82 



HABIT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



[CII. XXXIII. 



NOTE. 



There are 

 uncon- 

 scious 

 seusatiou 

 and 

 thought. 



I believe 

 there is no 

 uncon- 

 scious 

 feeling. 



In the past chapter, wherever I have spoken of emotions — that 

 is to say, feelings of consciousness (or, to use Herbert Spencer's 

 expression, feelings which are independently generated in con- 

 sciousness, as distinguished from mere sensations) ; — where I 

 have spoken of emotions, I say, I have always implied that the 

 emotion itself and the consciousness of the emotion are one and 

 the same thing. I have, nevertheless, insisted that the con- 

 sciousness of a sensation is a distinct thing from the sensation 

 itself, and that the consciousness of a thought is a distinct thing 

 from the thought itself. I refer to this, as it may probably be 

 thought that I have fallen into an inconsistency out of mere 

 inadvertence. I beUeve, however, — though I hold the opinion 

 subject to reconsideration, — that I am right : I believe that 

 sensation and thought may, and do, exist without any conscious- 

 ness of them, but that there can be no emotion, or mental 

 feeling, without the consciousness of it. It may be urged that, 

 as a matter of experience, there are unconscious emotions as well 

 as unconscious sensations and unconscious thoughts. It is a 

 common remark to make of those we have loved and lost, that 

 we did not know the strength of our own affection till its object 

 Avas gone. I think, however, that in such cases what we were 

 formerly unconscious of was not any feelings which we had at 

 the time, but the feelings which we should have under changed 

 circumstances ; and though I believe we cannot be unconscious 

 of actual feelings, there is no doubt we may be unconscious 

 of possible feelings, which may under changed circumstances 

 become actual. 



