On Sameness and Identity: A Psychological Study: Being a Contribution to the Foundations of a Theory of KnowledgeFullerton, George Stuart
Philosophy
On Sameness and Identity: A Psychological Study: Being a Contribution to the Foundations of a Theory of Knowledge
Fullerton, George Stuart
Knowledge, Theory of
It will be observed that in the preceding I have allowed the self,
considered as the whole of consciousness, all the kinds of sameness
upon my list except the sixth. There is, however, no objection,
except that arising from oddity of expression, against allowing it
this kind of sameness too. If we really mean by the self the whole of
consciousness, then everything immediately perceived is a part of the
self. If then, it is proper to say two men see the same tree, one
may go on to say, if one choses, that two men see a part of the one
self. Such an expression could, of course, be used only in speaking of
the objective part of this self, the part which those who distinguish
between ego and non-ego call the not-self. It is needless to say that
no one ever thinks of talking in this way. I merely mention the point
for the sake of completeness in my analysis.
SEC. 16. If by the self we do not understand a part or the whole of
consciousness taken simply, but the one or the other of these regarded
from some peculiar point of view, does it affect the question of the
kinds of sameness we may attribute to it? It may be asserted, for
example, that when we are thinking of the world of things immediately
perceived as conditioned by its relation to a particular organism (also
immediately perceived)--as duplicated by a pressure on the eyes, as
annihilated by a blow on the head--we make these things mental, and
properly include them under the head of self; whereas, when we abstract
these same things in thought from the organism, and, so to speak,
objectify them, we properly include them under the head of not-self. We
are thus to regard the one thing as an element of the self or of the
not-self, according to the light in which it is viewed. But it does not
seem to me that if we take the word self in the sense just described,
or in any analogous sense, we need alter the list of samenesses already
given. We are still considering a part or the whole of consciousness,
and the fact that we are viewing it in one light rather than another
would not apparently influence in any way its kinds of sameness.
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