THE DATA OF PHILOSOPHY. 145 



arranging the smaller classes of like experiences within the 

 larger, and these within the still larger; then, the proposi- 

 tion by which knowledge is unified, must be one specifying 

 the antithesis between two ultimate classes of experiences, in 

 which all others merge. 



Let us now consider what these classes are. In drawing 

 the distinction between them, we cannot avoid using words 

 that have indirect implications wider than their direct mean- 

 ings — we cannot avoid arousing thoughts that imply the 

 very distinction which it is the object of the analysis to 

 establish. Keeping this fact in mind, we can do no more 

 than ignore the connotations of the words, and attend only 

 to the things they avowedly denote. 



§ 43. Setting out from the conclusion lately reached, 

 that all things known to us are manifestations of the Un- 

 knowable; and suppressing, so far as we may, every hypo- 

 thesis respecting the something which underlies one or other 

 order of these manifestations; we find that the manifesta- 

 tions, considered simply as such, are divisible into two great 

 classes, called by some impressions and ideas. The implica- 

 tions of these words are apt to vitiate the reasonings of those 

 who use the words; and though it may be possible to use 

 them only with reference to the differential characteristics 

 they are meant to indicate, it is best to avoid the risk of 

 making unacknowledged assumptions. The term sensation, 

 too, commonly used as the equivalent of impression, implies 

 certain psychological theories — tacitly, if not openly, postu- 

 lates a sensitive organism and something acting upon it; 

 and can scarcely be employed without bringing these postu- 

 lates into the thoughts and embodying them in the in- 

 ferences. Similarly, the phrase state of consciousness, as 

 signifying either an impression or an idea, is objectionable. 

 As we cannot think of a state without thinking of something 

 of which it is a state, and which is capable of different 

 states, there is involved a foregone conclusion — an unde- 



