Mental Evolution in Man: Origin of Human FacultyRomanes, George John
Science
Mental Evolution in Man: Origin of Human Faculty
Romanes, George John
Evolution; Psychology, Comparative
Water-fowl adopt a somewhat different mode of alighting upon land, or
even upon ice, from that which they adopt when alighting upon water;
and those kinds which dive from a height (such as terns and gannets)
never do so upon land or upon ice. These facts prove that the animals
have one recept answering to a solid substance, and another answering
to a fluid. Similarly, a man will not dive from a height over hard
ground or over ice, nor will he jump into water in the same way as
he jumps upon dry land. In other words, like the water-fowl, he has
two distinct recepts, one of which answers to solid ground, and the
other to an unresisting fluid. But, unlike the water-fowl, he is able
to bestow upon each of these recepts a name, and thus to raise them
both to the level of concepts. So far as the practical purposes of
locomotion are concerned, it is of course immaterial whether or not he
thus raises his recepts into concepts; but, as we have seen, for many
other purposes it is of the highest importance that he is able to do
this. Now, in order to do it, he must be able to set his recept before
his own mind as an object of his own thought: before he can bestow upon
these generic ideas the names of “solid” and “fluid,” he must have
_cognized_ them _as_ ideas. Prior to this act of cognition, these ideas
differed in no respect from the recepts of a water-fowl; neither for
the ordinary requirements of his locomotion is it needful that they
should: therefore, in so far as these requirements are concerned,
the man makes no call upon his higher faculties of ideation. But, in
virtue of this act of cognition, whereby he assigns a name to an idea
known as such, he has created for himself—and for purposes other than
locomotion—a priceless possession: he has formed a concept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account