120 INTRODUCTION 



theory is inconsistent both with the Eoman Catholic and 

 with the Lutheran doctrine regarding the Keal Presence 

 in the Eucharist. 



D. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 



By means of the different degrees of clearness and 

 distinctness in the perceptions of their respective souls or 

 dominant Monads, the organic compound substances of 

 which the world is composed may be divided into three 

 main classes, (i) mere living beings, (2) animals, and 

 (3) men. Substances of the first class, including plants 

 and all lower forms of existence, have as their soul a bare 

 Monad, having mere perception or representation, un- 

 accompanied by consciousness. Animals, on the other 

 hand, have a higher degree of perception, which appears 

 as consciousness or feeling (sentiment], including memory. 

 The soul of man possesses the characteristics of both of 

 the lower classes, but its perception has a still higher 

 degree of clearness, appearing now as self-consciousness or 

 apperception. The self-conscious soul or spirit does not 

 merely connect its particular perceptions in the empirical 

 sequence of memory ; but, having a knowledge of eternal 

 and necessary truths, it can represent things in logical 

 order, that is to say, in their necessary rational relations. 

 This is what is meant by its having reason, or being 

 a rational soul. The possession of reason means the 

 power of reflexion or self-consciousness, because necessary 

 and eternal truths are simply perceptions developed to 

 the highest degree of distinctness, and consequently the 

 knowledge of such truths is a clear and distinct conscious- 

 ness of what is in ourselves (of the perceptions which 

 constitute our nature), and hence indirectly a clear and 

 distinct knowledge of substance in general 1 . 



1 Monadologij, 18-30 ; Principles of Nature and of Grace, 4 and 5. 

 Of course it is not to be supposed that the scale of organic being 

 ends with man. There must be between man and God a continuous 

 succession of other embodied souls, each more perfect than the one 

 beneath it. Otherwise the law of continuity would be broken. 



