COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



We can know a relation only as some modifica- 

 tion of consciousness resulting from some com- 

 bination of the feelings directly aroused in us by 

 inner or outer agencies ; and such modification 

 of consciousness must be itself a kind of feeling. 

 For further illustration let us briefly mention 

 the different relations in the order of their de- 

 creasing complexity, that we may note the fun- 

 damental relation involved in them all. The 

 most complex relations are those of similarity 

 and dissimilarity, as exemplified when we recog- 

 nize the kinship between a thoroughbred race- 

 horse and a Shetland pony, or the complicated 

 divergences between a city and a village. Sim- 

 pler relations are those of cointension and non- 

 cointension, as when we perceive that two sounds 

 are equal in degree of loudness, or that in grasp- 

 ing wood and in grasping marble the feelings 

 of temperature are different in degree ; of coex- 

 tension and non - coextension, as when two lines 

 or two areas are seen to be equal or unequal ; 

 of coexistence and non-coexistence, as when the 

 yellow - reddish light reflected by an orange 

 is regarded as accompanied by sweetness and 

 juiciness, but not by viscidity; o{ connature and 

 non-connature, as when greater warmth is men- 

 tally assimilated to less warmth, but distin- 

 guished from blueness or roughness. Now, 

 underlying all these relations, and all mental 

 processes whatever, is the relation of likeness 

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