Chapter II: Section 1: There are few words the ambiguity of which has led to (2)

In writing the foregoing I have had in mind chiefly the position of the Lockian. I need not consider at length that taken by the Kantian, for what I have said will, with little change, apply to it also. If I hold to a "noumenon" as corresponding to my "phenomenon," and yet deny to it all qualities whatsoever, I must, to retain any appearance of consistency, represent it in my mind in the very vaguest possible way. Nevertheless, I must represent it, or I am not thinking of it at all, and I must relate the phenomenon and this vague representation in the way described. A true consistency would, of course, make impossible the whole process, for it would make impossible the giving of any quality at all to the representation, and the putting any relation between it and the phenomenon. In so dark a night cats do not merely turn grey, they disappear. On the other hand, if one is too liberal with this "noumenon," it palpably ceases to be a "noumenon," and degenerates into something very like a "phenomenon." The illusion must not be lost. Both these conflicting tendencies may be well illustrated in Mr. Spencer's "Unknowable." If we really refuse to allow to the consciousness of it "any qualitative or quantitative expression whatever,"[19] our vague image wholly disappears and there is nothing left in our consciousness but the "phenomenon." While if we follow the "First Principles" in coaxing it back into existence by allowing it reality,[20] and causality,[21] and a freedom from limits,[22] and printing its name with a capital letter,[23] as though it were even better than other things--if we do all this there is danger of the convalescent's becoming too robust altogether. The problem has its parallel in the practical problem of paying wages:--one must not pay too little, or he loses his laborer; nor too much, or he loses his money. The thing is to find the happy mean which will keep an object of thought before a man's mind and yet not make him lose all appearance of consistency.

[19] First Principles. Part I, Chap. 4, § 26. N. Y., 1888, p. 91.

[20] _Ibid._ Chap. 4, § 24; Chap. 5, §§ 31, 32, _et passim_.

[21] _Ibid._ Chap. 5, § 31, _et passim_.

[22] _Ibid._ Chap. 4, § 24.

[23] _Ibid._ Chap. 5, § 32, _et passim_.

But in which ever of the ways mentioned a man thinks of "real" things, he does what I have described. And when he implies that the immediately known and the "real" are in some sense the same, as he does when he talks as if there were but the one object, or asserts that we do not know things as they are in themselves but only as they appear to us; he really uses the word same in the fifth sense that I have given. The fact that he is using it to indicate the relation between percepts and a certain class of ideas which he has come to regard as duplicates of his percepts does not make the use of the word a new one. Whatever may be the state of affairs outside of his consciousness, this is all that takes place within it; and the word same, used in this connection, can mean no more to him than I have said.

SEC. 9. To avoid needless prolixity I will class together and very briefly treat of the kinds of sameness which one may attribute to "external" things. It is not necessary to go at length into the discussion of these, for since the "external" world, as it is assumed by those who have faith in it, is, to the man thinking it, simply a more or less modified duplicate of the world of things immediately perceived; and since all ground for attributing to it any determinations at all must be found in that which is immediately perceived; we may naturally look to find in it nothing that we have not already found in this immediate world. How, indeed, could anything else get into it? We cannot have _in_ mind what is by hypothesis _out_ of mind. The "real" world is then, in the mind of the man who thinks it, a world of imagined objects, and the world of imagination depends for its material upon the world of sense. A little reflection will show that the kinds of sameness of these "realities" are only the kinds of sameness already discussed duplicated, and assumed to belong to a new world.

1. An "external" quality or group of qualities may be said to be the _same_ with itself at any one instant. Here we have Sense I carried over into the field of imagined duplicates.

2. An "external" quality existing at one time may be said to be the _same_ with an "external" quality existing at another time, to indicate that the two are similar. The same thing may be true of any group of qualities. Here we have Sense II.

3. The "external" bundle of qualities, which formed for Locke the knowable element in a thing or "body," may be regarded as being the _same_ at two different times--as having, so to speak, a life-history. Here one is simply calling up in thought the experience described under Sense III.

4. Two "external" things (bundles of "real" qualities), or two "external" qualities, existing at one time, may be called the _same_ to mark similarity. Here we have Sense IV.

5. An "external" thing (in the sense just indicated), or an "external" quality, may be called the _same_ with its representative. If this representative be the immediate object of knowledge, we have the experience described as Sense VII. If it be another "external" thing or quality, _e. g._, an "external" picture in an "external" mirror, an "external" statue in "external" marble, etc., we have Sense V.

6. Two men may be said to perceive the _same_ "external" thing. In saying this one simply calls up in mind the complex described at length under VI, but makes the duplicate, which is, to him, the thing, stand in the complex in the place of the percept, this being now regarded as a mere representative.

7. An "external" thing may be said to be the _same_ with its representative in consciousness or with the substance or noumenon assumed to underlie it. Here we have Sense VII.

It would seem scarcely necessary to mention this last, since, if the representative in consciousness can be called the same with its "real" correlate, it would seem self-evident that the "real" correlate may be called the same with it. I add it, however, for the sake of completeness. It should be noted that in this last kind of sameness we step over the limits of any one class of being, ideas, things (as bundles of qualities), or substance. The word is used to denote a relation between something in one class and a corresponding thing in another class.

In the foregoing I have been considering the sameness of "real" or "external" things regarded as bundles of qualities. If one ask concerning the sameness of Locke's "substance," or the "noumenon" of other writers, I would say that our notions of this must vary with the kind of being we allow this nebulous entity. Strict consistency in dealing with a noumenon as sometimes defined means, of course, its utter collapse. If, however, we keep anything in mind at all, we must carry over to it at least the first of the kinds of sameness described. I do not think it would be hard to show that several other kinds are carried over in despite of consistency by men who hold to this shadowy something under one name or another.

As, however, we do not find here any new sense of the word same, but mere repetition in a new field (if one may call it such), it seems unnecessary to dwell upon this part of my subject.

I have not discussed at all the sameness of things from the point of view of an adherent of that Natural Realism which claims that we know immediately real things and yet holds that real things are not our perceptions themselves, but something extra-mental. This view is so incoherent that it is not likely to be taken seriously by men who have learned to reflect at all. I may say, however, _en passant_, that it does not add to the kinds of sameness I have described: it merely confounds them one with another, and falls into the inconsequences which naturally result from so doing.

SEC. 10. When we come to the question of the sameness of the Self or Ego we are, if possible, on more debatable ground than heretofore. The whole subject of our knowledge of the Self lies as yet, in the opinion of many, very much in the dark. Without undertaking the task of defining narrowly what this elusive something is, it would seem that I may safely make concerning it at least the following assertions:

In using the word self, we may have reference either to what is immediately known as appearing in the circle of consciousness, the phenomenon, or to a something supposed to lie beyond this sphere and to be known only through its representative in consciousness.

Now this something beyond may be looked at in various ways. John Locke, in discussing the not-self, made the three-fold division of idea, bundle of "real" qualities, and substance. He might with equal reason have distinguished in a similar way between the self as idea (the immediately known), the self as a bundle of "real" qualities (not immediately known), and the self as substance. As a matter of fact, however, he did not put the not-self and the self upon the same plane. He seemed to think that we know the self more immediately, and to hold that it enters consciousness as the bundle of "real" qualities[24] which, in the case of matter, is assumed to lie beyond. The "substance" of the self, however, he condemns to outer darkness and the company of material substance. To me there seems no reason, admitting the right to pass at all beyond the immediately perceived, for making the distinction which he does make. And as one, who has followed him with assent in his treatment of the not-self, may, with some justice complain of his inconsistency and refuse to follow him here, I mention the position he might have taken as well as the position he actually did take with respect to the self and its existences.

[24] Compare Bk. 4, Ch. 9, § 3 of the "Essay," with Bk. 4, Ch. 11,
§§ 1, 4, 7, 8, and 9.

SEC. 11. The word self may then be regarded as referring either:

1. To the self as phenomenon, a something immediately perceived, a part or the whole of our conscious experience;

2. To a complex of "real" qualities beyond and represented by the self as it appears in consciousness;

3. To the substance of self, or self as noumenon, a vague and ill-defined something, supposed to be distinct from and to underlie phenomena or "real" qualities; or

4. To two, or to all, of these taken together.

If the word is used in the last of these senses any inquiry concerning sameness must split up its complex meaning and treat separately the different elements included. It remains, then, to inquire what kinds of sameness we may attribute to the self in the first three senses given. I will take them in reverse order.

SEC. 12. With respect to the third sense, which makes it refer to the "substance" of Locke or the "noumenon" of other writers: all the difficulties which arise out of the endeavor to attribute sameness of any kind to any substance or noumenon obtain here also. But it seems on the surface more glaringly inconsistent in the adherent of noumena to discriminate between different kinds as admitting of differences of treatment than it does for him to suppose them capable of treatment at all. Things that differ cannot be conceived as differing except in qualities, and here there is question not of qualities but of noumena. If one is to retain any appearance of consistency, he must not maintain that the word same is applicable in any given sense to certain noumena and not to others. If he does so, he openly abandons his noumena to a phenomenal fate. And, as a matter of fact, I think it is plain that those believers in noumena, who distinguish them from one another, yet think of them in just the one way. If we take the utterances of a good representative of the class, Sir William Hamilton, we may see that although he distinguishes between the noumenal ego and the noumenal non-ego, not only do his clearest statements make such a distinction out of the question, but the distinction drawn is so vague and insignificant[25] that the two noumena may be thought of and reasoned about in the one way. Phenomena being abstracted, what was in his mind when he spoke of the one was probably in no respect different from what was in his mind when he spoke of the other. In so far, then, as the noumena themselves are concerned, it would seem that any kind of sameness which we may predicate of the noumenal not-self we may predicate on the same ground and with equal justice of the noumenal self, and _vice versa_. If, however, any sense of the word same marks a relation between a noumenon and some other thing or things, and if the two noumena differ as respects this relation, then this kind of sameness may be attributed to the one and not to the other. It may be claimed that we indicate just such a relation in using the word same in Sense VI; and that, whatever one might do, one would under no circumstances speak of two men as perceiving the same self, noumenal or any other. I shall discuss this point when I come to discuss the sameness of self as phenomenon.

[25] Lectures on Metaphysics, VIII, N. Y., 1880, p. 97.

I may add here that when one obliterates the distinction between noumena by plunging them into the darkness of the "unknowable," there can, of course, be no question of a new sense of the word same in the field I am discussing. On the general question of noumenal sameness, all that it seems to me necessary to say I have said before.

SEC. 13. The second sense of the word self would make it a complex of "real" qualities beyond, and represented by, the self as it appears in consciousness. Now, I do not think that the fact that one would attribute to the self, so considered, one class of qualities, and to the not-self another class, would, when the two "real" objects are considered in themselves, prevent one's ascribing to the former all the kinds of sameness which one may ascribe to the latter, or would justify the assumption of a new kind of sameness proper only to the former. In discussing the sameness of "external" things I have not made any one kind of it dependent upon the peculiar quality of their qualities, if I may so speak. I considered them only as groups of qualities in general, supposed to be external to consciousness. The idea of the "real" self is in its general character essentially similar to that of the "real" not-self. Provided that the two classes of qualities have enough in common to be properly called qualities, and to be capable of being related to each other in groups, they may differ in kind _toto cœlo_ without necessitating a difference of treatment from the point of view with which I am at present concerned. It is very evident, however, that those who have thought of the self as a "real" thing, distinct from consciousness, and yet to be in some way intelligibly represented in thought, have had a tendency to represent it very much as they have represented material objects. There has been a general effort to get rid of the idea of extension, but this has been shown rather in reducing the size of the object and attributing to it inconsistent space relations than in denying it such relations altogether. Bishop Butler's argument for immortality from the indiscerptibility of the uncompounded shows that he thought of the self as he thought of a material atom,[26] and Sir William Hamilton's scholastic notion of the ubiquity of the soul in the bodily organism--"all in the whole and all in every part"[27]--makes it sufficiently clear that he thought of it so, too; though, to be sure, such ubiquity would make of it a very queer atom indeed. If, then, the man, who holds to the self in the second sense of the word, calls up in using the word a mental complex like that which represents to him a "real" not-self, there is all the more reason why we should not expect to find anything in his thought which would suggest a new kind of sameness within the sphere of the "real" self. It remains, of course, to notice here, as in the case of the noumenal self, that any sense of the word same which has reference not so much to the things under discussion as to the relations of these things to other things, may, if self and not-self differ as to these relations, be applicable to the one and not to the other. Thus Sense VI may be regarded as inapplicable to the "real" self. I will discuss this point more fully in a few moments. With this one exception we may, therefore, I think, apply the kinds of sameness enumerated under Sec. 9 as obtaining in the sphere of "external" things to the "real" self also, and it would seem that no new kinds are to be added. It is unnecessary to repeat here the classification already given.

[26] "Analogy," Part 1. Chap. I.

[27] Lectures on Metaphysics, XXV., N. Y., 1880, p. 356. Hamilton's
utterances concerning "reality" are incoherent, and inconsistent.
I do him no injustice, however, if I give the above as "one of his
views."

SEC. 14. We come finally to the self as a something immediately perceived, the self as phenomenon or idea. I do not mean to use these names in a question-begging way, and I will try to exhaust all reasonable possibilities in discussing it and its samenesses.

Now, whatever the self is, it would seem that it must be, in so far as it is a thing immediately known, either a part or the whole of consciousness, or one or the other of these regarded in some peculiar aspect or relation.

If it be a part of consciousness, recognized as distinct from another part, the non-ego, we may reasonably maintain:

1. That the perceived self is at any moment what it is--is the same with itself. The question whether it be simple and unanalyzable does not affect the problem. This is sameness in sense I.

2. That if it be simple and unanalyzable, this simple element of consciousness may be the same at two different times, and if complex, two elements or two complexes of elements, belonging to different times may be the same. This is sameness in sense II.

3. That if we regard the self as an object having a life-history, as consisting of successive elements united in a series as sense elements are united in the series which is for us a material object (immediately known), we may speak of its being the same on two successive days, even though it exhibit dissimilar qualities, primary reference being had not to likeness of elements, but to the experience which has been described at length in discussing sense III.

4. That we may speak of two selves, of two elements of two selves (if selves be complex), or of two elements of one self (if one self may contain two such elements), as at any one time the same, to indicate that they are similar. This is sameness in sense IV. It should be kept in mind, however, that we never look upon one consciousness as containing two selves as it contains one self, or as it may contain two material objects (immediately known). The second self in mind is recognized as present only as an imagined object. Nevertheless it would seem quite proper to use the word same to mark this relation of similarity between the perceived self and an imagined self, just as we use it to mark a likeness of two material objects, or of one material object and the memory image of such an object.

5. That we may speak of the self and its representative as the same. The memory image of a later time may stand for the self as experienced at an earlier. Unless it be claimed that yesterday's consciousness of self is actually to-day's consciousness, one must admit that the self remembered is the self known through its proxy. And one may in his reasonings about the self use as a symbol the pronoun "I," paying little attention as he goes along to what it stands for, and yet knowing it may serve in place of the obscure something it represents. These are instances of sameness in sense V.

6. That we never use the word same in sense VI in speaking of the self as we do in speaking of the not-self. We do not say two men perceive the same self as we say they perceive the same tree or house. The familiar distinction between the subjective and the objective marks out the latter as in a sense, peculiar to itself, common and impersonal.

I have already shown what we have in mind when we say two men see the same material thing. We have a picture of the thing, and of the bodies of the two men in a certain relation to it; and we imagine a copy of the thing as in some way connected with each of these bodies, and due to its relation to the thing. When relations to a material object are in question all the bodies in a consciousness are on a par. We may directly perceive the one thing and two or more bodies holding similar relations to it. But it is not so in the case of selves. The one self that we find in each consciousness seems to be peculiarly related to one body to the exclusion of others. And as we have not, in the case of this self, the conditions which led us to mark the similar relations of two human bodies (our representatives of the men) to one material object, by saying two men see the same thing, we, of course, do not say that two men see the same self. The word same, in sense VI, we may regard, then, as inapplicable to the self as immediately known.[28] This appears to be due, however, not to the nature of this self in itself considered, but to its peculiar relation to the other things in a consciousness.

[28] Owing to the ambiguity already pointed out as existing in terms
which stand for our objects of knowledge and our knowledge of these
objects, it would seem almost impossible to avoid misconception
without unendurable reiteration. In the above paragraph, by the words
"body," "object," "self," etc., I always refer to things immediately
known.

Moreover, since the other two selves, the self as group of "real" qualities and the self as noumenon, are to us, as it were, shadows cast by the self immediately known--assumed to exist only because this is known to exist, and thought of as "present" only because this is known to be present--since, I say, these two selves hold in our thought this peculiar relation of dependence upon the self in consciousness, it is to be expected that we never find any one speaking of two men as seeing the same "real" self as one might readily speak of two men as seeing the same "real" tree. One says he has evidence that two men see the same "real" tree, when he has or can have in consciousness an immediately perceived tree and two immediately perceived human bodies in a certain relation to it. If no one had ever had this experience in the sphere of the immediately known, we have no reason to think any one would ever have thought of applying the phrase in question to a tree mediately known. And as we do not have a similar experience touching the self in consciousness, it is only natural to find that no one applies the phrase to any self out of consciousness. When things differ their shadows ought to differ too. Sameness in sense VI we may regard, then, as not attributable to self in any of the three senses of the word.

7. That, finally, there seems no more reason why one should not call the self as immediately known the same with the self as "external" thing, or with the self as noumenon, than the not-self as similarly perceived the same with the not-self as similarly inferred. The supposed relationships are in the two cases exactly alike. Here we have sameness in sense VII.

SEC. 15. If we claim that by the self as immediately known we understand not a part but the whole of consciousness, we should seem, unless we in some way modify our statement, to obliterate the distinction between self and not-self. Still, taking the words simply, and assuming that we mean by self all that is immediately known, we do not find that this will necessitate any important difference in the discussion of its samenesses. Consciousness as a whole is certainly what it is, or the same with itself, at any instant: two elements in it belonging to different times, or two complexes of elements belonging to different times may be the same, as being alike; it may be regarded as having a life history, and may from this point of view be called the same at different times without regard to similarity; two simultaneous elements or complexes of elements in it may be called the same to mark the fact that they resemble each other, or it, as a whole, may for the same reason be called the same with another consciousness (imagined); it and its representative (for example, the memory-image of its former self), may be called the same; and we may use the word same to indicate its relation to its supposed "real" correlate in an extra-consciousness world, whether we make this "thing" or "noumenon."

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.

SEC. 17. This would certainly appear to be the case if we take the words _part_ and _whole_ of consciousness in their common acceptation, as denoting a portion or the totality of mental elements (sensations, feelings, volitions, ideas), in their various relations to each other. It remains, however, to consider a position, which, it may be claimed, is not covered by the foregoing classification of possible positions, when the words "part" and "whole" are thus understood. Suppose that one distinguishes in the Kantian fashion between the _form_ and the _matter_ of what appears in consciousness, and maintains that the formal element, the arrangement, or "unity" of consciousness is to be attributed to mind, or, if you please, is mind, and for "mind" I may here write "self," while the matter or content, the raw material to be elaborated and related, is to be distinguished from this as a thing apart. Can it be shown that the above given kinds of sameness have significance in regard to the self so understood? Whether we call this a _part_ of consciousness or not will depend on our use of terms. It is not a part, as commonly understood, nor is it the whole of consciousness.

Now, it has seemed to me that those who have laid most emphasis upon this formal element in consciousness have been very vague in their treatment of it. On the part of many writers there is little evidence of even an attempt at scientific exactitude. And yet it does not appear that the subject admits of treatment only in this loose and unsatisfactory way. If we can discuss it at all, there seems no reason why, with increasing knowledge, we may not expect to discuss it with accuracy and precision.

If we consider this formal element of consciousness in a concrete instance, it may help us to classify our ideas concerning it. Let us imagine three points in such relations to each other that when each is connected with the other two by straight lines we have an equilateral triangle. The three points are, of course, what they are at any instant. And whatever a relation may be, if the mutual relations of these three points are capable of being considered apart from the points, as a distinct element in consciousness, there appears no reason why we should not assert with equal justice that these relations are what they are at any instant. When we take note of the points we take note of the relations, and we do not confound the one with the other.

And just as I may say that such a set of three points imagined or observed now is the same with another and a similar set imagined or observed at some former time, meaning by the word same to indicate similarity, and not sameness in the strict sense mentioned just above; so there appears no reason at all why I may not say that the mutual relations of the one set of points are the same with the mutual relations of the other, making here, too, the distinction between sameness in the former, stricter, sense, and sameness in this second sense of similarity. If what is contained in a consciousness at any one instant, is, _ipso facto_, to be distinguished from what is contained in it at any other instant, there seems equal reason for making this distinction in the material element and in the formal. It is quite true that men are not accustomed to carrying this distinction into the region of form. The whole history of the dispute as to universals is evidence of the way in which men have confounded the kinds of sameness; but I fancy that even those who would clearly recognize that red color imagined yesterday and red color imagined to-day are the same merely in being similar, or in standing in a relation of original and representative, would yet not think of distinguishing triangularity noticed yesterday from triangularity noticed to-day, and marking that they are not the same in the first and strictest sense of the word. And yet it would be hard to show why two indistinguishably similar color sensations, existing in consciousness at different times, are to be kept apart in thought and recognized as two sensations, while two occurrences of the consciousness of triangularity (I use the clumsy phrase to avoid any question-begging word), are not to be distinguished as separate in a similar way. To say that the formal element is not a thing, but an activity, does not alter the position. If an activity is enough of a thing to be talked about and distinguished from other things, we may surely recognize an activity in consciousness yesterday as numerically different from an activity in consciousness to-day.

Furthermore, if, instead of taking as simple an instance of form as the relations of the three points I have been discussing, I choose to take the sum total of the relations between the material elements (here I use _material_ as correlative to _formal_), which go to make up the life history of a material object, say a tree, why may I not speak of the formal tree as being the same at two times, meaning thereby that the group of relations co-existent at any one time may be regarded as representative of any other group belonging to the one series or of the whole series? To be sure, I am not justified by common usage in thus speaking, since common usage marks only distinctions which are practically important, and by the words "the same tree" includes both form and matter. Nevertheless, I can see no reason why, if this element of form does admit of being considered apart, it is not at least possible to find in this field the kind of sameness we have in mind when we say that we have seen on two successive days the same tree.

Again, if I can speak of two simultaneous sensations of redness in one consciousness (_e. g._, the two halves of a red surface), as the same, meaning to indicate simply similarity, why may I not also speak of two simultaneous "experiences of triangularity" in one consciousness as the same, and keep clearly in mind here, too, that I mean only to indicate similarity? If I can speak of a sensation or a complex of sensations in one consciousness as the same with a similar sensation or group of sensations in another, and yet not forget that I am dealing with two things, why may I not do as much for two similar relations or groups of relations in two consciousnesses? If in the one case I do not confound sameness in the sense of similarity with sameness of the kind we mean when we say each thing is at each instant the same with itself, why should I do so in the other case? If, I repeat, the formal element in consciousness is enough of a thing to be distinguished from the material element and discussed, there appears no reason why it should not be open to distinctions of this kind.

And when I call up in memory a triangle once seen, the memory image would seem to stand as a representative of the original in both its elements, form and matter. In neither should the representative be confounded with the original. If we may use the word same to indicate this peculiar relation of representation between two things yet recognized as two, it would seem only just to allow this distinction as much in the case of triangularity as in the case of redness or blueness.

As to the sixth kind of sameness. May we grant this to the self, if by self we mean the formal element of consciousness? I have said a little way back, before taking up the distinction of formal and material, that, if we make the word self cover all the immediately known, there is nothing to prevent one's saying that two men see a part of the same self, for material objects (immediately known) would have to be regarded as such parts. And here it is evident that if we make self to cover the whole of the formal element in a consciousness, it of course includes the formal element in what we may call the objective side of consciousness--the side which is, in some sense of the words, common and impersonal. Now, we do say that two men see the same tree, and by tree, the man who distinguishes between form and matter means a certain complex containing both formal and material elements. These elements he believes he can distinguish from one another, and pay attention predominantly now to the one, and now to the other. Does it not seem to follow that a man may as truly be said to see the formal element as the material, and that two men who see the same tree may with justice be said to see the same shape or arrangement of parts? In other words, may we not apply the sixth sense of the word same to the formal element in consciousness if this element is a thing capable of treatment at all? And if this formal element in a tree seen by two men is a part of the self, why may we not say that two men see a part of the same self, even though we make self mere form? It would sound very odd to say so, of course, but that should not weigh with a philosopher, if consistency require it.

Finally, if I may call an immediately perceived object the same with its supposed "external" correlate, not confounding the two, but merely marking by the word a peculiar instance of the representative relation, why may I not, if I believe that "external" things stand in "real" relations to each other truly represented by our perceptions of things and their relations--why, in this case, may I not speak of the relations, "external" and "internal," as the same, without on that account forgetting that I am pointing out a relation between two things (if I may thus speak of relations), numerically different? Are they not as different as the "matter" of consciousness and its correlate in the "outer" world?

SEC. 18. In the foregoing I have endeavored to make my list of the kinds of sameness complete. I can think of nothing that has been overlooked; but as I have been trying to force a path through a thicket few have made any sustained effort to penetrate, it is quite possible my map of the ground may need emendation. I shall be very glad of any criticism which will help me to improve it. And as the many divisions made, and the many distinctions drawn, may very possibly tend to produce in one who has followed the discussion thus far, a state of mind akin to that of the "true-begotten" Gobbo, when he was obligingly directed to the Jew's house by his hopeful son, a short summary of the results obtained may serve to facilitate apprehension and intelligent criticism.

What has been done is this:

I began by considering the kinds of sameness of things immediately known, leaving out of consideration for the time being the sameness of the self or ego. This resulted in the following kinds:

I. Any mental element or complex of mental elements may be said to be the same with itself at any instant.

II. Any mental element or complex of mental elements in existence at one time may be called the same with a mental element or complex of mental elements existing at another time, to indicate that the two are similar.

III. We may say that we perceive the same object (complex of mental elements) at two different times, when we do not mean that what is actually experienced on the two occasions is the same in either of the preceding senses; but only that the two experiences are terms in a certain series, the whole of which may be regarded as represented by any part. In this sense does one see the same tree on two succeeding days.

IV. Any two mental elements or complexes of mental elements in consciousness at the one time may be called the same to mark the fact that they are alike.

V. Any mental element or complex of mental elements may be called the same with its representative, whether this representative resemble it or not.

VI. When a man has learned from experience of his own body (as a thing immediately known) that a consciousness of his body in a certain peculiar relation to a given object (complex of mental elements) is a presupposition to a consciousness of the object, and wishes to mark the fact that he is perceiving or imagining two human bodies in this relation to a single object, and connecting in thought with each of them a picture of the object, he may say that he is perceiving or imagining two men seeing the same object. This sense of the word same obviously expresses quite a complex thought.

VII. In addition to these kinds of sameness found within the sphere of the immediately known, we obtain one kind by stepping beyond it, which, since we step beyond it, so to speak, with only one foot, may be here mentioned as belonging at least partially to the world of immediate objects. When we have come to believe that things in consciousness have their correlates in a world outside of consciousness, we may speak of the things in consciousness as the same with their "external" correlates; or, at any rate, we may talk of them as if they were the same in some sense of the word which will allow us to include the two (or three) distinct things under one name, and treat them as one. This is constantly done. The importance of remembering that we have really more than one thing to consider, it would seem scarcely necessary to emphasize. How far this is really a new kind of sameness I discussed at some length.

After having marked these seven kinds of sameness as having to do with the immediately known, I proceeded to consider the kinds of sameness which may obtain in a world or worlds beyond consciousness. It was pointed out that one may look upon the "external" in three ways. One may believe in "external" things as merely bundles of "real" qualities, and may stop there: or one may believe in such bundles of "real" qualities, and in addition hold to "substance" or "substratum" as an obscure something implied by these "real" qualities: or, lastly, one may hold that the only correlate of the thing in consciousness is "noumenon," a thing not distinguishable from the "substance" above mentioned.

It was then shown that a realm of "external" things, consisting of bundles of "real" qualities in a world beyond consciousness, would, since it is to the man thinking it merely a duplicate of the immediate world, admit of the existence of all the kinds of sameness above enumerated, and would not furnish any one kind which might increase the list. And with respect to the "external" as noumenon, it was stated that if the noumenal be represented to the mind at all, at least the first kind of sameness must be attributed to it, and that other kinds will be, in proportion to the degree of clearness allowed this vague and inconsistent entity. No new kind of sameness need, however, be looked for in this field. If one hold to the "external" in both kinds, he must, of course, search three distinct realms of being before he can be sure that he has not overlooked any legitimate sense of the word same. As a result of the foregoing analysis we may maintain that, whatever be his belief as to ideas, things, and noumena, his search will not result in more than the seven kinds of sameness I have given. In the assumed new fields we find mere repetition. The pure Idealist would reduce the list to six by dropping off the seventh kind altogether.

Next, as to the sameness of the Self or Ego. It was pointed out that one may take the word self to mean: (1) the self in consciousness, or as phenomenon; (2) the self as bundle of "real" qualities out of consciousness; (3) the self as "substance" or "noumenon;" (4) two of these, or all of these, taken together.

It was said that as the fourth sense is sufficiently discussed in examining the first three, it would not be separately considered. The three remaining senses were then taken up in reverse order. The third and the Second were found to furnish no new kind of sameness, and to be on a par with the corresponding senses of the word "not-self," except as touching the sixth kind of sameness. As respects this, it was admitted that no one would speak of two men as perceiving the same self, whether as bundle of "real" qualities or as noumenon. It was remarked, however, that this is due not to a difference in the self and not-self in themselves considered, but to a difference in their relation to other things in a consciousness.

The self in consciousness, or as immediately known, was then discussed. It was stated that we may safely assume this to be either a part or the whole of consciousness, or the one or the other of these in some peculiar aspect or relation. Self, viewed as a part of consciousness, was found to furnish no new kind of sameness, and was found to admit of all the kinds discovered except the sixth; this one being inadmissible from the fact that when we make the self a part of consciousness we always make it the subjective part and not the objective. Self, viewed as the whole of consciousness, was likewise found to furnish no new kind of sameness, and it was found to admit of all the seven kinds discovered--even of the sixth, though in a modified way, since this kind can belong only to a part of the self, the objective part, which is in some sense common and impersonal. It may, to be sure, be objected that it would be contrary to common usage to speak of two men as seeing the same self in any sense of that word; but in making the self the whole of consciousness one has already abandoned the common standpoint, and one may as well be consistent in carrying out the consequences. Assuming the self to be not a part or the whole of consciousness simply, but regarded in some peculiar aspect or relation, was not found to be significant as concerns kinds of sameness.

It still remained to consider a possible position; that of the man who distinguishes between the formal and the material element in consciousness, and identifies self or mind with the former. The formal element of consciousness is not a part of consciousness as the word part is commonly used, nor is it the whole of consciousness, in the ordinary acceptation of the word whole. And though this view might very well have been brought under a former head by stretching a little the meaning of the word part, yet such is its importance that I chose rather to omit it when discussing self as a part of consciousness (there using the word part in a limited sense), and to take it up later by itself.

It was insisted that if the formal element in consciousness is enough of a thing to be distinguished from something else, and to be discussed, it is enough of a thing to admit of distinctions and differences much as other things do. After examination it appeared, as a matter of fact, that there is no reason why the believer in "form" should not attribute to it all of the seven kinds of sameness before described--even (in the modified way described a moment ago) the sixth kind. And it also appeared that no new kind of sameness is discoverable in this field. With this closed the search for samenesses.

It will be observed that we have passed in review the self and the not-self as immediately known, the self and the not-self as bundles of "real" qualities out of consciousness, and the self and the not-self as noumenon or substance. I know of no other field in which the search may be prosecuted, unless such be invented gratuitously by increasing the "layers" of being in a way no one seems inclined to increase them. And in view of the fact that the samenesses found in any "layer" below the first seem to be only repetitions of what we find in that one, we could have no reason to hope that any such needless increase in strata could add a single new kind of sameness to those described.

SEC. 19. Now that we have obtained a list of the different kinds of sameness, we may pass our eye over it with a view to discovering what the various kinds have in common, and what is the reason that we express such diverse experiences by the use of the one word. Such an examination reveals the fact that the common notion which unites them is the idea of similarity. In some cases this notion lies more in the foreground than in others, but in all cases it is present, and forms the bond of union. I will run through the list and point this out, beginning, however, with the second kind, and reserving the first for discussion after the others.

II. A mere mention of the second kind of sameness is, in this connection, sufficient. Two mental experiences are there avowedly called the same to mark similarity.

III. When we speak of the same object as perceived on two occasions, we do not, as has been noticed, mean that what is actually in the sense at the two different times is similar. Nevertheless, we find here, too, the notion of similarity, for the two experiences are not considered merely in themselves, but as elements in a group or series, and as each representing the whole series. When, therefore, we have the two experiences, we regard ourselves as having in them two experiences of the one series; which means, to be more explicit, that we have in mind on the two occasions two complexes which are similar, and which, when thought of together, are related to each other as the memory image and its original are related. Here the likeness lies in what is represented, not in the representatives.

IV. As in the second kind of sameness, so in the fourth, the reference to similarity is unmistakable. We call qualities or things the same when they are of the one kind, when they are observed to resemble each other.

V. The relation of representative and thing represented evidently implies the notion of similarity. It is quite true that we often recognize as in this relation things that we do not think of as being similar at all, and yet a little reflection will show that one thing can stand for another only _in so far_ as it resembles it. The resemblance may lie in the qualities of the things in themselves considered, or it may lie in external relations of which the things are capable, or functions which they may serve. The very notion of a proxy is a something which, for the purpose in hand, may be regarded as capable of assuming the functions of another. In so far as it can do this it is like the other. Things wholly different (if things could be wholly different) could not represent each other.