k.
2 C
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• truth
VOL. 4.
T
bears th e torch in t h e search FOR T W T H . " - L u c r e t i u s .
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, E. M. 300 (WOO.)“ ’
NO. 50.
H a il! T ru th .
ness of the outer world which are tific conception of nature, however,
of the m ulticellular anim al or
in any s< u s e accessible to our
BY M. J. SAVAGE.
which has been built up in the plant from it, so, with equal right,
m inds.
Much more contracted is nineteenth century, has, with the
O pow er on e a rth shall sever
the sphere of self-consciousness, the aid of em pirical progress, in physi we may consider the “ cell-soul” to
My soul from T ru th forever—
internal m irror of all of our own ological and com parative psychol be the psychological unit, an d the
In w h a t-e ’e r p ath she w ander,
com plex psychic activity of the
psychic activity, all our presen ta- ogy, completely falsified it.
I ’ll follow’ m y C om m ander.
higher organism to be the result of
All h a i l ! all hail ¡'beloved T ru th .
tations, sensations, and volitions.
2. Neurological theory of con the com bination of the psychic ac
The only source of our knowledge
h a te ’er the foe before m e,
sciousness.— T h at it is present only tivity of the cells which compose it.
W here-e’er h er flag flies o’er me,
of consciousness is th a t faculty it
in man and higher anim als which
However, I repeat th at, in my
1,11 sta n d and never falter,
self, th at is the chief cause of the
have
a
centralized
nervous
system
No bribe m y faith shall a lte r.
opinion, consciousness is only part
ex
trao
rd
in
ary
difficulty
of
subjec
L ead on ! lead on, thou m ig h ty T ru th !
and organs of sense. The convic of the psychic phenom ena which
ting it to scientific research. S u b
tion th a t a large num ber of a n i we find in m an and the higher a n i
And w hen th e fight is over,
ject and object are one and the
Look down upon th y lover;
mals at lpast the higher m am m als mals; the great m ajority of them
sam e in it: the perceptive subject
H e asks for well done d u ty ,
are not less endowed than man are unconscious.
m irrors itself in its own inner n a
To see th y heavenly beau ty .
with a th in k in g so u l and conscious
HowPver divergent are the diff
Reveal th y face, celestial T ru th .
ture which is to be the object of
ness prevails in m odern zoology, erent views as to the n atu re an d
our inquiry.
T hus we can never
Consciousness.
exact physiology,and the m onistic origin of consciousness, they m ay,
have a com plete objective certain ty
psychology The immense progress nevertheless, on a clear and logical
of the consciousness of others; we
BY ER N ST H A E C K E L .
we have made in the various b ra n exam ination, all be reduced to
can only proceed by a com parison
ches of biology has contributed to
fundam ental
theories— the
O phenom enon of the life of of th eir psychic condition with our bring about a recognition of this two
transcendental (or d u alistic) and
As long as this com parison
the soul is so worirously own.
im portant tru th .
the physiological (or m onistic). I
and so variously interpreted is restricted to norm al people we
C om parative physiology teaches have m yself alw ays held the la tte r
as consciousness.
The most con are justified in draw ing certain
trad icto ry views are cu rren t today, conclusisns as to th eir conscious us th a t the various states of con view, in the light of my evolution
sciousness are ju st the same in ary principles, and it is now shared
as they were two thousand years ness, the validity of which is u n
these highest placentals as in man; by a g reat num ber of distinguished
ago, not only with regard to the challenged. B ut when we pass on
. n atu re of this physic function and to consider abnorm al individuals and we learn by experim ent th a t scientists, though it is by no m eans
there is the same reaction to ex- generally accepted.
its relation to the oodv, hut even (the genius, the eccentric, the s tu
T he higher ani
The peculiar phenomenon of con
as to its diffusion in the organic pid, or the insane) our conclusions ternal stim ula.
inals can be narcotized by alcohol, sciousness is not, as Du Bois-Rey-
world and its origin and its devel from analogy are either unsafe or chloroform,
ether, etc., and may be | m ond and the dualistic school
T he sam e
opm ent.
It is more responsible entirely erroneous.
m ust be said with even g reater i * yPn° liZWl b}" ,e " sual methods, J would have us believe, a com plete-
th an any other psychic faculty for
‘ ' e Case o f m an-
“ tran scen d en tal” problem ; it is,
the erroneous idea of an “ im m ater tru th When we attem p t to com pare ’“ V aS
* J8’ H)We'rer’ inop(>.s«ihie to de- ; as I showed th irty -th ree years ago,
ial soul ’ and the belief in “ person hum an coi sciousness with th at of
al im m ortality ’; m any of the g rav the anim als (even the higher, bu( term in® m a th e m a tically a t what a physiological problem, and, as
° f anim aI Hfe consciousness such, must be reduced to the phe-
est errors th a t Rtill dom inate even especially the lower). In th a t ca«e
reco&nizeil 38 such, nom ena of physics and chem istry ,
our modern civilization m ay be such grave difficulties arise th at « ’°
traced to it.
Hence it is th a t I the views of physiologists and phil- k ° ™ e.Z0<>; Ogl8t8 draW the ’»«e very I subsequently gave it the more
the 8Ca,e’ ° thers ver^ Iow j definite title of a neurological prob-
have entitled consciousness “ the osophers diverge as widely as th e , h
We shall . w ,n’ who m08t accurately dis-H em , as 1 share the view th a t true
central m ystery of psychology’’; it poles on the subject.
is the strong citidel of all m ystic briefly enum erate the m ost im port- t,ngU!HheM lhe varioU8 8tages of consciousness (th o u g h t and reason)
consciousness,
intelligence, and is only present in those higher ani-
and dualistic errors, before whose an t of these views.
ram p arts the best equipped efforts
1. The A nthropistic theory of L
u the| hi« h e r ‘‘nima1’. a ^ m a'8 whi<=h have a centralized uer-
, “
7 ,'p r° g 7 slve evo- vous system and organa of aenae of
of reason th reaten to m iscarry. consciousness.— T h at it is peculiar 1
to
m
a
n
.
To
Descartes
we
„
,0Bt
'
“
t,On
P0,,lt8
"
u
t . how '’'« '« ‘■H, or a certain degree of developm ent,
T his fact would suffice of itself to
’ 11 18 to determ ine rhose conditions are certain ly
induce us to make a special critical trace the wide spread notion th a t Z fi
consciousness
and th o u g h t ^ re be flr8t b<-8,n n ,n g of
««preme found ,n the higher vertebrates, es-
stu d y of consciousness from our mo
‘h , '"
lower a " b j P80181^ ,n
Pla«ental mammals,
nistic point of view.
W e shall see m an ’s exclusive perogative and 1 7, “7
?
° Ut ° ' the m an>’ i lhe cla88. from which m an has
th a t consciousness is sim ply a n a t th a t he alone is blessed witi. a of
“ im m ortal s o u l”
j contradictory theories, I take th a t w o n g . The consciousness of the
ural phenom enon like any other
rp,
t
I to be most probable which holds highest apes, dogs, elephants etc
psychic q u ality , and th a t it is sub
lh e great influence which Des- the cen tralizatio n of the nervous ' differs from th a t of m an in degree
ject to the law of substance like all cartes had on subsequent philoso
system to be a condition of con- only, not in kind, an d the gradua-
other n atu ra l phenom ena.
phy was very rem arkable, and en sciousness; and th a t is w anting in ted interval between the conscious-
Even as to the elem entary idea tirely in harm ony with his “ book
the lower classes of anim als.
The ness of these “ ra tio n a l” placentals
of consciousness, its contents and keeping by double e n try .”
The presence of a central nervous or-1 an d th a t of the lowest races of men
extension, the uiews of the most M aterialists of the seventeenth and
distinguished
philosophers and eighteenth centuries appealed to the gan, of highly developed sense-or- [the V eddahs, etc.J is less th an the
between
scientists are widely divergent. C artesian theory of the anim al soul gans, and an elaborate association corresponding interval
of groups of presentations, seem to ' these uncivilized races and
---- the
P erhaps the m eaning of conscious and its purely m echanical activity m o ♦ <-» I ...
___ . i
• .
_____ •
me to be required before
the unity
highest
specimens
of
thoughtful
ness is best conceived as an in te rn in support of their m onistic psy
of consciousness is possible.
hum anity [Spinoza, Goethe, L a
al perception, and com pared with chology.
The S p iritu alists on the
3. C ellular theory of conscious m arck, D arw in, etc.].
Conscious
thn action of a m irror. As its two other hand, asserted th a t th eir dog
chief departm ents we distinguish ma of the im m ortality of the soul ness.— T h at it is a vital property of ness is hut a p a rt of the higher a c
objective and subjective conscious and its independence of the body every cell. T he application of the tivity of the soul, and as such it is
cellular theory to every branch of dependent on the norm al stru c tu re
ness— consciousness of the world, was firmly established by D escar
biology involved its extension to of the corresponding psychic organ
the non-ego, and of the ego.
By tes theory of the hum an soul
psychology.
J u s t as we take the the brain.
far the greater p art of our consci This view is still prevalent in the I living
• • c e ll'to be
the “ elem entary
Physiological observation an d
ous activity, as Schopenhaur justly cam p of the theologians and dual- o rg an ism ” in anatom y and physi
experim
ined l . r tw
rem arked, belongs to the conscious- ietic
IHflP tltotU.Jme.'ain«,.
rv
y, _ scien-1
•
I ology.
.
.
metaphysicians.
The
and . derive
t h e v U i e 1 J
X
Z 7 h ent a t T determ
h r pX
p enty
o rJ
N
N
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