(Stanford ‘56) Retired
With a mind, we are conscious of existing and conscious of a world in which we are existing. The present article seeks to explain the mind in terms of the world it is conscious of, which means starting exploring this world from an introspective point of view and basing the explanation on absolute facts. The first task is to distinguish introspectively perceived facts from assumptions and notions which are not perceived directly. We may observe a man walk behind a screen. From the introspective point of view he has ceased to exist as soon as he disappears behind the screen. That he may exist behind the screen we do not observe directly. He does so only from an assumptive point of view., which must be regarded as an illusiion.
