MATTER AND "MIND-STUFF" 341 



hold, on the other hand, that the separate self- 

 conscious units are merely particular modes of 

 thought in the Divine mind and that this self- 

 consciousness is different from that of its con- 

 stituents.^ But the reader had better consult Dr. 

 McTaggart himself upon this point {Studies in 

 Hegelian Cosmology, by J. Ellis McTaggart). 



The questions thus raised as to the possibility 

 of one self being within another, or of one mind 

 being within another mind, is no doubt a difficult 

 one. Yet what do we mean by " within " ? The 

 idea of space must not delude us. Two material 

 bodies cannot occupy the same space ; although 

 two atoms might occupy the same space (see Clerk 

 Maxwell, Collected Worhs, " Atom ") just as two 

 wave disturbances can pass through the same space 

 without affecting each other. 



Space, however, must not enter into the question, 

 for the possibility of selves within selves does not 

 really involve the idea of selves in space. There does 

 not appear to be any reason why if the universe or 

 totality of things be self-conscious the constituent 

 units, which are also self-conscious like ourselves, 

 should be regarded as " within " and not merely as 

 related to or influenced by it. 



Dr. McTaggart, however, regards the totality of 



1 This view, though it appears to us to be the most consistent, 

 is not, strictly speaking, Berkeley's view nor Lotze's ; the latter 

 did hold that we are parts of the Absolute, but he would not 

 have reduced us and the whole Universe as we have done to a 

 system of ideas in the Divine mind. 



