The Monist, Vol. 1, 1890-1891 : $b A quarterly magazineVarious
Philosophy
The Monist, Vol. 1, 1890-1891 : $b A quarterly magazine
Various
Philosophy -- Periodicals
The thoughts presented gain greatly in fixity and vividness if in
addition to simply expressing them in abstract form we bring ourselves
face to face with the facts from which they arise. For example, I lie
upon my sofa. If I close my right eye the picture represented in the
accompanying cut is presented to my left eye. In a frame formed by the
ridge of my eyebrow, by my nose, and by my moustache, appears a part
of my body, so far as it is visible, and also the things and space
about it. _My_ body differs from other human bodies—leaving out of
account the fact that every vivid motory idea immediately passes into
movement and that contact with it determines more perceptible changes
than contact with other bodies—by the circumstance, that it is only
partly seen, and, especially, is seen without a head. If I observe an
element _A_ within my field of vision, and investigate its connection
with another element _B_ within the same field, I go out of the domain
of physics into that of physiology or psychology, if _B_, to use the
apposite expression that a friend[20] of mine employed upon seeing this
drawing, passes through my skin. Reflections like that for the field
of vision may be made with regard to the province of touch and the
perceptual domains of the other senses.
[20] J. Popper of Vienna.
[Illustration]
X.
Reference has already been made to the different character of the
groups of elements that we have designated by _A B C_ ... and α β
γ. As a matter of reality, when we _see_ a green tree before us, or
_remember_ a green tree, that is _conceive_ a green tree to ourselves,
we know right well how to distinguish these two cases. The imaged tree
has a much less determinate, a much more changeable form; its green
is much paler and more evanescent; and, what is of especial note,
it distinctly appears in a _different_ sphere. A movement that we
_propose_ to execute is always only a _conceived_ movement, and appears
in a different field or sphere from that of the executed movement,
which moreover always takes place where the image becomes vivid enough.
The statement that the elements _A_ or α appear in a different sphere,
means, if we go to the bottom of it, nothing more than that they are
united with divers other elements. To this extent, accordingly, the
_basal component parts_ in _A B C_ ..., α β γ ... would be _the same_
(colors, sounds, spaces, times, motory sensations, innervations ...),
and only the character of their union different.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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