THE COMPOSITION OF MIND 



sence of certain states of consciousness^ accom- 

 panied by the classification of these states and 

 of the relations between them according to 

 their various likenesses and unlikenesses ; the 

 differences between the processes being differ- 

 ences in heterogeneity, definiteness, indirectness, 

 and extent of integration or compounding. 



Let us next observe that, as between the 

 highest and lowest kinds of reasoning there is a 

 great difference in the extent to which the com- 

 parison of relations is carried, so between the 

 highest and lowest kinds of perception there is 

 a similar difference. 



There is a striking contrast in degree of di- 

 rectness " between the perception that some 

 surface touched by the finger is hard, and the 

 perception that a building at which we are look- 

 ing is a cathedral. The one piece of knowledge 

 is almost immediate. The other is mediate in 

 a double, a triple, a quadruple, and even in a 

 still higher degree. It is mediate inasmuch as 

 the solidity of that which causes the visual im- 

 pression is inferential ; mediate inasmuch as its 

 position, its size, its shape, are inferential ; me- 

 diate inasmuch as its material, its hollowness, 

 are inferential ; mediate inasmuch as its ecclesi- 

 astical purpose is an inference from these infer- 

 ences ; and mediate inasmuch as the identifica- 

 tion of it as a particular cathedral is a still more 

 remote inference resulting from the union of 



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