The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazineVarious
Philosophy
The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazine
Various
Philosophy -- Periodicals
Here the new psychology comes in contact with religion. What is the
practical aim of all the great religions of the world but a surrender
of the ego, a renunciation of the self as the centre of our being, and
the acceptance of the moral law as the regulative power of our actions?
The new psychology gives a justification and a scientific explanation
of Christian ethics while the latter from the standpoint of the old
psychology necessarily appears as mystical and supernatural.
IX. PERSONALITY AND EVOLUTION.
The ego, i. e. the centre of consciousness, is constantly shifting, while
the personality of a man is relatively constant, certain important ideas
being stable and thus lending character to the whole system of thoughts
and intentions.
The term personality indicating the self-hood of a man is used in several
ways. First, we understand by a man’s personality his bodily appearance;
secondly the whole system of his mentality, viz. his knowledge, his
temperament, his character; thirdly the history of his life, past,
present, and future; fourthly his position in life, his possessions,
his connections, his influence, or at last we mean by it all these four
items together. In all these applications the man and his personality are
conceived as a unity. And they are a unity. Wherever the term unity is
applicable, it is most certainly applicable here. All the many facts of
the history of his life are one continuous process; all the parts of his
body are parts of a system, and the world of his ideas also will under
normal conditions bear a certain harmonious character. Wherever in any
soul the concord among the ideas has been disturbed, a state of unrest
will ensue until the peace of soul is restored in one or another way. But
with the same necessity as every water surface tends to present a smooth
level, so the ideas in one and the same soul tend to come to a state of
agreement. As every water surface has its ripples so even that mind which
has attained an undisturbed peace of soul is constantly confronted with
some problems—be they ever so trifling—producing some slight disturbances
in his life.
The unity of a self, it is apparent, is the inevitable consequence
of given conditions. It is not something which exists outside the
personality and its constituent parts, it is in the personality and it
develops together with it. Mr. Conybeare supposes that “the unity of
a self remains the same throughout.” This is an error, and this error
vitiates Mr. Conybeare’s whole conception of growth and evolution. He
says:
“Properly speaking a thing can only be said to grow or develop
when it remains the same with itself all through the process
and unfolds therein capacities which were anyhow latent in it
to start with.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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