PSYCHICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE 141

as when we are playing golf, or engaged in any other

amusement or occupation whatsoever. Thus consciousness

seems to be normally, in its very essence, continuous, and,

while existing at each instant, to be aware (directly or

reflexly) of its persistence of its continuity. We each of

us know and are conscious, not only that we are actually

doing whatever we may be about (as, for example, the

reader while reading this passage is aware that he is

reading it), but also that before we began to read it we

were doing something else. But the rest which remains

to be said about consciousness we will reserve for a future

chapter.

Here it is only necessary to recognize the facts: (i) that

we know and are conscious of our mental states, and (2)

that when we are conscious that we have a thought or feeling,

it is absolutely certain that we really have it ; (3) that in

being thus conscious of our present feeling, we both know

it as a feeling, and therefore something so far objective as

it is an object of thought ; and (4) also that this feeling is

also something we are actually feeling, and therefore so

far subjective. In this act of perception, then, subject and

object appear to be identified ; but this will be further

considered later on. What then does this absolutely

trustworthy and infallible witness tell us about our own

psychical states ? Turning our mental eye inwards, and

considering our experiences by a process of introspection,

what does it tell us concerning the question as to whether

any mental states can exist, as it were, beside conscious-

ness states the past existence of which consciousness can,

by some means, become fully aware of as having certainly

existed ?

It is unquestionable that our consciousness can and

does inform us of the existence of very different kinds of

psychical experience. Thus it tells us of our very distinct

as when we are playing golf, or engaged in any other

amusement or occupation whatsoever. Thus consciousness

seems to be normally, in its very essence, continuous, and,

while existing at each instant, to be aware (directly or

reflexly) of its persistence of its continuity. We each of

us know and are conscious, not only that we are actually

doing whatever we may be about (as, for example, the

reader while reading this passage is aware that he is

reading it), but also that before we began to read it we

were doing something else. But the rest which remains

to be said about consciousness we will reserve for a future

chapter.

Here it is only necessary to recognize the facts: (i) that

we know and are conscious of our mental states, and (2)

that when we are conscious that we have a thought or feeling,

it is absolutely certain that we really have it ; (3) that in

being thus conscious of our present feeling, we both know

it as a feeling, and therefore something so far objective as

it is an object of thought ; and (4) also that this feeling is

also something we are actually feeling, and therefore so

far subjective. In this act of perception, then, subject and

object appear to be identified ; but this will be further

considered later on. What then does this absolutely

trustworthy and infallible witness tell us about our own

psychical states ? Turning our mental eye inwards, and

considering our experiences by a process of introspection,

what does it tell us concerning the question as to whether

any mental states can exist, as it were, beside conscious-

ness states the past existence of which consciousness can,

by some means, become fully aware of as having certainly

existed ?

It is unquestionable that our consciousness can and

does inform us of the existence of very different kinds of

psychical experience. Thus it tells us of our very distinct