xv CONCEPTUAL THOUGHT 361 



degree of complexity. The characteristic of this stage, in 

 short, is the correlation of experiences in groups or masses 

 by the elements of permanence and universality pervading 

 them. The Universal is not the only form in which ex- 

 periences are grouped. The great Collective and Individual 

 concepts on which much of human thought is based are 

 arrived at on similar principles, and in great measure have 

 similar functions. They rest on pervading identities traced 

 by the comparison and analysis of diverse experiences, and 

 their reference covers indefinitely great masses of experience, 

 future and potential, as well as past or present. Of such a 

 kind are the substances of ordinary thought, the personality 

 of self and of others, the society to which the individual 

 belongs, to say nothing of the wider and deeper concepts 

 belonging to the higher stages of human intelligence. A 

 very little reflection shows that conceptions of this kind are 

 no less important than true universals in the correlation of 

 experience by human thought. 



(e) It is in particular in virtue of the co-ordination of a 

 certain set of experiences under the conception of self, 

 that man is credited with self consciousness. In the deter- 

 mination of conduct by comprehensive ends or broad 

 principles answering to the permanent character of the self 

 as against the cravings of the moment he manifests Will 

 as opposed to Desire. 



(/) But with the conception of Will we pass at once 

 into the ethical side of the development. The same co- 

 ordination which builds up the conception of self, builds 

 up the conception of other personalities, and the sym- 

 pathetic impulse of the animal world develops into a 

 rational regard for the wealth and welfare of others. A 

 similar development builds up the human society, with its 

 system of rights and duties in which each individual finds 

 his place. In such a system, again by a parallel develop- 

 ment, the social and selfish impulses of the animal are 

 elaborated into rules of conduct resting on the relatively 

 permanent character of human beings and their societies, 

 and recognised as superior to momentary impulse and 

 even to the individual will. In other words, conduct is 

 standardised. 



