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PARALUS


475


PARANi


The second line of argument advanced in favour of Parallelism is as follows: The principle of the con- servation of energy supposes, we are told, that the universe is a closed mechanical system in which events, whether past or future, are calculable with the utmost precision, given the knowledge of any one stage in the development of that universe and the laws according to which that development takes place. Such a system will brook no interference whatsoever from without. Hence interaction be- tween mind and matter is impossible, and parallelism is the only other alternative.

This conclusion is quite illegitimate. Energy, as understood in the law which states that its sum is in- variable, is strictly a non-directed quantity. Hence, even though this law is applicable to the lower phe- nomena of animal life, as the experiments of Atwater and Hubner show, it by no means disproves the in- fluence of consciousness and will, for mind could still direct material energy and the law remain intact. This is admitted by Fechner, Mach, Boltzmann, Hofler, and von Hartmann, the latter being a deter- minist. (Cf. Energy, The Law op the Conserva- tion OF.)

Moreover, were the absolute independence of the physical world indeed a fact, the existence of con- sciousness would become an insoluble mystery, and the existence of a parallelism between it and the physi- cal world a manifest contradiction. If there be no in- teraction between mind and matter, consciousness ceases to be an instrument whereby we modify our physical environment to suit our needs. Purposive striving, deliberation, choice, volition, are thus ren- dered wholly unnecessary and irrelevant, and the be- lief that we can really do something to change things in the outside world and so promote both our com- fort and that of our neighbour is a hopeless delusion. The practical utility of physical science also becomes illusory, for our bodies, which alone can give it effect, are declared to be merely automata with the working of which consciousness has nothing to do. Parallel- ism is useless here, if interaction be abolished; nay, more, is incompatible with that very independence on account of which its existence is affirmed. Ab- solute independence and universal concomitance are contradictory. If there is concomitance, directly or in- directly, as Mill said, there must be causal connexion.

That such a causal connexion between mind and matter really exists the consciousness of activity, purpose, will, and responsibility, directly testifies; and in the face of this testimony to hark back to the Cartesian doctrine of radical opposition between body and soul, extension and thought, is futile and con- trary to experience.

Variations and developments of parallelism may in general be classed under two heads; conscious auto- matism — the theory of Huxley that the human body is a mere machine of which consciousness is the "col- lateral product", a shadow or epiphenomenon which symbolically indicates, though it in no wise influences, the mechanical processes which underlie it; and the "Dual-aspect Theory" which maintains that psychi- cal and physical phenomena between which there is a point-for-point correspondence all along the line, are but different aspects or expressions of the same com- mon substance. Huxley's view emphasizes the material at the expense of mental, curiously oblivious of the fact that all we know of the physical universe and all the theories that we are able to formulate about it, originate in, and belong to, consciousness. The dual- aspect view improves upon this, by giving to conscious- ness a value at any rate equal to that of mechanical movement. It is in fact a form of Monism (q. v.) akin to that of Spinoza and involves most of the difficulties to which that system leads. But from our point of view its chief error lies in its assertion that parallelism is the only relation which holds between the physical


and the psychical , a relation which can be proved to hold so far as sensation and perception are concerned, but which, if further generalized to the exclusion of inter- action, inevitably leads to contradiction.

Expository: Bawden, The Functional View of the Relation 6e- tween the Psychical and the Physical in Philos, Review, XI, 1902, 474-84; Cuffobd, Lectures and Essays. II (Loniion, 1886), 31-70; Errardt, Die Wechselwirkung zwischen Leib und Seele (Leipzig, 1897): Flechsig, Gehirn und Seele (Leipzig, 1896): Huxley, Coir- lected Essays (London, 1893-94) ; Mach, Analysis of the Sensa- tions (tr. Chicago, 1897) : Reiff, Der moderne psychophysische Parallelismus (Basle, 1901): Rickeht, Psychophysische Kausalitdi und psychophysischer Parallelismus (Tubingen, 1900) ; Stout, Manual of Psychology (London, 1904), iii.

Critical: G. W. Balfour. Psychical Research and Current Doc- trines of Mind and Body in Hihhert Journal, VIII (April, 1910), 3; BussE, Geist und Korper, Leib und Seele (Leipzig. 1903) : Dri3- COLL, The Soul (New York. 1898) ; Gahdaik, Corps et Ame (Paris, 1892); GuTBEHLET, Dcr Kampf urn die Seele (Mainz. 1899); HoPLER, Die Metaphysischen Theorien von der Beziehung zwischen Leib und Seele (Vienna and Prague, 1897); .Iames, Principles of Psychology (2 vols.. London, 1890); Jodl, Lehrbuch der Psycholo- gic (Stuttgart, 1896): Ladd, Philosophy of Mind (London and New York, 1895); Lotze. Metaphysic. III( tr. Oxford, 1887), 6; Masci, // Materialismo psicofisico e la Dottrina del Parallelismo in Psicologia (Naples. 1901); Mercier, Les Originesdela Psychologie contemporaine (Louvain and Paris, 1908); Pe.sch, Seele und Leib ats zwei Bestandteile der einen Menschcnsubstaiiz (Fulda, 1901); Villa, Contemporary Psychology (London and New York, 1903); Ward, Naturalism and Agnosticism (2 Vols., London, 1906); WUNDT, Ueber psychische Causalitat und das Princip des psycho- physischen Parallelismus in Philosophische Studien, X (Leipzig, 1894) ; Human and Animal Psychology (tr. London, 1907).

Leslie J. Walker.

Paralus, a titular see, suffragan of Cabasa in ^gyp- tus Secunda. One of the seven mouths of the Nile, Sebennys or Paralus ("Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani", ed. Gelzer, 39) was situated there. The see is mentioned during the Arab regime in the Coptic "Notitia episcopatuum " (Roug^, "Geographic an- ciennede la Basse Egypte",3S, 1.53). Its bishop, Atha- nasius, assisted at the Council of Ephesus, 431 (Mansi, IV, 1128, 1160, 1220; V, 590; VI, 874); another, Pas- meius, was present at the Robber Council of Ephesus, 449, and at the Council of Chalcedon, 451 (Mansi, VI, 572, 612, 859, 925; VII, 52). Le Quien (Oriena Christ., II, 571) mentions two other Jacobite bishops. The site is now called Burlos or Burollos, the prom- ontory Ras Burlos, the ancient lake of Sebennys Ba- heret-Burlos.

Champollion, L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, II, 360; Gelzer, Georgii Cywii Descriptio orbis romani, 127.

S. VAILHfi.

Parana, Diocese op (Paranenris), suffragan of Buenos Aires, in Argentine until recently, comprised two civil provinces, Entre Rios and Corrientes, and the civil Government of Misiones (see Map of South America in Vol. III). This territory belonged to the Diocese of Buenos Aires until 1854, when it became a separate pro-vicariate Apostolic, to be erected into a diocese by the Bull of Pius IX dated 13 June, 1859. The area of Entre Rios is 28,754 sq. miles; Corrientes, 32,.545sq. miles; Misiones, 8571 sq. miles. The respec- tive populations are: Entre Rios, 408,000; Corrientes, 322,000; Misiones, 44,000. Thusthediocesehas a total area of 69,870 sq. miles and a population of 774,000. The Diocese of Corrientes has recently been erected.

The first Bishop of Parand, Jos6 Gabriel Segura y Cuvas, b. at Catamarca, Argentine Republic, 1802; • d. 13 October, 1862, took possession of the see 3 June, 1860. His successor, Jos(5 Maria Gelabert y Crespo, b. in 1820; d. 23 November, 1897, took possession of the see 23 August, 1865, and was suc- ceeded by Rosendo de la Lastra y Gordillo (d. 3 July, 1909). The present bishop (1911), Abel Bazan y Bustos, b. at La Ri(i.i:[, 2S .August, 1867, was pre- conized 7 February, 1910, coD.sccrated 8 May, and took pos.session of the see 15 May, of the same year. The Province of Entre Rios is divided into sixteen parishes and ten chaplaincies {capellanias vicarias) ; Corrientes, forming one vicariate forain, twenty parishes; Mis- iones, one parish and three chaplaincies. The cathe- dral has a chapter of ten canons, including the five