PERCEPTION 79 



one may say that only those events to which he makes a 

 conscious response really exist for him. Hence it seems that 

 science does not begin with uninterpreted data, but with 

 tentative ideas, conjectures, and hypotheses, verification of 

 which is sought in the medley of given events. 



Still closer examination of this point of view, however, 

 reveals the fact that one has not yet arrived at funda- 

 mentals. Apparently data can be selected only through the 

 medium of hypotheses. But do either data or hypotheses 

 have any meaning apart from problems? Reflection has its 

 origin, as was shown in Chapter IV, in what might be called 

 problematic situations — situations in which the organism 

 experiences an interruption in its habitual and accustomed 

 behavior, and is obliged to try new responses in order to 

 reestablish the smooth functioning. In highly developed 

 organisms these situations involve the use of deliberation, 

 which is essentially the act of selecting from among a range 

 of possible responses whose projected consequences are pre- 

 figured in imagination, one which is judged to be the most 

 adequate in the situation at hand. So long as there are no 

 problematic situations there is no reflection, and so long 

 as there is no reflection there can be neither data nor hy- 

 potheses. Data and hypotheses are elements which are 

 selected from the given as tools for solving problems, and 

 until there are problems there is no need for tools. 



The difficulty with this point of view, however, is that 

 even problems are such only within the range of sensitivity 

 of the organism. What is a problem for one organism may 

 not be for another, and what is a problem for an organism 

 at one time may not be at another. Hence what makes a 

 situation into a problem seems to be something in the organ- 

 ism itself — on the one hand an organized system of responses 

 which proves adequate to situations which for other organ- 

 isms might be occasions for the breakdown of reactions, 

 and on the other hand a sensitivity to certain types of sit- 

 uation which for other organisms might be occasions for 

 uninterrupted behavior. 



