Translation from Von Hartmann 127 



obscure because in the brain they must assume a form 

 perceptible by the senses, whereas the unconscious idea 

 can have nothing to do with any form of sensual impression : 

 it is for this reason that humours, dreams, and the halluci- 

 nations of sick persons can so easily have a false significa- 

 tion attached to them. The chances of error and self- 

 deception that arise from this source, the ease with which 

 people may be deceived intentionally, and the mischief 

 which, as a general rule, attends a knowledge of the future, 

 these considerations place beyond all doubt the prac- 

 tical unwisdom of attempts to arrive at certainty con- 

 cerning the future. This, however, cannot affect the 

 weight which in theory should be attached to phenomena 

 of this kind, and must not prevent us from recognising 

 the positive existence of the clairvoyance whose existence 

 I am maintaining, though it is often hidden under a chaos 

 of madness and imposture. 



The materialistic and rationalistic tendencies of the 

 present day lead most people either to deny facts of this 

 kind in toto, or to ignore them, inasmuch as they are in- 

 explicable from a materialistic standpoint, and cannot be 

 established by the inductive or experimental method — 

 as though this last were not equally impossible in the 

 case of morals, social science, and politics. A mind of 

 any candour will only be able to deny the truth of this 

 entire class of phenomena so long as it remains in ignor- 

 ance of the facts that have been related concerning them ; 

 but, again, a continuance in this ignorance can only arise 

 from unwillingness to be convinced. I am satisfied that 

 many of those who deny all human power of divination 

 would come to another, and, to say the least, more cautious 

 conclusion if they would be at the pains of further in- 

 vestigation ; and I hold that no one, even at the present 



lich und symbolisch, weil sie im Gehirn sinnliche Form annehmen 

 miissen, wahrend die unbewusste Vorstellimg an dei- Form der 

 Sinnlichkeit kein Theil haben kann." — Philosophy of the Uncon- 

 scious, 3d ed., p. 96. 



