happenings in time, in which it plays no part. It is,
in a word, but the logical correlative of 'content' in an Experience of
which the peculiarity is that _fact comes to light_ in it, that
_awareness of content_ takes place. Consciousness as such is entirely
impersonal--'self' and its activities belong to the content. To say that
I am self-conscious, or conscious of putting forth volition, means only
that certain contents, for which 'self' and 'effort of will' are the
names, are not without witness as they occur.

Thus, for these belated drinkers at the Kantian spring, we should have
to admit consciousness as an 'epistemological' necessity, even if we had
no direct evidence of its being there.

But in addition to this, we are supposed by almost every one to have an
immediate consciousness of consciousness itself. When the world of outer
fact ceases to be materially present, and we merely recall it in memory,
or fancy it, the consciousness is believed to stand out and to be felt
as a kind of impalpable inner flowing, which, once known in this sort of
experience, may equally be detected in presentations of the outer world.
"The moment we try to fix our attention upon consciousness and to see
_what_, distinctly, it is," says a recent writer, "it seems to vanish.
It seems as if we had before us a mere emptiness. When we try to
introspect the sensation of blue, all we can see is the blue; the other
element is as if it were diaphanous. Yet it _can_ be distinguished, if
we look attentively enough, and know that there is something to look
for."[6] "Consciousness" (Bewusstheit), says another philosopher, "is
inexplicable and hardly describable, yet all conscious experiences have
this in common that what we call their content has this peculiar
reference to a centre for which 'self' is the name, in virtue of which
reference alone the content is subjectively given, or appears ... While
in this way consciousness, or reference to a self, is the only thing
which distinguishes a conscious content from any sort of being that
might be there with no one conscious of it, yet this only ground of the
distinction defies all closer explanations. The existence of
consciousness, although it is the fundamental fact of psychology, can
indeed be laid down as certain, can be brought out by analysis, but can
neither be defined nor deduced from anything but itself."[7]

'Can be brought out by analysis,' this author says. This supposes that
the con