AND ITS SELF-CONSERVATION. 31 



form by the psychologist, who points out the fact 

 that the only " objects" which we can ever know are 

 in reality our own perceptions of what seems to us to 

 be objects lying beyond and independent of us and of 

 our perceptions. 



The complementary relation between thought and 

 things thus indicated, is made still more evident if we fol- 

 low out the clue and consider 



i. THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF IDEALISM. 



The first aspect of idealism is that in which the ideal- 

 ist presents himself in his subjective, most elementary 

 stage of development. In this stage he puts his own 

 interpretation upon the fact to which the psychologist 

 has drawn attention. "Yes," he declares, "the only 

 ' things ' I can ever know are, indeed, just my own states 

 of consciousness. That is the only real world for me, 

 and hence for me the only true world. What I really 

 think, that is true for me and the only truth. Allowing 

 the existence of an ' objective' world, I can never know any- 

 thing of its real nature and can not even find any valid 

 proof of its existence. So, also, allowing the existence 

 of other minds, their convictions, however valid for them, 

 can have no significance for me, to whom there can be no 

 truth apart from my own mental states." 



Such is the standpoint of what may be called sub- 

 jective idealism, pure and simple ; or, as it has commonly 

 been known since the time of the later Greek thinkers, 

 it is the standpoint of sophistry. It has appeared again 

 and again with more or less elaborateness and subtlety of 

 form and presenting a greater or less degree of substan- 

 tial truth. 



