Page:Philosophical Review Volume 2.djvu/534

520 2. God is held to be, not only individual in his existence, but conscious of himself. Now, it must here be assumed that when self-consciousness is predicated of God, it means what is meant when it is predicated of other forms of being. I am of course aware that Mr. Seth regards the category of self-consciousness as inadequate to express the ultimate nature of God; but, however inadequate it may be, we are surely entitled to assume that it cannot contradict the perception or consciousness of God as he is for himself. This point will be immediately considered: at present I assume that, in affirming God to be self-conscious, Mr. Seth means what he says. What, then, is self-consciousness? As our author defines it, self-consciousness is the consciousness of a self-centred individuality. No being in his consciousness of himself is conscious of any other being. If God in his existence comprehended all other forms of existence, in being conscious of himself he would also be conscious of all existence. But, as we have seen, God in his existence is absolutely exclusive of all other forms of existence, as they are exclusive of him; and, hence, to be conscious of himself is to be conscious only of himself. All other forms of being thus lie beyond the range of his self-consciousness. But a Being who is thus ignorant of what has a real existence, is as limited in knowledge as we have seen him to be limited in existence. To say, therefore, that 'the truth' exists for him alone is absurd. These considerations seem to show that, if we are to affirm self-consciousness of God in any sense which shall preserve the absoluteness of his knowledge, we must show that self-consciousness as the consciousness of an exclusive individuality is a fiction. If the consciousness of self is not the consciousness of an absolute reality, comprehending self and not self in a single unity, the predication of self-consciousness in relation to God is the denial of his omniscience.

3. Holding that God is individual in his existence and consciousness, Mr. Seth naturally denies that He enters into or constitutes the process of the world or of human history. Strictly speaking, indeed, there is no 'world' or history of 'man,' but only changes going on independently in a number of