THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



conditions are so obviously a possible factor in deter- 

 mining the temperament of these races one of which 

 inhabit the tropics, the other the arctic regions that 

 sweeping conclusions must not be drawn from the 

 otherwise suggestive facts. 



II 



BRAIN AND MIND 



[Amplifying the text of Part II: Mental Aspects of the 

 Problem of Happiness, pp. 81-132.] 



Cogito, ergo sum I think, therefore I am. Such is 

 the classical phrase in which the great Frenchman 

 Descartes summed up the essence of his philosophy. 

 At first glance perhaps the full logic of this proposition 

 is not apparent; but the more you cogitate the phrase 

 the more profound it will seem. "I think, therefore 

 I am" when you reflect on it fully you will see that 

 you have no other means of demonstrating your exist- 

 ence. Could we not think, quite obviously we could not 

 know of our own existence, or of any other existence. 

 We should be as non-sentient as sticks or stones. 



"None the less we might still exist, just as the sticks 

 and stones exist," you may say. True enough, but you 

 could not prove that you existed, which of course is 

 the sense in which Descartes' phrase must be received. 



Quite in keeping with the egoistic character of this 

 postulate of Descartes, is the truth which at first 

 thought seems a little startling, but which is seen on 

 reflection to be almost axiomatic that each of us can 



[284] 



