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C. L. Herrick 
universe; but this is not how we come by realities. No skepti- 
cism ever makes a ^^reak^ any less real, nor does philosophical 
investigation make it more real. Nor is this statement to be 
dismissed as a psychological generalization out of place in meta- 
physics. Reality we have defined as affirmation of attribute. 
It implies the union of objective and subjective. The philosoph- 
ical concept of Pure Being we can think of apart from a subject; 
but reality is a realizing, it is dynamic. We may think of the 
abstraction shining’^ apart from the light that shines, but the 
light is the shining. 
In this process (of realizing) a limitation of the pure spon- 
taneity of being is implied and this produces individuality. 
What produces the individuality of the subject no one can say — 
the eye may not view itself — but certain it is that, the subject 
being what it is, the world can and must present itself only as a 
succession of individuals. Dr. Royce finds it impossible for 
the most gifted lover to explain why the object of his affection 
is unique among women; for he is able to express the height of 
her individual perfections, which makes her all the world to 
him, in no other terms than those which all other lovers use. But 
Touchstone had no such difficult}^ with his Audrey, when he 
introduced her as ^^an ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own. 
In a moment of candor the supposed lover might admit that some 
other maid might have all the charms of his Helen (he is frequently 
forced to hear that ^Hhere are fish as good in the sea as have ever 
been caught”) but he is undisturbed, she is ^ffiis own.” In 
other words, the essence of individuality lies in relation to the 
subject. The lover finds the uniqueness of his inamorata in the 
relation she sustains to him. We distinguish objects as individual 
because of relations between such objects and ourselves. There 
may be a thousand peas exactly alike, but this particular pea is 
in my shoe, and is a very particular and individual pea. Any 
other pea might be there; but, by virtue of its immediate assail- 
ment of consciousness, this pea is individualized, I realize its 
presence. No amount of philosophical speculation as to the lack 
of individualizing properties will prove convincing so long as the 
relation of this pea to my ^ immediate experience” remains what 
it is. The discovery of some particular fleck of color upon one 
out of a thousand leaves would not, as Dr. Royce shows, make 
of it an individual; for at an}^ moment we might find its duplicate. 
