CHAPTER XV 



THE PRODUCTS OF CONCEPTUAL THOUGHT 



i. The Self. 



The universal is not the only form in which experiences 

 can be massed. Its function in this respect is fulfilled, 

 and fulfilled more definitely, by the Collective Concept 

 which unites many individuals into a whole, and less 

 obviously, but no less certainly, by the Individual concept, 

 as distinguished from the Particular. The Individual 

 person and even the Individual thing is an object not 

 confined to a single experience, but common to many, and 

 probably not even exhibiting its whole character until a 

 long series of experiences is accomplished. To have a 

 conception of one's own Self, one must be aware of a 

 certain identity running through the mass of past 

 experiences, and inferentially prolonged into the future. 

 The genesis of such a conception seems therefore to 

 depend on the capacity for organising experiences in the 

 mass on the basis of their relations and affinities, the 

 particular relation which is the basis of this conception 

 being that of permanence or persistent identity. And the 

 case of the Self is typical. Generally, the Individual and 

 the Collective Concept resemble the true Universal in 

 detachment from any single sense experience, and in that 

 they group together a mass of experiences on the basis of 

 a common element pervading them all. This element, 

 which in the true universal is a common quality or 

 character, is in the individual or collective concept rather 

 some kind of persistent identity, or causal interconnection. 



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