Myth and Science | Page 8

is only
the result of a reaction of the same intelligence on itself. Such a theory
does not in any way interrupt the natural evolution and genesis of the
animal kingdom, while the distinctive peculiarity of man is shown in an
act which, as I believe, clearly explains the new faculty of reason
acquired by him.
I must admit that in speaking of the psychical faculty as a force which
possesses laws peculiar to itself, it has appeared to a learned and
competent judge that I have conceded a real existence to this faculty,
independently of the physiological conditions through which it
manifests itself, which might be called a mythical personality in the
constitution of the world. If I had really made such an assertion, it
would be an error which I am perhaps more ready than others to
repudiate, as it will appear in the present work. I am far from blaming
the courteous critics who allege such objections to my theory, and
indeed I am honoured by their notice. I must blame myself for not
having, in my desire to be brief, sufficiently defined my conception.
I hold the psychical manifestation to be not only conditioned by the
organism, to speak scientifically, and to be rendered physiologically
possible by these conditions, but I consider it to be of the same nature
as the other so-called forces of the universe; such, for example, as the
manifestations of light, of electricity, of magnetism, and the like. When
physicists speak of these forces--if the necessities of language and the
brevity of the explanation constrain us to adopt the term forces, as
though they were real substances--they certainly do not believe, nor

wish others to believe, that they are really such. It is well known that
such expressions are used to signify the appearance under certain
circumstances of some special phenomena which group themselves by
their mode and power of manifestation into one generic conception as a
summary of the whole. They always take place, relatively to these
circumstances, in the same mode and with the same power, so that they
may at once be experimentally distinguished from others which have
been grouped together in like manner.
Such manifestations do not imply a real cosmic entity of these forces,
as if they were independent of the matter whence they issue; they are
simply determinate and determinate modes of motions, of actions, and
reactions in the elements of the world. For if magnetism appears to
reveal itself in determinate elements, its modes of manifestation are
peculiar to itself, and its efficacy with respect to other forces is also
peculiar; yet it by no means follows that it possesses a substantial entity,
or, as it were, displays personal activity among phenomena; it rather
indicates that the elements of the world will, under given circumstances,
act reciprocally in such a manner that we perceive phenomena which
group themselves together and which we call magnetic or magnetism.
And this explanation applies to other cases.
I therefore, speaking of psychical force in general, used the same terms;
I certainly did not wish to constitute it into a personal and material
entity of the universe, but I intended to assert that among the
manifestations of the various forces of the world, defined as above,
there is also this psychical force, characterized by phenomena and laws
peculiar to itself, and which, as I have shown, is when exercised one of
the greatest factors of the world. I repeat that if this force varies with
the greater or less perfection of the organisms in which, it is manifested,
yet it possesses a law and fundamental elements by which it is so
constituted that the same results will ensue in the simplest as in the
most complex form. This is the case with all the other forces of nature;
they may be modified by existing circumstances, and yet they have
laws and definite elements to distinguish them from all others. These
forces, however, while they are distinct in their peculiar manifestations,
and take effect through special qualities, quantities, and rhythmic

movements, are all fused together in the infinite and eternal unity
which constitutes the life of the universe. Neither here nor in my former
work is there any question of that most difficult problem, the individual
personality of man.[5]
Since there is between man and animals a relationship and a psychical
identity, as well as a genetic continuity of evolution, it is impossible to
deny that there is also in some degree a like continuity in the products
and acts of the consciousness, the emotions, and the intelligence. This
is asserted or admitted even by those who do not like to hear of the
genetic continuity of evolution, nor is there now any school of thought
which impugns such a truth. If this