All I could say
would be, "I see no signs of it." My readers occasionally give a
response and show that they do or do not agree with what I say. But
the volume itself lies in stolid passivity, offering no resistance to
whatever I record in it. Since, then, there is no evidence in behalf
of consciousness, I do not unwarrantably assume its presence. I save
my belief for objects where it is indicated, and indicate its absence
elsewhere by calling such objects unconscious.
But if in human beings consciousness appears, what are its marks, and
how is it known? Ought we not to define it at starting? I believe it
cannot be defined. Definition is taking an idea to pieces. But there
are no pieces in the idea of consciousness. It is elementary,
something in which all other pieces begin. That is, in attempting to
define consciousness, I must in every definition employed really
assume that my hearer is acquainted with it already. I cannot then
define it without covert reference to experience. I might vary the
term and call it awaredness, internal observation, psychic response. I
might say it is that which accompanies all experience and makes it to
be experience. But these are not definitions. A simple way to fix
attention on it is to say that it is what we feel less and less as we
sink into a swoon.
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