DOC.
395
OCTOBER
1917 399
gram)
into
an
immediate fact
of
consciousness.
Neglecting
this
distinction
is
the
error
most others commit.
From
the fact
that
each state knows
nothing directly
aside
from
itself and
is
a
closed
world,
it
directly
follows, as
I
have
emphasized,
that
in
the
case
where
a
multiplicity
of
such states
is
present
in
the
world,
it
is
impossible
for
any
order
between
them
to
be
a
direct fact of
consciousness, although,
as
it
seems,
this
consequence
cannot be
accepted so
simply.
It
is best
we
have
another
look
at
the
diagram.
There
we see
that
only
the vertical lines
are
facts of
consciousness,
but
their
arrangement
in
the
horizontal
ones are
not.
Let
us
imagine
the
individual
vertical lines
exchanged randomly
on
the
horizontal
ones
but
each in itself
is
left
entirely
unchanged,
then
nothing
would
be
changed
in the
immediate world
of
consciousness. In
the
state
b',
for
ex.,
the
conception
would be
exactly
thus,
that
the
states
followed
the
sequence
in
the
way projected
within
it,
even
if
this
is
not
the
case.
I
hope
I
have
now
succeeded in
showing you
that the
order
or
any
other
glue
between
the
states
is
not
a
fact of
consciousness.
Only
the
projections
are
facts
of
consciousness,
the individual vertical
lines,
each in its
own world,
not
their
arrangement
along
the
horizontal
lines. Also
with reference to
this
fact
I
dare
to
quote your
statement:
“Before
you
have conceded
this
to
me
with
conviction,
dear
reader,
do
not
read on.”
From
the
above it
follows
that
the order
normally
assumed
by
us
is
determined
only by
the
inner
quality
of the individual states. For
even
though
an
arrangement
of
the
states does not in itself
exist,
if
we
deny
all unconscious
elements,
through
their
quality
(in
our
diagram
through
the
differing lengths
of
the vertical
lines)
an
arrangement
is
calculated nonetheless
(in
which
the
individual vertical lines
are
ordered
according
to
size).
This
can
also be
illustrated
with
the
following
image.
We
imagine
the
continuous
spectrum
broken down into all of its lines and these
are
mixed
together randomly;
then
the
old order would
surely
be determined and
discerned
by quality,
since it
is
the
only
one
with which
there
is
continuity
in
color
quality.
Thus
the
temporal
arrangement
is
also
the
only one
in which
the
continuity
of
the
qualities
of
consciousness
can
be found.
As
concerns
your comparison
of
a
painting
as being
composed
of
daubs
of
paint
which nevertheless do
not
make
up
the
painting, precisely
this
can
be used
against you,
since
a
painting involves
specifically
the simultaneous
concept
of
all
the
daubs of
paint
and
only
the
simultaneous
concept can cause
the
order
of
the daubs
to
be
a
true
fact of consciousness. Your
example
shows
that the
momentary
state of consciousness
differs
from
the
Mach element not
only
insofar
as a
whole set of these elements
are
found assembled within
it in
an
undefinable
manner,
but
also
that
the
state is not
correctly
described
as a
mere
quantity
of
such
elements,
because
in
that
way
the
so-called
gestalt
quality
is
ignored,
which
cannot be
construed
as an
element at
all,
since
it
is not
conceivable
independently