CHAPTER II 

 THE EVIDENCE OF MIND 



6. Inferring Mind from Behavior 



IN the last chapter we saw that some recent writers uj 

 animal behavior and its interpretation, while refusing to ad- 

 mit the presence of consciousness in all forms of animal life, 

 yet hold that it can be proved to exist in certain forms. The 

 latter, it is maintained, display certain peculiarities of be- 

 havior that may be regarded as proofs of a psychic accompani- 

 ment. Into the nature of these proofs we may now inquire. 



To begin with, can it be said that when an animal makes a 

 movement in response to a certain stimulus, there is an accom- 

 panying consciousness of the stimulus, and that when it fails ^ 

 to move, there is no consciousness? Is response to stimu- 

 lation evidence of consciousness ? In the case of man, we / 

 know that absence of visible response does not prove that the 

 stimulus has not been sensed ; while it is probable that some 

 effect upon motor channels always occurs when consciousness 

 .accompanies stimulation, the effect may not be apparent to 

 an outside observer. On the other hand, if movement in 

 response to the impact of a physical force is evidence of con- 

 sciousness, then the ball which falls under the influence of 

 gravity and rebounds on striking the floor is conscious. Nor 

 is the case improved if we point out that the movements which 

 animals make in response to stimulation are not the equiva- 

 lent in energy of the stimulus applied, but involve the setting 

 free of energy stored in the animal as well. True, when a 

 microscopic animal meets an obstacle in its swimming, and 



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