Chapter XXIV 



SKETCH OF AN ORGANISMAL THEORY OF 



CONSCIOUSNESS 



Remarks on the Hypothetical Character of This Chapter 



HYPOTHESIS and theory will dominate in the task 

 upon which we now enter and in this respect the 

 present chapter will differ sharply from the preceding chap- 

 ters. Fact, description, classification, and restrained gen- 

 eralization have been the leading motives up to this point. 

 One main and several subsidiary hypotheses will be central 

 in the discussion. Into the presence of these will be sum- 

 moned many of the facts and generalizations previously set 

 forth. The purpose in this summoning will be on the one 

 hand to test the hypotheses by the facts and generalizations 

 and on the other hand to see how the facts will look in the 

 light of the hypotheses. 



This announcement of the hypothetical and theoretical 

 character of the task now before us, will give us two advan- 

 tages : It will justify a dogmatic form of expression at times 

 which we should not otherwise feel privileged to use ; and 

 will justify a brevity of treatment which would not be pos- 

 sible were we aiming at thorough generalization and demon- 

 stration. Hence the justification of undertaking to deal 

 with so vast and vital a subject in the limits of a sketch. 



The Natural History Method and the Study of One's Self 



Insistent as I have been on the importance of the natural 

 history way of approaching the phenomena of the living 



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