Translation from Von Hartmann 133 



it is not a consequence of bodily organisation ; it is not 

 a mere result of a mechanism which lies in the organisa- 

 tion of the brain ; it is not the operation of dead me- 

 chanism, glued on, as it were, to the soul, and foreign to 

 its inmost essence ; but it is the spontaneous action of 

 the individual, springing from his most essential nature 

 and character. The purpose to which any particular kind 

 of instinctive action is subservient is not the purpose of a 

 soul standing outside the individual and near akin to 

 Providence — a purpose once for all thought out, and now 

 become a matter of necessity to the individual, so that he 

 can act in no other way, though it is engrafted into his 

 nature from without, and not natural to it. The purpose 

 of the instinct is in each individual case thought out and 

 willed unconsciously by the individual, and afterwards 

 the choice of means adapted to each particular case is 

 arrived at unconsciously. A knowledge of the purpose is 

 often absolutely unattainable^ by conscious knowledge 

 through sensual perception. Then does the peculiarity 

 of the unconscious display itself in the clairvoyance of 

 which consciousness perceives partly only a faint and dull, 

 and partly, as in the case of man, a more or less definite 

 echo by way of sentiment, whereas the instinctive action 

 itself — the carrying out of the means necessary for the 

 achievement of the unconscious purpose — falls always 

 more clearly within consciousness, inasmuch as due per- 

 formance of what is necessary would be otherwise im- 

 possible. Finally, the clairvoyance makes itself perceived 

 in the concerted action of several individuals combining 

 to carry out a common but unconscious purpose. 



Up to this point we have encountered clairvoyance as a 



^ " Haufig ist die Kenntniss des Zwecks der bewussten Er- 

 kenntniss durch sinnliche Wahrnehmung gar nicht zuganglich ; 

 dann documentirt sich die Eigenthiimlichkeit des Unbeivusstea 

 im Hellsehen, von welchem das Bewusstsein theils nur eine ver- 

 schwindend dumpfe, theils auch namentlich beim Menschen mehr 

 Oder minder deutliche Resonanz als Ahnung verspurt." — Philosophy 

 of the Unconscious, 3d ed., p. 100. 



