THE DEFINITION OF REALITY 283 



definition. My own practice would probably be covered 

 by the definition that a thing may be said to be real if 

 it is the goal of a type of inquiry to which I personally 

 attach importance. But if I insist on no more than this 

 I am whittling down the significance that is generally 

 assumed. In physics we can give a cold scientific 

 definition of reality which is free from all sentimental 

 mystification. But this is not quite fair play, because the 

 word "reality" is generally used with the intention of 

 evoking sentiment. It is a grand word for a peroration. 

 "The right honourable speaker went on to declare that 

 the concord and amity for which he had unceasingly 

 striven had now become a reality (loud cheers). " The 

 conception which it is so troublesome to apprehend is 

 not "reality" but "reality (loud cheers)". 



Let us first examine the definition according to the 

 purely scientific usage of the word, although it will not 

 take us far enough. The only subject presented to me 

 for study is the content of my consciousness. You are 

 able to communicate to me part of the content of your 

 consciousness which thereby becomes accessible in my 

 own. For reasons which are generally admitted, though 

 I should not like to have to prove that they are conclusive, 

 I grant your consciousness equal status with my own; 

 and I use this second-hand part of my consciousness to 

 "put myself in your place". Accordingly my subject of 

 study becomes differentiated into the contents of many 

 consciousnesses, each content constituting a view-point. 

 There then arises the problem of combining the view- 

 points, and it is through this that the external world of 

 physics arises. Much that is in any one consciousness 

 is individual, much is apparently alterable by volition; 

 but there is a stable element which is common to other' 

 consciousnesses. That common element we desire to 



