Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-04-17
WHAT Is REALITY
a Simpie Thought Which. Nevertheless
Is Not Easily Explained.

a simple Thought Which, Nevertheless
Is Not Easily Explained.
Every body knows what reality is, OIL
TO vary that phrase when we speak of
Things acting, what actuality is. OF all
thoughts, or perhaps l should rather
say of perceptions, it is perhaps the
ciearest; and yet it is one of the most
difficult to explain or even express.
This simply because it is so simple: il
does not admit of analysis: il has no
elements into which to resolve it. and
there is no genus or species under
which TO place it The only way of
showing what ii is, is to point to an ex-
ample OF it. We look on the wall of
the room in which we sit, and know it
to be real We see that bird flying, and
know 1t 10 be an actualitv. We are
conscious of ourselves, as in pain, and
are sure that the pain has an existence.
There may be realities which we can
notdiscoytr;we do not know whether the
planet Jupiter is inhabited. But there
are things which we do know and know
to be real 1t is thus we know body as
II Is presented 10 US. with its essen
uaI qualities as extended and
exercising power or properties
Thus in self-consciousness we know
self in its various exercises, say as feel
Ing, knowing, willing. 1t is thus that
we know the manifestations of body,
such as shape, resistance and in nova
BILE; thus that we know the manifesto
tons OF self, as desire, affection, resolu-
ton All these are real. as Is also all
that We observe and what We derive
from our observations by a logical
process. The qualities which we per-
celve IN ourselves, specially such as
love, benevOlence, Justice, are actuali-
ties All these differ from imagina-
tons, say fairy, a ghost, a mermaid:
and commonly the two can be distin-
guished. We call the one real. the
other unreal We can not explain or
even understand the facts of which we
are conscious without calling in two
cognitiye powers. the external and the
internal senses. These can not be -
solved into any thing else. say, as j
often attempted into sensation impress
siOns, ideas; for none of these contain
cognitiOn and can not, therefore, give
Us knowledge by accumulation or com
blnatlon- Nor can knowledge be drawn
from them by reasoning; for not being
IN the premises they can not reach IL.
except by falling into the acknOwI-
edged fallacy of having more in the
conclusion than in the premises. In
acquiring a knowledge of internal
things, sensations are involved: feel
lngS in the organism by all the senses:
but these not having knowledge can not
give II TO Us logic ally. In looking at
the table before US there is the exercise
Of coats and hUmors. of rods and cones
and of the optic nerve; but we do not no
tice these in vision; their existence has
been made known to US by the physiolG-
gist- In hearing. the tympanum. the
hammer. the stirrup and auditory nerve
do not form part of our intuitive kuowl-
edge; they are merely the means Of
giving an exact field to our perceptions.
but are no part of the reality directly
perceived by us. With these concur-
rences we look Immediately upon the
thing-as we look through perfectly
transparent glass upon the tree without
noticing the medium. / believe We can
determine precisely what we know in
tuitively and directly by the various
senses The eye gives US a colored sur
face, nothing more. Hearing gives =.
sound in the ear, from which We argue
cause which is found by science TO be
undulations. In smell we have an afTec-
ton of the nostrils. In taste an atTcc-
ton of the palate. In touch proper or
feeling, an affection of the part from
which the afferent nerve comes. In the
muscular sense and energy we have re
sistance offered, implying power. These
are our primary sense cognitionS which
are noticed by self-consciousness; they
are all real. and upon them by legiti-
mate processes we rear other knowl-
edges. also real. as derived from what
Is real. BY spontaneous cognitiOn. we
know realities without US and within US.
Every man believes that his conscious
self exists, that his body exists. that
other people exist, he believes in what
he eats and drinks. in the staff on which
he leans, and in the ground on which
he strikes it OF this primary knowI-
edge there are three criteria clear and
decisive First, il Is Self-evident. We
know the object at once on looking "a
it. In looking at the table / am sure
there is colored surface before me.
Being thus self-evident, it is, secondly:
we can not be made to believe other
wise. or that there is no table before
US. Thirdly. it is universal, that is held
by all men on the objects being pre-
scented TO it. These are the tests of
primary truths, and they sanction the
conviction that we know realities
Rev. DR.. James McCosh, in y y. indie
pendent