244 CONSCIOUSNESS AND EXPERIENCE 



That philosophy, whose range is comprehensive, 

 whose problems are catholic, should be held down 

 by a discipline whose voice is as partial as its 

 material is limited, is out of the range of intelli 

 gent discussion. 



But there is another possibility. If the indi 

 vidual of whom psychology treats be, after all, a 

 social individual, any absolute setting off and 

 apart of a sphere of consciousness as, even for sci 

 entific purposes, self-sufficient, is condemned in ad 

 vance. All such limitation, and all inquiries, 

 descriptions, explanations that go with it, are only 

 preliminary. &quot; Consciousness &quot; is but a symbol, 

 an anatomy whose life is in natural and social 

 operations. To know the symbol, the psychical 

 letter, is important ; but its necessity lies not within 

 itself, but in the need of a language for reading 

 the things signified. If this view be correct, we 

 cannot be so sure that psychology is without large 

 philosophic significance. Whatever meaning the 

 individual has for the social life that he both in 

 corporates and animates, that meaning has psy 

 chology for philosophy. 



This problem is too important and too large to 

 suffer attack in an evening s address. Yet I ven 

 ture to consider a portion of it, hoping that such 

 things as appear will be useful clues in enter 

 ing wider territory. We may ask what is the effect 

 upon psychology of considering its material as 



