it. Finally,
if the soul is to impart an impulse to the root of a motor
nerve, it must move to the spot from which it can exert
this impulse : but as the motor nerve is not yet active
it cannot solicit the soul to move to this spot, and therefore
the soul must itself choose its line of movement and follow
it : and this implies a knowledge of locality which no one
will admit.
But is all this really necessary ? Is it really necessary to
assume any one of these alternatives ? either that the
activity of the soul penetrates indiscriminately the whole
body or that it penetrates, again indiscriminately but with
decreasing intensity, space simply as space ; or finally that
the soul is confined to one point and acts only in contact ?
The root of all these difficulties seems to be a confusion in
our idea of the nature of an acting force and of the relation
of this force to space. And there is no lack of other
examples which will enable us to arrive at a more correct
conception.
295. Any force arises between two elements out of
a relation of their qualitative natures ; a relation which
makes an interaction necessary for them, but only for them
and their like. It is altogether a mistake to regard a force
as a hunger for action, spreading itself throughout a space
and seizing indiscriminately on everything it finds in that
space. We should do better to think of the magnetic
force, which within the provinces over which it extends
operates on no bodies but those which can be magnetised,
and remains indifferent to those with which, though
they lie within the same space, it has no elective affinity.
Or we may think of the chemical reagents which, when
poured into a fluid, pass without acting by the substances
which are indifferent to them, while they supplement
those with which their chemical nature makes it necessary
Chap.V.] SPATIAL PROXIMITY NEEDLESS. 289
for them to join. These examples prove nothing, and
the idea they are meant to illustrate is intelligible with-
out them, but they enable us to picture it. It is not
their spatial position that compels the elements to act
on one another or makes such interaction impossible ;
but it is their own natures and the relations between
them that make some elements indifferent to each other
and impel others to a vigorous copartnership. If we
apply this general idea to the present case, our first
assertion must be this : wherever the soul may have its
local habitation (for it may be still held that we must
assume that it has such a habitation), the extension of
its activity will not be determined by its position there :
this position will not confine the soul to an inter-
action with those nerve-elements which surround and
touch that habitation : nor will its activity start from
this centre, and, like a physical force acting in distans,
extend with a decreasing intensity to all the elements
which are grouped at an increasing distance around that
centre. On the contrary, wherever there are elements
with which the nature of the soul enables and compels
it to interact, there it will be present and active ; wherever
there is no such summons to action, there it will not be
or will appear not to be.
Now doubtless it is pleasant to the imagination to
represent the elements that stand in this sympathetic
relation to the soul as in spatial proximity to one another,
and, where this is possible, to picture a small extended
province of the brain, best of all, a single point, where
they are all assembled. But there is no necessity in
real earnest for this hypothesis. We have reached the
conviction that spatial positions and spatial distances are
not in themselves conditions of the exercise or non-exercise
of forces, and that they form such conditions only because
they themselves are the manifestation of forces 1 which
1 [Cp. 1 16 and 203.]
Mu-TAPHVQir. VOL. II. U
PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
are already active and determine the continuance and
progress of the action. We have seen that to be in a place
means nothing but to exert action and to be affected by
action in that place, and that the sufficient grounds of
this action and affection lie nowhere but in the intelligible
relations of existences in themselves non-spatial. With
this conviction of this insight we can now take up again, in
a better defined shape, the idea of that omnipresence
of the soul in the body which, as we explained in dealing
with it, we could not help rejecting. The soul stands
in that direct interaction which has no gradation, not with
the whole of the world nor yet with the whole of the
body, but with a limited number of elements ; those
elements, namely, which are assigned in the order of
things as the most direct links of communication in the
commerce of the soul with the rest of the world. On
the other hand there is nothing against the supposition
that these elements, on account of other objects which
they have to serve, are distributed in space ; and that there
are a number of separate points in the brain which form
so many seats of the soul. Each of these would be of
equal value with the rest ; at each of them the soul would
be present, with equal completeness, but not therefore
without any distinction; rather we might suppose that
at each of them the soul exercises one of those diverse
activities which ought never to have been compressed into
the formless idea of merely a single outgoing force. In
using the current conception of omnipresence we refused to
attribute to God, as a predicate of His nature, the infinite
cubic extension which His activity fills ; and we could
see no danger to the unity of His nature in the infinite
number of distinct points which form the theatre of that
activity: and there is just as little conflict between the
unity of the soul and the multiplicity of its spatial habita-
tions. Each of them is simply an expression, in the
language of our spatial perception, for one of the manifold
Chap.V.3 PLACE DEPENDS ON FUNCTION, 291
relations in which the soul as taking part in the intelligible
connexion of things is at one and the same time involved.
Our imagination naturally and unavoidably symbolises
this unity, no less than the variety, in a spatial way. We
shall therefore be inclined to oppose to these many places
a single one which is really and truly the seat of the
soul. Perhaps it will be the fixed geometrical central
point of all the rest ; perhaps it will be a variable central
point, and then we must conceive it to be determined
not geometrically but dynamically as the joint result of
the spatial co-ordinates of the distinct places on the one
hand and the intensities of the psychical activities going on
in them at the given time on the other. Such ideas do
no harm and they act as supports to our perception : but
they have no objective meaning; for the point arrived
at by such a calculation as the above, would not express
a real fixed position of the soul in that point at the given
moment, nor would it give us grounds for determining
anything whatever as to the behaviour of the soul in the
next succeeding moment.
296. But our view has to meet an objection coming
from another side, and will therefore have to undergo
another and a final revision. Observation discloses no
such differences among the elements of the brain as would
give some few points in it the exclusive privilege of forming
the seat of the soul. And yet we have to suppose the
existence of such a special qualification. For if we were
to widen our idea into the supposition that the soul can
stand in the direct relation of interaction, above described,
with all the constituent parts of the brain, the laboriously
intricate structure we find in it would become wholly
unintelligible. But is it necessary, is it even possible, to
suppose that a real existence A stands once for all in the
relation of interaction with other real existences B and C y
simply because B\sB and C is C, while it stands in no such
relation with D and , just because they are D and E?
292 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
In the first place, what is it that makes B to be B and
C to be C but this : that under different conditions (these
conditions forming a series) B experiences the states
#1 #2 3 . . . , and not y l y 2 y 3 . . . , whereas under the same
conditions C experiences the latter states and never the
former ? And, in the second place, we have to suppose
that at one time an interaction takes place between A and
B) and at another time does not take place ; and yet what
would this interaction mean, if A and B were simply A and
B) and if A did not undergo certain variable states c^ or
a. 2 , which formed signals to B to realise forthwith 0, or # 2 ,
and no other of the states possible to it ? Without doubt,
then, our conception was still incomplete, when we sought
to place the soul S in a direct and ungraduated connexion
of interaction with different nerve-elements BCD, con-
sidered simply as such. Things cannot stimulate one
another in respect of their unchanging natures ; they can
only be stimulated in respect of what goes on in them, and
that reciprocally. Accordingly it is the events ft y 5 which
occur in B CD that, in virtue of their occurrence, make
these points and no other points the seats or localities
of a direct interaction with the soul.
Starting from this point of view, then, we should be
led in consistency to the following metaphysical conception
of the significance of the central organs. The interlacing of
the nerve-fibres serves two ends. First, it has to act upon
the excitations which arrive from without through the
organs of sense, so to connect, separate, and arrange
them, that as the result there arise those final states
0yd, which now for the first time, and in their present
shape, are in a condition to be brought to the knowledge
of the soul, or by which alone it is capable of being
stimulated. The second function is the converse of this.
The excitations which come from the inner nature of
the soul, have to be transformed into physical occurrences
in such an order and arrangement, that their centrifugal
Chap.V.] INTERNAL ACTIVITY OF MIND. 293
action on the moveable members of the body will allow
of an influence, answering to a conceived end, on the
shape of the external world. At the point where these
duties are fulfilled, lies a seat of the active soul, the
locality of one of the different functions, in the connected
whole of which its life consists. In an earlier passage
I spoke of this point of view as one of the hypotheses
which might be framed in accordance with the facts
to be explained : it will now be seen that it is only the
continuation of our ontological views. We have left far
behind us the theory which conceived the world as based
on a number of elements, beings, or atoms, which simply
'are* and form a primary fact, and between which we
then suppose actions to take place, the s nature and occur-
rence of these actions being thus of necessity grounded
in something external to the fixed existence of the primal
elements. We found that there is nothing in the fullest
sense actual but the one reality which is in eternal motion,
and in the development of which any member of the
whole is connected with any other only in accordance
with the meaning of the whole, and stands in no such
connexion where the meaning of the whole does not
warrant it. It is only this connexion of events that gives to
single stable conjunctions of these manifold occurrences
the appearance in our eyes of beings with an independent
existence ; in reality these conjunctions are only the meet-
ing points, or crossing points, of in-going and out-going
actions, which the significance of the course of events
keeps in being, and they form actual beings or existences
only when, like the soul, they do not simply appear to
others as such centres, but really make themselves such
centres by opposing themselves, in consciousness and
action, to the external world.
297. From the preceding account of the functions of
the central nervous organs we might conclude that their
only business is to bring about the commerce of the soul
PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book ill.
with the external world ; the internal activity of the mind
would seem not to need their co-operation. Taken as
a whole, I do not disclaim this inference, though it must be
limited in essential respects ; rather I regret that no further
explanation is possible regarding those other operations,
in which it is agreed on all hands that the help of the
body is needed. There are a very large number of cases
in which unfortunately we are not simply unable to point
out the means which would render the required service,
but we do not even know exactly what services are required.
And I mean this admission to apply not only to my own
view, but to many others which would be very unwilling
to make a like confession. We studied the retina of the
eye, and the nerve-terminations found in it : dioptrics re-
vealed to us the passage of the rays of light, and their
point of meeting on the nerve-terminations : What more
did we want? Were we not in complete possession of
all the conditions (so far as they can be fulfilled in the eye)
implied in the occurrence of visual perception ? And yet
further investigation has discovered new layers of a strange
structure in the retina, of the use of which we know
nothing, and which yet can scarcely be useless. It is certain
then that we made a mistake in supposing our knowledge to
be complete, when we cannot tell the function of what
is afterwards discovered: and yet even now we cannot
guess what part it was we overlooked in the work the eye
has to perform. Now in the case of the brain we are
equally at a loss : it is not merely that in the greater part of
its structure we find everywhere arrangements of the most
remarkable kind, and yet cannot tell their purpose : but
even where experience has disclosed to us with sufficient
certainty the existence of relations between psychical
functions and particular parts of the brain, we cannot
get further than this very general result : no one can specify
the exact physical function their elements have to perform
in order that this or that definite expression of psychical
Chap. V.] MO TORIUM COMMUNE! 295
activity may be possible. Thus we talk in a highly per-
functory way of organs of this or that mental faculty,
without knowing very well what there is to prevent the soul
from manifesting itself without this organ, what intelligible
properties there are which enable this organ to supply
the conditions lacking to the soul, and lastly in what way
the soul is enabled to make use of this organ as its
instrument. This last idea indeed, the idea of an instru-
ment, is the most unsuitable of all that could possibly
be applied to the case. We may call the limbs of the
body instruments : for though we do not know how they
follow out our ideas, we are at any rate able consciously
to connect the movements, which we do not understand
in detail, so that they form the means of carrying out
an intention. But when we are told that man cannot
think with a frozen brain, it is only the obliging preposition
* with ' that gives these words the appearance of meaning
something; for it seems to indicate that we are able
to understand how gloriously thought goes to work with an
unfrozen brain as its instrument. If for the preposition we
substitute the conditional sentence which forms its real
meaning, l if the brain is frozen, man cannot think/ the
words remind us only of what is perfectly familiar, the many
conditions on which life in general and therefore every
mental activity depends, but they tell us absolutely nothing
of the nature of the service which these conditions render
to the realisation of these activities. Nothing can help us
over this state of ignorance, but the multiplication of exact
observations : all that remains for us to do here is to touch
on the few general ideas which we should wish not to be
neglected when the new knowledge we hope for comes to be
interpreted.
298. The older psychology used to speak of a sensorium
commune : but it was not able to point it out, and the motive
for assuming its existence was probably only an indefinite
desire for a place where all sensations could be collected
296 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
into a common consciousness. It may be that in this
matter we are in the position described in the last section :
perhaps there really is some function we have overlooked,
which is necessary to this end, and has to be performed by
the physical organs. But all that is certain is that we do not
know of any such function. So long, therefore, as we cannot
point to definite processes of modification, to which all im-
pressions must submit before they can become objects of
consciousness, we have no ground at all for supposing such
a place of assembly for these impressions.
Modern physiology has sometimes spoken of a motorium
commune, and supposed it to be found in the cerebellum.
But the movements of the body show the utmost degree of
variety; and their classification under the head of movements
connects them no more closely with one another than with
other functions of the mind to which they are conjoined in
the economy of our life. We may suppose that the manifold
excitations of the muscles, which each species of animal
needs for its characteristic kind of locomotion, and for the
preservation of its equilibrium in different positions of the
body, are really dependent on a central organ, which
compels them to occur in company, and grouped in a way
that answers this special purpose. But I know no reason
why we should make the same centre a condition of all the
other movements, which are excited for other purposes and
by other occasions in the various limbs of the body. Thus
the idea of this general motory organ, again, seems to me to
owe its origin to a logical division of the psychical activities,
and not to a consideration of the connexion in which these
activities have to stand in supporting each other for the
purposes of life. It is much more likely that sensory and
motor nerves are combined with one another in various
ways, so as to form central points for whole complexes
of exertions dependent on one another. Even the motorium
to which we ascribed the preservation of the equilibrium,
would be unable to perform its task unless it received at
Chap.V.] ORGAN OF LANGUAGE. 297
every instant an impression of the threatening position
which it has to counteract by a compensating movement.
And even if it is possible for this movement to be carried
out in a perfectly mechanical way, and without the par-
ticipation of the soul, it is, in the ordinary course of events,
it the same time an object of our perception. It seems to
me probable, therefore, that this organ, too, consists in a
systematic connexion of sensory and motor fibres ; although
the former do not always communicate their excitations to
Consciousness, but sometimes simply produce a movement
by transferring their excitation to motor fibres. Now among
the organs which I should suppose to be formed in this way,
I should place first an organ of the perception of space : and
I am completely satisfied, although utterly unable to prove
it, that in all the higher kinds of animals this organ,
dedicated in each case to a function which appears every-
where the same, forms a considerable part of the brain. If
the hypotheses I have ventured respecting the local signs
of the sensations of sight be correct, the function of this
organ would be to connect the optical impressions with
the motor impulses of the eye. But how this function can
be performed, and in what form the efficient connexion
of the sensory and motor nerves is established, these are
questions on which I will offer no conjecture.
299. In the second division of the functions of the
central organs those functions which consist in the physi-
cal working out of the internal impulses of the soul there
is one process with respect to which the observations of the
most recent times seem to have led to a secure result. It
has been proved with sufficient certainty that an organ of
language is to be found at a particular spot in the large
hemispheres of the human brain. In order to understand
the office of this organ, let us glance at the different modes
in which our movements in general arise. I put aside the
purposeless twitchings which occur in particular muscles,
owing to internal irritations for the most part unknown to
298 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY* [Booklll.
us: but even with respect to the movements which we
produce at will in accordance with our intentions, we must
confess that we do not understand how they take place.
We do not know by nature either the structure of the
limbs which gives the movement its form, or the position of
the muscles and nerves which carry it into execution.
Even if we did, there would remain a further question as to
which we are still in darkness, and which science also is
not at present able to answer : what is it exactly that we
have to do, if we are to give to the nerve that first impulse
which produces in all this preparatory mechanism the
desired state of activity? It takes the newly-born animal
but a short time to acquire that control over its limbs which
characterises the genus to which it belongs ; and this fact
compels us to assume, not merely a succession of chance
experiences which gradually teach the animal that its limbs
can be used, but also internal impulses which call these
experiences into being. On the one hand, the external
stimuli, by transferring their excitations to motor nerves,
will at once call forth connected groups of movements
combined in conformity with their common end ; on the
other hand, the central apparatus, on which this combina-
tion depends, may be stimulated to activity from within by
variable states of the body. The sensory excitation then
will produce in consciousness a sensation of the stimulus,
and at the same time the movement that occurs will pro-
duce in consciousness the sensation of its occurrence, and
the perception of its result; and in this way the soul,
playing at present the part of a mere spectator, will have
acquired the different elements of an association which it
can reproduce at a later time with a view to its own ends.
The soul cannot always produce of itself the efficient
primary state that would recreate the movement: some-
times this movement demands, for its repetition, the com-
plete reproduction of the corporeal stimulus from which it
sprang originally as a true reflex movement. For example,
Chap. V.] STAR TING-POINT OF MO VEMENT. 299
up to a certain point one can imitate coughing and sneez-
ing at will, but one cannot bring about an actual sneezing
or vomiting without a fresh operation of their physical
excitants. Even the movements which depend on states
of emotion are only to a slight extent conjoined to the
renewal of the mere ideas of a pain or pleasure; they
depend on the renewal of the pain and pleasure themselves.
I refer to the familiar facts of bodily expression and
gesture an endowment due to nature, and not to our
invention involuntary manifestations of its internal psy-
chical states, which the soul simply witnesses without
willing them, and, for the most part, without being able to
hinder them.
300. But what is the starting-point which the soul must
produce in order that the motor mechanism may execute
exactly that movement which at the given instant answers
to the psychical intention ? I speak simply of a starting-
point, because we certainly cannot suppose that the soul
exerts an independent and conscious control over the
details of the process, and metes out to the particular
nerve-fibres, which must be called into action in the given
case, those precise quantities of excitation which will secure
the direction and strength of the desired movement. In
place of thus generating homogeneous impulses, and merely
giving them different directions in different instances, it has
to produce for different movements A and B qualitatively
different internal states a and ; and these, instead of
being guided by it, seek and find their way for themselves,
simply because they are themselves and no other states.
Let a and b be two different motor central points, of which
a connects into a whole the single excitations necessary to
A, and b those necessary to B \ then a will find its efficient
response only in a, ft only in , while to other nerves they
will remain indifferent. If, again, both movements A and
B depend on the same central point, only that they depend
on different degrees of its excitation, then the strength of
300 PHYSICAL BASIS Of MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book lit.
a and will determine also the strength of this excitation.
If, lastly, one movement requires the simultaneous activity
of both organs, then the internal state y, which is to set up
that activity, must contain the two components a and ft
and these two components will determine the share taken
by a and b in the joint-result they have to produce. This
view of the origin of movement corresponds but little to
ordinary notions; it leads us back to the often-repeated
idea, that the ultimate ground or reason of every action or
effect lies in the fact that the two elements which stand in
this relation of interaction exist for one another directly
that they stand, if the word may be used, in a direct
sympathetic rapport, which makes each receptive to the
moods of the other. There may be many intermediating
processes producing the conditions on which this rapport
depends, or removing the hindrances to it, but they are all
mere preparations for the action ; the action itself, which
comes when they are finished, cannot be explained in its
turn by a similar machinery, between every pair of whose
parts this immediate sympathy would again be necessary.
Our theory presents difficulties to the imagination only if
we take in literal earnest the expression in which the
internal state a or ft is described as finding its way to a or
b. The internal state has not really any way to traverse ;
for the soul in which it arises is not placed at some distant
spot in space, from whence it has to send out its influence
in search of the organs that are to serve it. The soul,
without its unity being on that account endangered, is
itself everywhere present where, in the connexion of all
things, its own states have attached to them the consequent
states of other elements.
301. When the soul then reproduces within itself these
starting-points, they proceed, without any further inter-
ference or knowledge on its part, and in obedience to a
mechanism which was not invented by us and remains
concealed from us, to produce as a final result the actual
Chap.V.] STARTING-POINT IS FEELING. 301
movement. We now naturally ask the further question in
what precisely do these starting-points consist? A very
close approach has already been made to our view when it
is asserted that, if the movement is to become actual, we
must will, not the movement itself, but the end of it, and
that then the movement will take place of itself. But the
question is, What is this willing of the end ? The imitative
movements with which the devout spectator accompanies
the actions of the fencer or skittle-player, or by which an
unskilful narrator tries to portray the objects he speaks of,
might convince us that, in the absence of hindrances, the
mere idea of a movement passes of itself into the actual
movement. And if we take this point of view, we may
really leave the influence of the will out of account. For
whatever else it may consist in, and whatever positive
contribution, over and above the mere absence of resistance,
it may make to our movements, still its function in refer-
ence to a given movement #, distinguished from another b,
will consist essentially in this, that it favours the definite
ground or reason a or ft which leads to the one or the other
of these movements ; and the nature of this starting-point
or ground is precisely the question we were concerned
with. On the other hand, I certainly do not think we
need look for this starting-point in the idea, at any rate not
in the visual ideas of the movement ; although innumerable
little acts of our daily life are directly conjoined, without
any consideration or resolution of the will, to the ideas
arising in us of a possible and desirable movement ; and
though they even seem to be conjoined, without the inter-
mediation of an idea at all, to the mere perception of the
object with which the act may deal. Taken by itself the
visual idea would signify nothing more than the somewhat
abstract fact that a moveable limb is at this moment at the
spot / in space, and at the next moment at the spot q ; but
it would contain none of the concrete interest for us which
is given to this fact by the circumstance that we are the
302 PH YSICAL BASIS OP MENTAL A C TIVITY. [Book III.
cause of the visual idea and that our limbs are the object,
whose spatial positions are in question. Thus the starting-
point or state, which the soul has to reproduce in itself in
order that, conversely, the actual movement may be con-
joined to that state is not, I conceive, the idea of the
movement, but rather the feeling which we experience
during the execution of the movement and in consequence
of its execution. It is common in physiology now to speak
of feelings of innervation, but I should not choose that
name to describe what I mean. The case is not, I think,
that there is an act, consisting in an influencing of the
nerve, and directed now here and now there, but in other
respects always of the same nature ; and that this act is on
the one hand what we feel, and on the other hand what
according to the direction given to it produces this move-
ment a or that movement b. The case is rather that this
feeling itself, its mere unhindered existence, constitutes
that internal condition of the soul which effects an innerva-
tion proceeding from it and affecting in all cases a particular
complex of nerves. There are some very simple facts of
experience which seem to me to confirm this view. A
beginner finds it difficult to hit a certain musical note or a
given uttered sound, and then there is this special difficulty
that the necessary movements are not completely visible ;
but we also find that any other movement which is at all
complicated, continues, even though it be fully measured
by the eye, to be difficult to us until we have once suc-
ceeded in it. Then we know how we must feel if we wish
to repeat it, and that feeling TT, or, to state the matter as
we did in the case of the local signs, that first link TT O in the
series of momentary muscular feelings which followed one
another during the actual movement, has to be reproduced
if the movement is to be repeated ; and we consider the
movement to be successful, and to answer our intention,
if the repeated series n is identical with the series we
remember.
Chap.V.] HOW THE FEELING OPERATES. 30.
302. If, taking these results as our presuppositions, v.
now return to the organ of language, our account will be a
follows : the idea of that which we wish to designate awakes
the idea of the sound of its name, and this idea awakes
the idea of the muscular feeling n which is necessary to the
utterance of the name ; and to this last idea is conjoined
the movements of the organs of speech. But here we come
to a standstill ; we cannot determine what contributions
the organ has to make to this end. Since the feeling TT arose
from the physical excitations experienced by the muscles
when first the movement was executed, it seems a tenable
hypothesis that the reawakening of this feeling in the soul
must produce (to begin with) a general state of physical
excitation in the organ, and that this state then, in con-
formity with the structure and internal states of the organ,
divides into the various components which give their
particular impulses to the executing nerves and muscles.
The morbid phenomena produced by an injury to the
organ, as well as many simple phenomena of daily life
those of passion, intoxication, and others show that this
chain of processes may be interrupted at various points ;
there may be a correct image of the object, though the idea
of sound united with it is false ; or the latter may be still
distinct to us, but we are annoyed to find that the spoken
word does not correspond with it. But these disturbances
again give us no exact information respecting the function
of the organ in its healthy state. It is easy to talk of
telegraphic conductions and perverted connexions of them,
but this is nothing but a way of picturing the observed
facts ; and images are useless unless one can confront every
single line of them with the real process which corresponds to
them point for point. The other movements of the body
are subject to similar disturbances ; but these I must leave
to the pathological works in which interesting descriptions
of them may be found. Whatever anatomical basis is given
to that feeling which instructs us respecting the position,
$04 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
the movement, and the amount of exertion of our limbs,
he fact remains that, wherever this feeling is diminished or
disappears, we find it difficult or impossible to execute
movements, the idea of which is none the less present to
consciousness, as the idea of a task to be accomplished.
303. Phrenology has attempted to connect with corporeal
bases the activities commonly ascribed to the higher faculties
of the mind. We cannot say that the observations on
which this attempt rests have no significance ; but phreno-
logy should have confined its efforts to talents whose nature
is unambiguous, such as can scarcely conceal themselves
where they really exist, and never can be simulated where
they do not. It was of little use to speak offhand of
peculiarities of disposition and character, respecting which
our knowledge of mankind is easily deceived, and which,
where they are actually present, may owe their existence to
the co-operation of very various influences of life and
education. If this limitation were observed, an accurate
comparison might then give us, not indeed an explanatory
theory, but trustworthy information establishing a connexion
between particular facts of bodily and of mental develop-
ment. These facts would then have to be interpreted ; and
we cannot tell what the result of a conscientious attempt
to interpret them would be. But at any rate it is quite
impossible to put any faith in the cherished notion that
every one of the capacities and inclinations enumerated
in the phrenological plans has a local subdivision of the
brain assigned to it as its particular organ : for each of these
peculiarities, considered psychologically, is the final outcome
of the co-operation of a number of more general psychical
functions, and any one of them is distinguished from any
other by the different proportions in which the manifesta-
tions of these more general activities co-operate. It is only
in the case of these general activities that phrenology can
hope to discover a dependence on the structure of the brain
or skull ; and even this hope depends on the very doubtful
Chap. V.] BOD1L Y I NFL UENCES. 305
assumption that fundamental faculties, whose business is a
constant and close interaction, would find their needs
answered by a localisation of their organs at different spatial
positions.
But I pass from these questions, for no one can decide
them ; I may hold it to be in general a natural assumption
that, supposing a material mass to be necessary to the
manifestation of a mental function, that manifestation will
be more intense according to the size of the mass ; but for
the higher mental life I believe much more importance is
to be attached to the quantity, multiplicity, 'and intensity
of the stimuli afforded by the body to the excitation of an
activity, which in its innermost nature or work seems neither
to need nor to be accessible to any further physical help.
But the contributions which the bodily organisation thus
makes to the vivacity and colouring of the psychical life,
need not consist exclusively in structural relations of the
brain. They may come from all parts of the body; from
those delicate mechanical and chemical differences of
texture which are not less real because we imperfectly
describe them as contrasts between tense and lax fibres;
from the architecture of the whole which allows to one
organ a more extensive and to another a less extensive
development. For all these peculiarities of the solid parts
give a special stamp to the play of the functions and the
mixture of the fluids, and in this way they are continually
bringing to consciousness a large quantity of small stimuli,
the total effect of which is that dominating tone or general
feeling, under whose influence the labour of the mental
forces is always carried on. A part of these bodily in-
fluences we know by the name of the temperaments, which
need not be described here, and the definite assignment of
which to physical bases has never yet been achieved. As
peculiar forms taken by our internal states, in accordance
with which the excitability of our ideas, emotions, and
efforts, is greater or smaller, one-sided or many-sided,
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II. X
$06 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
passing or continuous, and their changes are slower or
more rapid, the temperaments condition in the most
extensive way the whole course of mental development.
And although the body does not by the physical forces
of its masses directly create the faculties of the soul, it
forms in this indirect manner one of the powers which
control their exercise.
304. We in no way share the view which conceives the
activities of the soul materialistically as an effect of its
bodily organs, and, as a matter of fact, every attempt
hitherto made to connect its higher functions with given
substrates has proved fruitless : yet there are many facts
which require us to consider the general dependence of
consciousness on states of the body. The name conscious-
ness cannot now be withdrawn from use; but it has this
inconvenience, that it seems to represent as an independent
existence something which is really only possible in in-
separable union with those variable states which we
conceive as occurrences happening to it. We all know
that consciousness 1 , or being conscious, means only being
conscious in oneself of something; the idea of conscious-
ness is incomplete if we omit from it either the subject, or
the something which this subject knows or is conscious of.
But in handling special questions we often forget this, and
lapse into various fancies ; sometimes we imagine a bodily
organ, which prepares consciousness in general for the use
of a soul which is to employ it, in application to a content
that may come into it ; sometimes we dream of a special
faculty of the soul itself which produces the same curious
result ; or at any rate we figure consciousness itself as the
natural and constant state of the mind a state which is
not, properly speaking, unreal and inoperative even when it
is completely prevented from appearing. In opposition to
these ideas we are ready to admit that it is only in the
1 [The German word das Bcwusstsein, which we translate 'con-
sciousness,' means literally ' conscious-being/ or ' the being conscious. 1 ]
Chap.V.] CAUSES OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS. 307
moment of a sensation that consciousness exists as that
activity of the soul which directs itself to the content felt ;
and that it forms a continuous state only in so far as the
multiplicity of simultaneous or successive exertions of this
activity does itself, as before described 1 , form the object or
exciting cause of a new act of representation an act by
which we form an idea of this multiplicity. Accordingly
we should agree that a soul which never experienced a first
stimulus from without, would never, as we say, awake to
consciousness : but the question remains whether, when
once the play of this internal activity has been started, it
can carry on an independent existence, or whether it remains
as dependent on bodily causes for its continuance as it was
for its excitation.
Now the states of unconsciousness offered to observation
by natural sleep, swooning, diseases, and injuries of the
central organs, have made the conclusion seem probable to
many minds that nothing but the constant continuance
of physical processes contains productive conditions of
consciousness. By this we need not understand that the
activity, in which consciousness at every moment of its
actual presence consists, is the private and peculiar product
of a bodily organ ; the functions of this organ may be no
more than stimuli which, but for the particular nature of
the soul, would be unable to win from it an activity which
is possible to it alone : yet, even so, this activity will still be
the production of the organ, so long as its exercise has for
its indispensable cause the excitation of that organ. Now
on a previous occasion 2 1 thought it necessary to remind
my readers that the cessation of an activity previously in a
state of exercise can, generally speaking, be explained in
either of two ways ; it may be that the productive conditions
of its appearance are absent, or, again, that there is a
hindering force which opposes its exercise. None of the
1 [Sect. 271.]
8 [S
9 [See Lotze's Medicinische Psychologic (Leipsic, 1852), 388 if.]
X 2
308 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
phenomena mentioned above seemed to me to preclude, the
second of these ideas. When a sudden fright interrupts
consciousness, the physical impression made on the senses
by the fact that causes terror may be perfectly harmless,
and the reason of our disquietude lies in the interpretation
which our judgment puts on the perception : in this case we
can sec no reason why this psychical movement should not
be the direct cause which makes the soul incapable of a
continuance of its consciousness, no reason for the supposi-
tion that the bodily fainting, which can have its cause only
in itself, must intervene and produce, as a secondary effect,
the loss of mental activity. When disease slowly clouds
over the consciousness, this final result is commonly pre-
ceded by a series of feelings of discomfort in which we can
see the beginning of the check that is going on, just as in
health trifling depressions of mind make a continuance
of mental activity distressing though not impossible. But
it is not, we may generally say, necessary that the influences
which check consciousness should at the beginning of their
hindering action be themselves an object of our conscious-
ness. We must remember that of that which is going on in
our nerves and of the mode of their influence on the soul
we experience nothing : it is only the final result of these
processes, the sensation, or the feeling of pleasure and pain,
that appears in consciousness ; and, when it does appear, it
tells us nothing of the mode in which it was brought about.
In the same way then, when bodily excitations, instead
of producing consciousness, check it, it is possible for their
action to remain unnoticed until unconsciousness suddenly
supervenes. Injuries of the brain, lastly, can hardly be
defined with any probability as the clean disappearance
of an organ and the excitation dependent on it ; they will
probably always include positive changes in the organs
that remain, and in the activity of those organs, and from
these organs they will develope forces that check con-
sciousness.
Chap. V.J ABSENCE OF IMPULSES. 309
These were the general remarks on which I formerly
relied ; but at bottom they only had a significance in
opposition to the view which took consciousness to be the
direct product of the work of a bodily organ, and they have
not much to say against the other view which conceives
activities, in their own nature mental, to be evoked anew in
every moment by the constant excitation of the nerves, and
to be capable of continuance in this way alone. Many
facts, which have been more accurately observed in late
years, favour this idea. We know that animals can be sent
to sleep, if a compulsion, lasting some little time but causing
no pain, deprives them of all movement, and if at the same
time all external sense-stimuli are shut out, and so any new
sensation prevented: it follows that the internal changes
conditioned by the transformation of substances by tissue-
change, and by nutrition, are not sufficient to preserve in
them the waking state which preceded the experiment.
It is not quite safe to argue from brutes to men ; but in any
case it is certain enough that men too fall asleep from
ennui, and quite lately a remarkable case of prolonged
anaesthesia (Dr. Strumpell, Deutsches Arch. f. Klin. Med.
XXII) has proved mat in the case of men also the same
experimental conditions that were applied to animals can
rapidly produce sleep. Nevertheless it remains doubtful
whether all these facts tell us anything new, or whether they
only present, no doubt in highly remarkable circumstances,
what we knew before. With regard to the animals success-
fully experimented on, we do not know whether there is any
impulse in them tending to extend the course of their ideas
in any considerable degree beyond the contents of their
sensuous perception ; in the case of ennui, we know that for
the moment this impulse is absent, while the sensations
of the special senses are not absent, and it is only the lack
of interest in them that removes the stimulus to follow up
what is perceived with an attention that would find relations
in it. Thus we seem to have found nothing but what needs
310 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
no explanation : where the external and internal impulses
which stir the soul to activity are absent, this activity is
absent, and the lack of it may form the point of departure
for that further depression of nervous irritability by which
at last sleep is distinguished from waking.
3O5. Before I attempt to give some final view on this
subject, I have still to mention that alternation of conscious-
ness and unconsciousness which is presented to us in the
forgetting of ideas and their recollection. Everyone knows
the views which regard memory and recollection as possible
only by means of a corporeal basis ; according to this view
some physical trace of every perception must have remained
in the brain, a trace which, it would be admitted, would
gradually disappear altogether if no occasion for its renewal
occurred. It would be unjust to require a closer descrip-
tion of these abiding impressions; but a consideration of
the precise requirements they must fulfil does not, as it
seems to me, reveal the advantages which this hypothesis
is thought to possess when compared with a theory which
regards these processes as merely psychical. I raise no
objection to the idea that the simultaneous stimuli travers-
ing the brain in extraordinary numbers, leave behind them
an equal number of traces which do not intermix : that for
a moment, at least, these traces can remain unintermixed is
proved by the fact that they help us to form an equally
large number of separate perceptions ; but this very fact at
the same time proves that the unity of the psychical subject
holding these perceptions together in its consciousness, is,
no less than the brain, capable of a simultaneous multiplicity
of states which remain apart from one another. This, how-
ever, was the very point respecting which these theories at
starting expressed mistrust : a material system, consisting of
a large number of parts, seemed to them better adapted to
the purpose of receiving and preserving a number of im-
pressions than the indivisible unity of an immaterial
substance. But the theory does not get rid of the necessity
Chap.V.3 BRAIN-FUNCTION IN MEMORY. 311
of ascribing these capacities to such a substance, as well as
to i'he brain; unless indeed we are prepared to return to
the old mistake of confusing a multiplicity of impressions
distributed in the brain with the perception of this multi-
plicity. As we proceed, the duties demanded alike of brain
and soul are multiplied at the same rate for both. If we
approach an object, there is only one point of it that
which our glance continuously fixes that throws its image
constantly on one and the same element of the retina ; all
the other points, as the apparent size of the object increases
with our approach to it, make their impression from moment
to moment on fresh spots in the nerve. Thus, if this one
object is to be perceived, countless images must be re-
presented within a short time, and that in such a manner
that every part a of the object leaves traces in countless
elements/ q r ... of the brain, while each of these elements
again receives such traces impressed upon it by all the parts
a be.... An intermixture of these latter images would be of
no service to the act of representing the object ; each single
material atom will in its turn have to preserve countless im-
pressions without intermixture the very same task which
this theory refused to entrust to the unity of the soul and
on both sides the functions to be performed multiply im-
measurably when, instead of one object, there are many to
be perceived.
But the important point was not this preservation itself,
but the service it can render to memory when only a part
a b of a composite image is given by a new perception, and
the parts c d e which belong to it have to be supplied. If
we suppose that the new impression a b now affects the
same nerve-elements p and q which it affected before, it is
conceivable that the trace of it still remaining may be some-
how called to life again in those elements ; but how does it
come about that and q renew in other nerve-elements,
r and s, the traces of the impressions c and d which formerly
affected them these impressions c and d being precisely
312 PHYSICAL BASIS OP MENTAL A CTIVITY. [Book III.
those which united with a and b will form the image that
has to be recollected? It may be answered that the
psychological view of the matter equally demands that a
peculiar connexion should be established between those
impressions which occur simultaneously, or, if successively,
with no intervening link : that the very same solidarity
obtains between the abiding remnants of the nerve-excita-
tions j that, if time be conceived as a line of abscissa's those
of equal abscissa form such an associated group. And this
stratified deposition of the impressions, supposing it ad-
mitted, might indeed explain why their reproduction would
take the direction from a b only to c d, and not to any/ q
belonging to another stratum ; but the mechanical possibility
of the process itself which takes this direction would remain
in obscurity. For we cannot misuse the metaphor to such
an extent as to regard the simultaneous states of all the
nerve elements as a connected stratum, the continuity of
which produces the result that a vibration of one point sets
all the rest vibrating in those forms in which they formerly
vibrated in this stratum, and not in those forms in which
they vibrated in other strata. It could be nothing but the
nature of the impressions a and b that in its turn revives the
others c and d which are connected with them : and since
there is no reason why a by itself or b by itself should re-
produce c or d any more than many other impressions, it
can be nothing but the concurrent existence of a and b that
limits the selection to those impressions that really belong
to them. This implies not only that the single nerve-ele-
ments in which a and b are revivified, interact on each
other, so that the fact of the concurrent existence of those
two impressions is transformed into an efficient resultant,
by which the reawakening of c and dean be brought about ;
but, over and above this, those nerve-elements which are
now to contribute c and d 9 can only add this definite con-
tribution to the whole, if the fact of the previous simultaneity
of their impressions c and d with a and b has left behind in
Chap. V.] MORBID LOSS OF MEMOR Y. 313
them, too, a permanent disposition to answer this and no
other solicitation with this and no other response.
I will not pursue the investigation further. Its final out-
come seems to me clear : the hypothesis must transfer to
every single nerve-atom precisely the same capacity of an
ordered association and reproduction of all successive states
which the psychological view claims for the soul. How
these two occurrences (this association and reproduction)
come about we have confessed that we do not know; but
it is utterly vain to hope that a physical construction can
enable us to understand them without presupposing that
the same enigmatical process is repeated in every element
of matter.
3O0. These considerations would all be useless, if inter-
ruption of memory occasioned by bodily suffering admitted
of no explanation whatever in consonance with our yiews.
Unfortunately I cannot maintain that what I have been
saying makes such a satisfactory explanation possible ; but
this does not seem to me to diminish the impossibility
of those other views which localise particular groups of ideas
or particular remembrances off-hand at definite places in
the central organs. All that we can, properly speaking, be
said to observe is not an absence of memory, but merely
the incapacity to reproduce ideas, which, according to the
ordinary view, may nevertheless still be present as un-
conscious ideas, only that the associations are wanting, by
help of which they might be restored to consciousness.
This account, apart from a further definition, would do no
more than explain the total forgetting of ideas of which
there is nothing whatever to remind us; whereas in the
cases of morbid interruption of memory, the sensuous per-
ceptions frequently go on unhindered, and bring with them
a quantity of impressions, associated in manifold ways with
the forgotten ideas : and yet the restoration of these ideas
to memory does not take place.
There is only one supposition that I can suggest, and I
314 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
am not sure myself whether it does not push to exaggeration
a conception which in itself is valid. Ideas are connected
not only with one another, but also in the closest way with
the general feeling g of our total state at the moment of
their origin. If g changes into y, and it is impossible to us
to experience g again, the way is barred which might lead
our memory back to the ideas connected with g\ in whatever
numbers single ideas among these may be reproduced by
new perceptions, still the common bond is absent, which
connected them together as our states, and thus made those
contents of theirs, which in themselves were reciprocally
indifferent, capable of reciprocal re-excitation. It is in this
way that I should attempt to interpret the facts that, when
we have recovered from severe illness, we do not remember
what we experienced while it lasted, or while, before its
outbreak, our general feeling was already changed ; that,
when we are free from the paroxysm of fever, we do not
remember sets of ideas which accompany it, and that in
particular cases these sets of ideas are carried on when the
next paroxysm occurs, owing to the return of the morbid
general feeling : that unusual depression sometimes brings
long-forgotten things to remembrance, while in other cases
of the same kind things familiar to us affect us so little that
they seem like something new, unknown, and unconnected
with the whole of our life. It is far harder to apply this
explanation to those defects of memory that occur with
regard to a certain definite subject-matter of our ideas;
e. g. the forgetting of proper names, of a series of scientific
conceptions, of a foreign language. But here again what
other course is open to us than to refer these cases, so far
as they are confirmed by observations, to similar causes ?
It is impossible to conceive of the activities which are here
impeded as assigned to different organs ; they could only be
assigned to different ways of working on the part of the
organs : we should have to come back to a general depression
of the organs, preventing them from executing a group of
Chap. V.] DEPENDENCE OF THE SOUL. 315
functions, which, though they belong to one another, do not
disclose even such a similarity of physical work as would
correspond to their intellectual connexion, and would make
it a matter of course that they should all be interrupted
together. In that case there would be no greater impossi-
bility in the further supposition, that this physical depression
has for its consequence a mental general feeling, different
from and superseding that which ordinarily accompanies
these mental operations. For that which moves and forms
connexions in us is not abstract truths : the course of our
thoughts is always a course of our states, and every particular
form of our intellectual activity gives us the feeling of a
peculiar mental posture, which reacts again on the bodily
general feeling. If a change originally set up in this latter
feeling makes its mental echo impossible, the mental
activities will be checked in their turn by the conflict of the
tone of feeling which they find in existence with that which
should normally accompany them.
3O7. Efforts to assign to the soul a sphere in which its
activity should be independent of the body, commonly
proceed from the desire to secure its substantiality, and
thereby its endless continuance ; though in reality the
certainty with which we can infer the latter from the
former is strictly proportionate to the energy with which at
starting we have chosen to identify the two. No such
motives have guided our present investigation : indeed what
use would there be in securing to the soul all the rights
of substance, if the exercise of these rights is not equally
unrestrained ? But no theories can change the facts.
Whether we see in the central organs the creative causes
of mental activity, or only, on occasion, the causes which
impede it, in either case the facts remain, that a state of
perpetual wakefulness is impossible to us; that the ex-
haustion of the body brings with it the total cessation of
mental life ; that, conversely, this life, in some way, whatever
that way may be, consumes the forces of the body ; that
3i6 PHYSICAL BASIS OP MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book HI.
diseases and injuries of the brain either cripple particular
faculties, or sink us in a complete mental night. When,
then, we joined in the efforts alluded to, it was not with the
hope of finding in the intrinsic substantiality of the soul any
warrant for an independence of which so little does as a fact
exist ; but in the certainty that, even if exact observation
should prove the activity of the soul to be still more closely
bound up, than it is now proved to be, with the body and
its agitations, still this dependence could in no way alter the
essence of our conviction ; and that essential conviction is
that a world of atoms, and movements of atoms, can never
develope from itself a trace of mental life ; that it forms, on
the contrary, nothing more than a system of occasions,
which win from another and a unique basis the manifesta-
tion of an activity possible to that basis alone.
But even this expression of our view must after all be
once more modified. We found it impossible to conceive
the world as built up out of a disconnected multiplicity
of real elements of matter : just as little, on the other side,
have we considered the individual souls on which this
system of occasions acts, to be indestructible existences ;
both they and these occasions meant to us simply actions
of the one genuine being or existence, only that they are
gifted with the strange capacity, which no knowledge can
further explain, of feeling and knowing themselves as active
centres of a life which goes out from them. Only because
they do this, only in so far as they do this, did we give them
the name of existences or substances. Still we have so
named them ; and now the question arises whether it would
not but for the exigencies of imagination be better to
avoid even that name and the inferences into which it will
never cease to seduce men. Beginning by speaking of the
souls as existences, we go on to speak of their states, and
we even venture to talk of such states as betray nothing
whatever of the essential nature of that to which we ascribe
them. Thus we have not scrupled, any more than any
Chap. V.] INTER R UPTED EXISTENCE, 317
psychology has so far scrupled, to use the supposition of
unconscious ideas, or of unconscious states, which ideas
have left behind, and which become ideas again. Is it
really necessary that they should so be left behind, and can
we gather any intelligible notion from these words unless
we take refuge, as men always naturally and inevitably have
done, in the crassest metaphors of impressions that have
altered a spatial shape, or of movements that are not con-
ceivable except in space ? There was nothing to compel 'as
to these suppositions but the observed fact that previous
ideas return into consciousness : but is there no other way
in which that which once was can be the determining
ground of that which will be, except by continuing to be
instead of passing away? And if the soul in a perfectly
dreamless sleep thinks, feels, and wills nothing, is the soul
then at all, and what is it 1 ? How often has the answer
been given, that //"this could ever happen, the soul would
have no being ! Why have we not had the courage to say
that, as often as this happens, the soul is not ? I )oubtless,
if the soul were alone in the world, it would be impossible
to understand an alternation of its existence and non-
existence : but why should not its life be a melody with
pauses, while the primal eternal source still acts, of which
the existence and activity of the soul are a single deed, and
from which that existence and activity arose? From it
again the soul would once more arise, and its new existence
would be the consistent continuation of the old, so soon as
those pauses are gone by, during which the conditions of its
reappearance were being produced by other deeds of the
same primal being.
1 [Compare Medicinische Psychologie, 123.]
3i8 PHYSICAL BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY. [Book III.
Conclusion.
I have ventured on these final hints because I wished to
give a last and a full statement of that requirement which I
believe we must lay on ourselves, the total renunciation of
our desire to answer metaphysical questions by the way of
mathematico-mechanical construction. There can be no
need for me to express yet again the complete respect I feel
for the physical sciences, for their developed method and
their intellectual force ; the efforts of Metaphysic cannot in
any way compare with their brilliant results. But it has
sometimes befallen the investigation of Nature itself, that,
at points which for long it thought itself warranted in using
as the simplest foundations of its theories, it has discovered
a whole world, new and never surmised, of internal formation
and movement ; and in this world it has at the same time
discovered the explanation of occurrences, which had pre-
viously been connected, in a bare and external way, with
these seemingly simple points of departure. It is a like
discovery that Metaphysic has always sought, only the
distance which separated its goal from anything that can
become the object of direct observation was still greater.
It sought the reasons or causes on which the fact depends,
that we are able to pursue with confidence throughout the
whole realm they govern the fundamental conceptions of the
natural sciences, and which at the same time would deter-
mine the limits of this realm. It is a true saying that God
has ordered all things by measure and number, but what he
ordered was not measures and numbers themselves, but
that which deserved or required to possess them. It was
not a meaningless and inessential reality, whose only
purpose would have been to support mathematical relations,
and to supply some sort of denomination 1 for abstract
numbers : but the meaning of the world is what comes
first ; it is not simply something which subjected itself to
1 [Cp. 314, end.]
Chap, V.] ETHICS THE KEY TO METAPHYSIC. 319
the order established ; rather from it alone comes the need
of that order and the form in which it is realised. All those
laws which can be designated by the common name of
mathematical mechanics, whatever that name includes of
eternal and self-evident truths, and of laws which as a
matter of fact are everywhere valid, all these exist, not on
their own authority, nor as a baseless destiny to which
reality is compelled to bow. They are (to use such language
as men can) only the first consequences which, in the
pursuit of its end, the living and active meaning of the
world has laid at the foundation of all particular realities
as a command embracing them all. We do not know this
meaning in all its fulness, and therefore we cannot deduce
from it what we can only attempt, in one universal con-
viction, to retrace to it. But even the effort to do this
forces upon us a chain of ideas so far-reaching that I gladly
confess the imperfections which, without doubt, can be laid
to the charge of this attempt of mine. When, now several
decades since, I ventured on a still more imperfect attempt,
I closed it with the dictum that the true beginning of
Metaphysic lies in Ethics. I admit that the expression is
not exact ; but I still feel certain of being on the right
track, when I seek in that which should be the ground
of that which w. What seems unacceptable in this view it
will perhaps be possible to justify in another connexion :
now, after I have already perhaps too long claimed the
attention of my reader, I close my essay without any feeling
of infallibility, with the wish that I may not everywhere
have been in error, and, for the rest, with the Oriental
proverbGod knows better.
INDEX.
' Absolute motion,' 370 ff.
' Accidental views ' (Herbart),
iSoff.
Action (at a distance), ii. 28.
Albumen, ii. 131.
'Allgemeine Physiologic des kb'r-
per lichen Lebens' (Author's),
ii. 128.
Anaesthesia, ii. 309.
Antinomies (Kantian"), 240 ff.,
321 ff.
Aristotle, 24, 74, 78, 106, ii. 129,
141.
Articular surfaces, ii. 135.
Association of Ideas, ii. 226.
Atomism, ii. 38.
Attention, ii. 239, 242.
Attraction, ii. 23, 67, 70.
Avogadro, ii. 127.
Baer (K. E. von), ii. 142.
Binary combinations, ii. 131.
Brain, injuries of, ii. 308.
Categories, 24.
* Causa transiensj 135.
Cause (opp. 'Reason'), 126.
Cause (and effect), 138.
Cellulose, ii. 131.
' Cessante Causa ,' 367.
Checking of Ideas by Ideas, ii. 219,
229.
Chemistry, ii. 127.
Comparison, conditions of, ii. 232.
Conceptions (universal), ii. 242.
Consequent, 108 ff.
Conservation (of Mass), ii. 89.
(of Force), ii. 93 ff.
Constancy (of Mass), ii. 56.
(of the sum of motions), ii. 91.
Contact, 132 ff.
Content (' Inhalt'\ 23 note.
METAPHYSIC, VOL. II.
Continuity, Law of, 357.
Contradiction, Law of, ii. 12.
Cosmology, 27.
Darwin, ii. 159.
Depth, Idea of, ii. 274.
Descartes, 268, ii. 4.
1 Deutsches Archivfiir Klin. Med?
quoted, ii. 309.
Dialectic method, 21.
Difference (quantitative) Idea of,
ii. 234.
' Dim 'Ideas, ii. 221, cp. 244-5.
Disappearance of Sensations, ii.
217.
Distance (and force), ii. 67, 81.
Distinction, of points by Touch,
ii. 276.
Drobisch, 279.
s, 1 06.
Effect (and Cause), 138.
Electricity, ii. 125.
* Elemente der Psychophysik '
(Fechner), ii. 196.
Emotions (and the Interest of
Ideas), ii. 224.
evtpytia, 1 06.
Epicurean Physics, ii. 129.
Equality, note, 62.
Equality of Cause and Effect, 138.
Equivalence, ii. 56, IOT.
Euclidean Geometry, 275.
Experience, 3.
Extra-impressions, or Local Signs,
ii. 255-
Eye, how we estimate movement
of, ii. 265.
Fechner, 'Atomenlehre? ii. 40, 1 74.
'Elemente der Psychophysik J
ii. 196 ff., 187.
322
INDEX.
Fechner and Weber, ii. 210.
Feeling (' Gefuhl 1 }, in the repro-
duction of Ideas, ii. 229.
in initiation of action, ii. 302.
and Memory, ii. 314.
Fichte, 221.
Force, ii. 15.
(and Distanced, ii. 67.
(and Time}, ii. 83.
(a single), ii. 101.
(vital), ii. 129.
Formulae, for consciousness, ii.
236.
Freedom, 206, 293.
Generic Idea, ii. 141.
Geometry, 275, 293.
Geulinx, 157.
Gravitation, ii. 70, 275.
' Grund; 126.
Hegel, 173, 204, 270 ff., ii. 10.
Helmholtz, 293 ff.
Heraclitus, 106, 112, 157.
Herbart, 47 ff., 57, 69-72, 132,
180, ii. 48, 72, 151, 219, 235,
238.
0XJ7, 79.
Idea ( Ftfrj/*///*^'), usage defined,
ii. 220.
(universal), ii. 234, 242.
Idealism, 95, 211 ff.
Identity, 62 note, 63.
Law of, 104.
Idea of, ii. 234.
Impulse ('Trieb '), ii. 130.
Infinite divisibility, 244.
Infinity (of world in space), 241.
* Innervation,' ii. 302.
'Interest* of Ideas, ii. 224, 244.
Irritability, ii. 135.
Kant, 24, 268 ff., 315, 321, ii. 9 ff.,
61, 244.
(Trans. Aesth. quoted}, 238.
Kinds, ii. 150.
Lambert, ii. 12.
Law, 5 ff.
Leibnitz, 150 ff., 183, ii. 48, 61.
Lichtenberg, ii. 98.
' Life and Vital Energy ' (Essay by
Author), ii. 128.
Life, a Principle of, ii. 133
Like, 62 note.
Likeness, idea of, ii. 233.
Local Signs, ii. 255.
in Vision, ii. 264.
in Touch, ii. 276.
Logic (Author's), 187, 367.
Lucretius, ii. 41, 137.
Machines, ii. 135.
Mass, ii. 56, 89.
Mechanism, ii. 115.
* Medicinische Psychologic ' (Au-
thor's), ii. 165, 187, 307.
Memory, alleged physical basis of,
ii. 310.
Interruptions of, ii. 313.
vA\ ov t 83.
Metaphysic, 2, 8.
' Mikrokosnms ' (Author's), 228,
ii. 157. l6 5> 175-
Monads, 183.
Monism, 217.
Motions (the sum of), ii. 91.
' Motorium Commune? ii. 295.
Muscular sense, ii. 275.
Mythology, mathematical, ii. 236.
Natural Kinds, ii. 150.
Nature, our idea of, ii. 53, 138.
Nerve-fibres, Isolation of, ii. 250,
253.
Nervous organs, central, ii. 293.
Necessity, 206.
Objective, cp. 23 note.
Occasional causes, 129.
Occasionalism, 147.
Ontology, 27.
Opposite ideas, association of, a
fiction, ii. 227.
Organ of Space-perception, ii. 297
Language, ii. 297.
Organic Life, ii. 158.
Organs, special in Brain, ii. 295.
oto ov, 85.
Pain, see Pleasure.
INDEX.
323
Parallel lines, 291, 297.
Parallelogram of Motions, 386 ff.
* Parmenides ' (of Plato), 174.
Parsimony (Principle of), ii. 104.
Perception of Space, 377 ff., ii. 240.
Persistence, law of, 363.
Phrenology, ii. 304.
Plato, i, 79, 95, quoted 174.
Pleasure, affects course of Ideas,
ii. 225.
Pluralism, 217.
Poisson, quoted, 384, 386.
< Position 1 (^P.odcrSetzung^,
_ 42
note, 83.
Predicates in Plato, 95.
1 Pre-established Harmony, 1 1 50.
Psychical Mechanism, ii. 235.
Psychology, 18, 27, ii. 163, (Iler-
bart's) 237.
Psycho-Physical Mechanism, ii.
' Qualitative Atomism/ ii. 48.
Qualities, Hcrbart's * simple Quali-
ties/ 57 ff.
Quality, ii. 15.
Quaternary Combinations, ii. 131.
Radiation (of force\ ii. 67 ff.
Ratio (sujjiciens}, 115.
Rational Psychology, ii. 163.
Reactions of the soul, grades of,
ii. 241.
Realism, 95, 217.
Reason (and Consequent), io8ff.
Reason (opp. Cause), 126.
Reflex motion of Eye, ii. 264.
Relation, or Reference, an act of
mind, ii. 232, and note.
Relativity, 374.
Reproduction of Ideas in order,
ii. 228.
Repulsion, ii. 23, 67.
' Res cogitansj ii. 4.
* Res extensa! ii. 4.
Riemann, quoted, 311-2.
Satisfaction, of force (Herbart),
ii. 72.
Schelling, 206, 268, ii. 8.
Self -maintenance (Herbart), of
things, 69-71.
of soul, ii. 237.
Sensation, 32-3.
* Sensorium Commune? ii. 295.
Similars, association of, ii. 227.
Socrates, 174.
Solidity (Lambert), ii. 12.
Sophists, 95.
Soul, the Seat of, ii. 283.
Interrupted existence of, ii. 317.
Spatial image, reproduction of,
ii. 230.
Space- perception, 377, ii. 240.
of blind, ii. 272.
organ of, ii. 297.
Specific energies, ii. 205.
Spinoza, 120, 267, ii. 5.
Square of distance, ii. 67, 80.
Stahl, ii. 139.
Stimuli of Sense, ii. 199 ff.
Stream of Time, 316.
'Streitschriften* (Author's^, quoted,
ii. 237.
Strength of Ideas, ii. 2 20, 244.
Striimpell, Dr. (quoted^, ii. 309.
Subjectivity of Sensation, ii. 204.
Substance, 100.
' Substantial Forms/ ii. 1 29.
Substantiality of Soul, ii. 315.
Successive Synthesis, 324.
Sufficient Reason, 107.
Ternary Combinations, ii. 131.
Thing i^for use of 'Ding* and
'Sache/v.23 note], 23, 75, 222.
rl ?jv cftou, 78.
Time, Idea of, ii. 240.
rd TI 4<m, 78.
Touch, localisation by, ii. 276.
Transeunt action, 114 ff.
'Transient* (Causa), 135.
Treviranus, ii. 130.
Triangle (sum of its angles), 291.
Type, ii. 141.
'Unconscious' Ideas, ii. 224.
Unconsciousness, ii. 307.
Unity of the soul, ii. 192.
Universal conceptions, ii. 242.
3 2 4
INDEX.
'Up' and 'Down,' relative to
Gravity, ii. 275.
'Ursache? 126.
Vision, erect, ii. 275.
Vital Force, ii. 129.
1 Vocation of Man ' (Fichte), 221.
Von Baer, ii. 142.
1 Vorstellung* (idea), denned, ii.
220.
W-gner (Rudolph, Hand-Diction-
ary of Physiology), ii. 128.
Weber's Law, ii. 210.
Weber on Localisation by sense of
Touch, ii. 276.
Weisse, 206, 271.
Whole, parts of same associated,
ii. 227.
126.
Yellow spot of Retina, ii. 263.
Zeno, 174,385-
'Zusammen' (in Herbart), 132.
THE END.
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