Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 61.djvu/301

Rh organism, acts as a stimulus which causes an irritation; the irritation produces a reaction. Within the ordinary range of the stimuli to which an organism is subjected, the reaction is teleological, that is, it tends to the benefit of the organism. A familiar illustration is the presence of food in the stomach, which produces a stimulus, the reaction to which is manifested by the secretion of the digestive fluid for the purpose of digesting the food. An organism might conceivably be maintained solely by this mechanism in cooperation with the physical laws which govern all matter. Life in such an organism would be a succession of teleological processes, essentially mechanical and regulated automatically by the organism. By far the majority of biologists regard plants as essentially conforming to this type of life. Whether they absolutely so conform we do not, of course, yet know.

A sensation involves the interpolation of consciousness between the stimulation and the reaction, and in consequence there is established the possibility of a higher order of adjustment to the external world than can be attained through the teleological reaction to a stimulus. This possibility depends upon the fact that the intervention of consciousness permits an adjustment in accordance not merely with the immediate sensation, but also, and at the same time, in accordance with earlier sensations. Thus, for example, the child sees an object, and its reaction is to take hold of the object, which is hot and hurts the child. Later the child sees the object again and its natural reaction is to take hold of it again, but the child now reacts differently because its consciousness utilizes the earlier as well as the present sensation; the previous sensation is dislocated in time and fused with the present sensation and a new reaction follows. No argument is necessary to establish the obvious conclusion that an organism which has consciousness has an immensely increased scope for its adjustments to the external conditions; in other words, consciousness has a very high value for the organism. It is unnecessary to dwell upon this conclusion, for it will be admitted by every one, except perhaps those who start with the a priori conviction that consciousness is an epiphenomenon.

A sensation gives information concerning the external world. Perhaps science has achieved nothing else which has done so much to clarify philosophy as the demonstration that the objective phenomena are wholly unlike the subjective sensations. Light is a series of undulations, but we do not perceive the undulation as such, but as red, yellow and green, or as we say colors; the colors give us available information, and we use them as so many labels, and we learn that reactions to these labels may be helpful or hurtful, and so we regulate our conduct. Objectively red, yellow and green do not exist. Similarly with the vibrations of the air, certain of which cause the sensation of sound, which is purely subjective. But the sound gives us information