OH. xif.] LIFE AND MIND. 7B 



petence; the latter is a question of general interest. "We 

 may note at the outset that many contemporary posi- 

 tivists differ from Comte on this point. It is generally 

 agreed that a science may be founded, even if it has not 

 already been founded, upon the observation and comparison 

 of states of consciousness ; though there is some disagree- 

 ment as to the position of that science with reference to tho 

 other sciences. Mr. Lewes, for instance, misled by his general 

 adherence to the Comtean classification of the sciences, re- 

 gards psychology as a subdivision of biology, on the ground 

 that the phenomena of consciousness are merely a special 

 division of the phenomena of life. This is, in one sense, true ; 

 so true, indeed, as to be fatal to the conclusion which it is 

 meant to support. For it may be said, with equal truth, that 

 the phenomena of life are but a subdivision of the pheno- 

 mena presented by the surface of our contracting and cooling 

 planet ; so that it might equally well be argued that biology 

 is only a subdivision of geology. And again it may be said 

 that geologic phenomena are only a subdivision of the general 

 phenomena presented by the condensation of a nebula ; so 

 that geology is only a branch of astronomy. Yet it could 

 hardly be said that psychology is a mere branch of astro- 

 nomy ; so that here we seem to have reached a redudio 

 ad absurdum. 



But by travelling back over the course, we shall get out 

 of the difficulty, and not only see why psychology has as 

 good a right as any other branch of inquiry to be ranked as 

 an independent science, but also see why it must needs be 

 partly founded upon an observation and comparison of states 

 of consciousness. Let us then, having reached the primeval 

 nebula, begin our journey backwards. 



Our position is explained by the consideration that all the 

 synthetic concrete sciences are but adjacent tracts of one 

 general science, — Cosmology. "Practically, however, they 

 are distinguishable as successively more specialized parts of 



