CORRESPONDENCE 335 



still something real which occupies the real space which appears 

 to be occupied by the body." 



I give the following reasons for believing that space is not 

 real : 



1 . An unreal concrete thing (e.g. the image of an object 

 in a mirror), since it does not exist, but only appears to exist, 

 depends for its apparent existence on the existence of some 

 mind which falsely believes, perceives, or conceives it to exist. 

 Therefore, it is impossible for an unreal concrete thing to 

 exist alone in the universe. Now, if we apply this to a material 

 body, and suppose it to be alone in the universe, what would 

 be its position ? It would have no position ; for mathe- 

 maticians have long given up regarding absolute position and 

 absolute motion as real. Further, if absolute position were 

 real, our conception of relative position is so clear that we 

 should surely be able to conceive absolute position : yet it is 

 inconceivable. But, if absolute position is not real, the 

 difference between two absolute positions, i.e. relative position, 

 cannot be real ; for it is absurd to suppose that the difference 

 between two things, neither of which exists, can exist. 



2. In general, an effect is unlike its cause, especially so, if 

 the effect is very complex. Now, perception is undoubtedly 

 very complex. Therefore a material body must be very 

 unlike the cause of its perception. We know that the body's 

 apparent secondary qualities are very unlike their corre- 

 sponding realities. It would be at least a very surprising thing 

 if its spatial qualities should remain unchanged after under- 

 going a process which has changed the secondary qualities 

 out of all recognition. 



3. If space is real, then, when a man moves from England 

 to Africa (say), either his mind moves through space, or it 

 does not move. Either form of the dilemma presents very 

 great difficulty. On the other hand, if space is not real, 

 neither the mind nor the body moves, since both body and 

 motion are appearances only. There are only changes of 

 consciousness. 



I endeavour to show that space is the appearance of time, 

 time-relations being converted into space-relations in the 

 process leading to perception, and that motion is the appear- 

 ance of consciousness. I endeavour to meet the difficulties 

 involved in regarding time as of three dimensions. On the 



