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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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