Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 8.djvu/479

ROUTINE PROCESS. 465 instantly '? What does consciousness imply at most ? That what we do is thought of in relation to other things ; a heightened feeling and concentration which makes recol- lection of what is observed easier; an idea of self; one thought coexistent with and referring to another ; a directing a part of the attention to something we are or have been attending to. Active consciousness is consequently liable to become part of an organic whole. For the same reason, man's self-consciousness varies with training and with the environment. It may be thought that the possibility of being freely remembered is not predicable of organised processes. This is a mistake. Few settled tendencies there are of which a part cannot be freely remembered. Many there are, such as the case of known melodies, where the whole is necessarily remembered. Some bodily routine processes are often of a nature demanding recollection. On the other hand we find that the mental machinery as a mass is not open to inspection. It will be urged, Surely an obvious difference remains to be accounted for. To this we agree. While holding that all activity, mental or physical, is organic, we may yet dis- tinguish. There are, broadly speaking, certain trends whose business it is to elaborate others tools to furnish products, or tools to create tools with. When we desire to arrive at a conclusion, the machinery starts with the very desire. Some- times the mechanism succeeds, sometimes it fails. As the machinery is brought to perfection, so the product is turned out with ease and certainty. Just as the process of writing is perfectible, and gains by the judgment expended upon it, and this by virtue of its organic character, so the processes of thought are perfectible, gain by the judgment (which itself is routine) expended on them, and this by virtue of their organic character. From the point of view of special problems one kind of process may be called routine and the other not. It depends whether we are viewing a product as machinery or as the result of machinery. Thus, for convenience sake, some actions may be called secondarily organic, although they display an imperfect adjustment of means to ends. Such are activities connected with trades, professions, amusements, and individual pursuits generally. Because these trends are not acquired by all, they have attracted the attention of superficial observers. Trends which are less open to scrutiny may be dubbed primary. 18. The Psychological Method. If our analysis of organic reaction be correct, then we are obliged to draw important conclusions as to the proper psychological method of investi- 30