﻿CONSCIOUSNESS AND PAIN 



ganism, we shall only have to make sure 

 that the organism knows that it is suffering 

 the pain, and the basis of the argument will 

 have been established. It must be remember- 

 ed, however, that a sensation which would be 

 called pain, if of sufficient intensity, when 

 very slight might be called simply discom- 

 fort. 



This leads us to a consideration of what is 

 to be understood by consciousness. It is in- 

 advisable to attempt an extended exposition 

 of this much treated and intricate question, 

 both for want of space and because meta- 

 physical subjects are proverbially tedious. It 

 seems to me sufficient in order to make my 

 position intelligible, to say that when the 

 organism is aware of a feeling of pleasure or 

 pain, or of any other sensation, knowing that 

 the same is located within its own organs, it 

 is possessed of consciousness. This is what is 

 usually known as simple sense-perception, the 

 simplest type of consciousness. In the higher 

 and more complex forms, memory plays a 

 constantly increasing part; and judgment, 

 the formation of concepts, and all the intrica- 

 cies of mental activity finally enter into the 

 problem. 



It is usual to begin with man, and say with 

 Noah Porter that consciousness is "the 

 power by which the soul knows its own acts 



