STATEMENT OF LEIBNIZ S PHILOSOPHY 131 



ness or apparent absence of perception is then merely an 

 infinitely small degree of perception, and every mind 

 must possess at least virtual thought or consciousness, 

 a tendency to clear and distinct perception, even although 

 it may actually appear to be empty of all thought ] . The 

 mind is not like a block of veinless marble, from which 

 the sculptor may take what figure he pleases. It has 

 veins which give the outline of the statue that is to come 

 forth from it 2 . In other words, it is the nature of the 

 mind to 'look before and after.' Leibniz regards his 

 view as expressing the truth that underlies the Platonic 

 doctrine of reminiscence. The present perceptions of the 

 mind may be regarded as recollections of the past, inas- 

 much as they were already virtually contained in these 

 past perceptions and are developed from them are, 

 indeed, these past perceptions grown more distinct. And 

 again, the present perceptions of the mind are forecasts 

 or prophecies of the future, since all its future perceptions 

 are confusedly wrapped up in its present states. 



The Petites Perceptions. 



Thus in the Monadology 3 , Leibniz maintains the 

 existence of unconscious perceptions, on the ground 

 that perception can only proceed from perception, and 

 accordingly that in the passage from the unconsciousness 

 of a swoon or a deep sleep to full waking consciousness 

 there must be an infinite series of perceptions gradually 

 rising in degree from infinitely little perceptions, which 

 are apparently indistinguishable from absence of percep- 

 tion, upwards to the fuller perceptions of actual waking 

 life. These little perceptions (petites perceptions, confused 

 perceptions, or, as we might now call them, sub-conscious 

 thoughts or mental activities) express the continuity of 



1 Cf. Locke, Essay, Eraser's ed., vol. i. p. 80 note. 



2 New Essays, Introduction, p. 367. Cf. Locke, Essay, Eraser's ed., 

 vol. i. p. 48 note, and p. 60 note. 



3 21 and 23. 



K 2 



