Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/489

 THE PRINCIPLE OF I.KVST ACTION, i:TC. 1 1 ") self- identity of the uncritical metaphysician. It is not the iiH'taphysico-theological Unity of Consciousness. Nor again is it the more subtle logico-methodological Unity of Conscious- ni'-^s. The unity we are considering is not of that shadowy sort whose existence is purely ideal, and is variously known as a postulate, precondition or presupposition of conscious activity. 'Unity' is in all cases a conception, but what we want is not 'a conception apart, from which the activity of Consciousness is meaningless,' but a conception which embodies an actual fact. What we want is not a pre- condition, but an actual condition, fact or a constituent of Consciousness. Finally by the Unity of Consciousness as a basis for mental development is not meant what we may call the Coherency of Consciousness. That which serves as a basis for mental development makes growing coherency possible ; it is not in itself coherency. To make these eliminations more intelligible I must ;i<l<l that they are made with special regard to the place Psychology is commonly supposed to hold relatively to other sciences. They are made in fact on the assumption that a study of Psychology follows naturally on a study of Biology and is prefatory to a study of Logic and Metaphysics. This point of view once taken it seems most reasonable (i) to entirely exclude from psychological inquiry the two conceptions of the Unity of Consciousness which I have called the logico- methodological and the metaphysico-theological ; (2) to take as the fundamental working conception of Psychology that conception of the Unity of Consciousness which may suitably be called the biological conception, the conception namely of the Unity as a vital l Unity, the Unity of a conative and developing Consciousness ; (3) to take as the true function of the Science of Psychology the discussion of the processes whereby on the basis of this vital Unity, a rational coherent Unity of meaning and purposive movement is built up. In so far as the coherency of motor ideation implies the control of conduct by reference to some good, we have reached a conception of the Unity of Consciousness which might con- stitute a suitable starting-point for Ethics. We can now approach with some confidence the fact of which we are in search. Let us take any attentive mental process and inquire into the conditions of its unity. The most obvious condition of Unity is that the object of attention, 1 By vital Unity I mean nothing more than Unity of Interest or Cona- tive Unity. Cf. The "dependent vital series" of Avenarius, series <>i , purely psychical kind.