GOD, AND CONNECTED PROBLEMS, IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION
REMARKS BY PROFESSOR LE CONTE
I can only admire, not criticise, the subtle method
of Professor Royce in reaching the conclusion of the
Personal Existence of God. I have my own way of
reaching the same conclusion, but in comparison it is
a rough and ready way. His is from the point of
view of the philosopher; mine, from that of the
scientist. I am not saying that his is not the best and
most satisfactory, but only that it is a different way.
He has given you his; I now give you, very briefly,
mine — as I have been accustomed to give it.
Suppose, then, I could remove the brain-cap of one of you, and expose the brain in active work, — as it doubtless is at this moment. Suppose, further, that my senses were absolutely perfect, so that I could see everything that was going on there. What should I see? Only decompositions and recompositions, molecular agitations and vibrations; in a word, physical phenomena, and nothing else. There is absolutely nothing else there to see. But you, the subject of this experiment, what do you perceive? You see nothing of all this; you perceive an entirely different set of phenomena, viz., consciousness, — thought, emotion, will; psychical phenomena; in a word, a self,
