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126 25 The Law of Mind [Early Try] early May 1892 Houghton Library In two preceding articles, 1 I have considered the ideas which ought to form the chief materials of cosmology, and in particular have argued against unlimited necessitarianism. I propose next to show, by the study of the soul, that, if my previous conclusions are accepted, we shall be naturally led to the belief that the universe is governed by a father, with whom we can be in real relations of communion, and who may be expected to listen to prayer, and answer it. In short, necessitarianism once out of the way, which puts nature under the rule of blind and inexorable law, that leaves no room for any other influence, we find no other serious objection to a return to the principle of Christianity. As this result, if confirmed, will be a matter of glad concern to every man, no doubt the reader will consent to do a little hard thinking to reach it. The first step in this study must be to state in general terms how the mind acts. Now, the application of logical analysis to psychological law leads me to the conclusion that there is but one law of mind, namely that ideas tend to spread and to affect certain others which stand to them in a peculiar relation which I will name “continuous affectibility.” In this spreading, they lose intensity as feelings, but gain generality. I set down this formula in the beginning, for convenience of reference, although it will not be fully intelligible without the explanations which I now proceed to make. No completely satisfactory formulation of the law of mind has ever been made, as far as I know. Nor can I pretend to be able to make such a statement myself. But I think that many of the essential features of that law can easily be brought into more distinct relief than has been done hitherto. 1. “The Architecture of Theories,” Monist, Jan. 1891, and “The Doctrine of Necessity Examined ,” Monist, April 1892. 25. Law of Mind. Early Try, 1892 127 I say the law of mind because, though I will not venture to say precisely what it is, I think before I leave the subject I shall have shown reason to think that all the regularity in the action of the mind is of one general character. There are certain mental phenomena which cannot be subject to any mental law. For instance, a color-blind person may ask himself by virtue of what mental law it is that he is wanting in the sense of redness. And just so, normal people may ask why they have just the range of feelings they have, and no others. Plainly, the only conceivable answer to such questions would consist in setting forth the evolutionary history of the mind, showing that certain feelings, perhaps, intermediate between smell-taste and sound-touch have become atrophied, or something of the sort. But in such explanation there would always be an element of diversification which would represent the sporting of absolute lawlessness. But where there is any definite uniformity in the action of mind, the formula of this uniformity seems to me to be of one uniform kind. Namely, the uniform formula of mental uniformity is that ideas tend towards uniformity. Take, for example, the most comprehensible of all varieties of mental uniformity, the law of association by contiguity. This particular diversification of uniformity consists in this, that ideas that have been together in the past tend to hold together thereafter, so that if one is called up the other is apt to be called up, too. That is, there is a tendency for future collocations of ideas to resemble past ones. But why limit this to complex ideas? There is a tendency for future ideas to resemble past ones. That is the law of association by similarity. So association by contiguity appears as a mere case of association by similarity . But what does it mean to say that two ideas, one past, the other future, resemble one another? One is done before the other begins. They are not in consciousness together, and consequently cannot be compared. Their similarity can only consist in an occult compulsion from within the secrets of my soul to connect them. So the law of association by similarity is that there is a tendency to pass from one idea to another connected with it by an...

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