SPACE 51 



longer put out our hand towards it. It loses neither resonance 

 nor flavour nor scent when we turn our attention towards 

 other things. Even our own body receives a definite position 

 in space, which it can alter by moving the limbs in a cer- 

 tain way. 



While our body becomes objective in this way, like all 

 other objects of the external world, our ego remains of 

 necessity subjective ; for the ego, as the unity of appercep- 

 tion which builds up all the qualities into higher organisations, 

 cannot have so much as a single local sign of its own. 



On the other hand, it is conceivable that our thoughts 

 and feelings, which we group together as a whole under the 

 name of soul, might bear local signs, for they also are stirred 

 up by outside impressions, like the melodies and harmonies 

 that we construct from hearing sounds. If this were the 

 case, then with it the contrast between body and soul would 

 disappear, a contrast which indeed does not exist in the sub- 

 jective world. It is a mistake to maintain that the soul 

 must be entirely non-spatial, for many of our feelings — such, 

 for instance, as longing — readily connect themselves with 

 subjective direction-signs, and so enter subjective space. 

 If thoughts and feelings had local signs as well, we should 

 be able to develop an objective science of the soul, in addition 

 to the subjective. 



From all of which it is possible to derive, as sharply and 

 clearly as we could desire, the definition we have been seeking 

 for " objective " and " subjective." Every quality is objec- 

 tive only so long as it remains in connection with a local 

 sign ; it becomes subjective as soon as this connection is 

 broken. The local sign, when considered by itself, is purely 

 subjective ; as soon as it enters into association with any 

 quality whatsoever, it becomes objective place. 



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