PSYCHICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE 159
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This, of course, must be fully conceded, yet such cognition
is sufficiently accounted for by that mere unintellectual, un-
conscious awareness which we have termed * the " practical
imagination of means to an end."
Again, it may, perhaps, be objected that the cat not only
sees the mouse, but knows that it is a mouse and nothing
o
else. This also may be freely admitted in the sense of a
mere sensuous cognition or sense-perception. But there is
no need to credit the animal with even the direct perception
of the mouse, as the embodiment of a universal abstract
idea, such as is possessed by the lowest and most uncultured
human being who is sane. The cat need only have that
synthesis of sensations and imaginations that kind of
mental image which we distinguish as a "sensuous uni-
versal."
If, then, we need not credit animals with the perception of
objects as we understand perception, can we credit them
with any perception of " relations " between objects ? The
answer to this question will make yet plainer what we mean
by a perception of objects themselves ; since, as we shall see
directly, such a perception of objects themselves implies a
perception of relations themselves.
To perceive anything with conscious perception, though
only that of direct consciousness, also implies a direct con-
sciousness of the main relations in which it stands to other
things, and which differentiate it from them. To perceive
anything with reflex consciousness, which affirms, " I do
know that thing to be what it is," implies and necessitates
a reflex consciousness also of those of its relations which
enable us to be sure it is what it is. For without turning
back the mind to reconsider what it had previously done,
we could not recognize the relations as relations, and so
obtain the certainty we are so enabled to reach. If we
* See ante, p. 155.
This, of course, must be fully conceded, yet such cognition
is sufficiently accounted for by that mere unintellectual, un-
conscious awareness which we have termed * the " practical
imagination of means to an end."
Again, it may, perhaps, be objected that the cat not only
sees the mouse, but knows that it is a mouse and nothing
o
else. This also may be freely admitted in the sense of a
mere sensuous cognition or sense-perception. But there is
no need to credit the animal with even the direct perception
of the mouse, as the embodiment of a universal abstract
idea, such as is possessed by the lowest and most uncultured
human being who is sane. The cat need only have that
synthesis of sensations and imaginations that kind of
mental image which we distinguish as a "sensuous uni-
versal."
If, then, we need not credit animals with the perception of
objects as we understand perception, can we credit them
with any perception of " relations " between objects ? The
answer to this question will make yet plainer what we mean
by a perception of objects themselves ; since, as we shall see
directly, such a perception of objects themselves implies a
perception of relations themselves.
To perceive anything with conscious perception, though
only that of direct consciousness, also implies a direct con-
sciousness of the main relations in which it stands to other
things, and which differentiate it from them. To perceive
anything with reflex consciousness, which affirms, " I do
know that thing to be what it is," implies and necessitates
a reflex consciousness also of those of its relations which
enable us to be sure it is what it is. For without turning
back the mind to reconsider what it had previously done,
we could not recognize the relations as relations, and so
obtain the certainty we are so enabled to reach. If we
* See ante, p. 155.