Page:A Brief History of Modern Philosophy.djvu/245

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242
POSITIVISM

Intellect, 1856, and The Emotions and the Will, 1859), he here shows that the objective association (association by contact) constantly presupposes a subjective correlate (association by similarity). He had even before that, in his Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy (1865), indicated a still more radical change in the fundamentals of his psychology. He then saw that such phenomena as anticipation and recollection cannot be accounted for by the theory of consciousness underlying the "Associational Psychology"—viz., that of a mere sum of elements. The phenomena mentioned prove—so he thinks—that the bond by which the psychical elements are held together is just as real as the elements themselves, and that it cannot be derived from these elements. And the term "Ego" applies to this bond alone. Mill therefore once more revives Hume's "uniting principle," which had been forgotten in the "Associational Psychology," and as a matter of fact even accorded it a central position. Had he then been able to revise his logic, the possibilities were present of developing the principles of knowledge as idealized psychical tendencies.—The modifications and even the inconsistencies contained in Mill's theories bear witness to the indefatigability and candor of his investigations.

c. In ethics even as in psychology Stuart Mill was also originally a disciple of his father; here he was likewise a disciple of Bentham. The objectivity and onesideness of Bentham's utilitarianism had however been brought to his attention even in his early youth, especially through the influence of Coleridge and Carlyle. Nevertheless, he never surrendered the presupposition that the ultimate criterion for the evaluation of human actions must be sought in their effects on human happiness. The aim is