CHARACTERISTICS OF REALITY. 8 1 



It Is Into the evidence for this suggestion that we 

 must now enter. 



§ 15. The Real In perception, so far as the 

 Inadequacy of our language allows us to describe It, 

 Is always unique and individttal. It Is substantial 

 and szibstantival, i.e. It Is not dependent on other 

 things for Its existence, not itself an attribute, but a 

 sttbjcct, to w^hich qualities are attributed. It exists 

 in Time and Space, In which It continuously becomes. 

 It is presented with an infinite wealth of sensuous 

 detail, and interacts with the other real things In 

 continual change. 



Our thought, on the other hand, does not exist 

 either In Space or In Time. We should not come 

 across the happy hunting grounds of the equilateral 

 triangle, even on a voyage to the moon or one of 

 the minor planets, neither did truth co7ne into exist- 

 ence at the time when we made Its discovery. The 

 truth that 2x2 = 4 cannot be said to date from the 

 time when men first became conscious of it, or to be 

 localized in the heads of those who are aware of It. 

 We feel that the word 'exist* is quite Inadequate to 

 describe the peculiarities of Its nature, for, like all 

 the truths of our thought, it Is not, and cannot be, a 

 fact which can fall under the observation of our 

 senses. We may try to express It by saying that 

 thought holds good eternally or timelessly in the 

 intelligible sphere {^^v tottw voriTU)^ but even so It will 

 be doubtful whether we shall avoid misconception. 

 For the temptation to confuse the real existence of 

 thought as a psychological fact inside human heads, 

 with Its logical validity, which is eternal, and '* un- 

 become," unchanging and unlocalized, is too great 

 for most philosophy. And further, all thought is 

 abstract, i.e. It expresses only a selected extract, 



R. of S. r 



