THE DIRECT JUSTIFICATION OF ENTELECHY 271 



An Hypothesis 



The organism then, my organism, may be looked upon as 

 playing its full role. I now must beg you to allow me a 

 certain hypothetical liberty at the very beginning. In order 

 that a full and complete analysis of those of the phenomena 

 concerned in our process which relate to my body may 

 become possible, let us make a supposition, which, in fact, 

 is not true, but which easily may be imagined to be true 

 without exceeding the limits of our present researches. We 

 shall assume that we are able to touch every single element 

 of our whole body, including the brain and the nerves. It 

 is true, we cannot in reality touch our own brain at any 

 point, but it seems to me that there is no objection in 

 principle to assume the possibility, as in any case brains in 

 all their parts are what we call tangible things. 



The Case Once More 



After these preparations let us begin to analyse the 

 phenomena of the smoking lamp once more. Let us 

 imagine that we possess a complete knowledge of all 

 physiology, but that at the same time we do not forget for 

 a single moment that we have to do with phenomena in 

 respect to my Ego and with nothing else. 



The optical phenomenon of the smoking lamp the 

 " optical lamp " is again the starting-point. Physiology 

 tells us that this lamp first affects the retinas of our eyes ; 

 from the retinas an influence goes out to the optic nerves, 

 and from these to parts of the brain. But let us stop here 

 a moment ; how could the " optical lamp " to put it briefly 



