CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE WILL 75 



consciousness, it is fair to say that other newly 

 born animals have consciousness of this kind 

 that is to say, we must admit kittens, puppies, 

 tadpoles, and the larvae of insects to psychic associa- 

 tion with man. Indeed, we cannot stop here. Not 

 only do the lowliest animals, such as protozoa, react 

 to stimuli, but plants and segments of plants do the 

 same, and we shall not be able to deny consciousness 

 to them. But even here we cannot logically stop, for 

 we shall find ourselves recognizing as a kind of con- 

 sciousness, or possible consciousness, the reactivity 

 of lifeless organic compounds, and in succession, 

 their inorganic constituents, the atoms themselves, 

 and even the labile electrons of which these atoms 

 appear to be composed. This is perhaps the sound 

 course from the standpoint of philosophy, but it 

 presents glaring practical difficulties. If, then, we 

 limit the term " consciousness" to mean some higher 

 expression of this biological function in the interest 

 of rational discussion, why not draw the barrier at 

 emergence of so prime a quality as the awareness 

 of self? If we cannot feel sure that it is possible 

 safely to weigh this quality of awareness in different 

 animals or in some human mental states, we may at 

 least guess it with sufficient accuracy to permit a 

 rough classification. And this we may do without 

 growing blind to the fact that from man's conscious- 

 ness of his own personality to the reactivity of the 

 humblest masses of protoplasm, there appears to be 

 every gradation in the biological reactivity that 



