The subconscious, c by Joseph Jastrow... / [Joseph Jastrow].

  • Jastrow, Joseph, 1863-1944.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The subconscious, c by Joseph Jastrow... / [Joseph Jastrow]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/572 (page 7)
    II THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS What, then, is the efficiency and scope and pur- pose— or in brief, the function — of ordinary consciousness ? To approach this question profita- bly, we must recognize certain broad and readily verifiable distinctions. The most casual psycholo- gist will have noticed that his consciousness may be directed inwardly towards experiences within himself, or externally towards something occurring in the environment without. By the activity of the one kind I am made aware at the present moment that I still have some of the unpleasant after-effects of a lingering cold in the head, that I have been wearing a new pair of boots all day, that occasion- ally I still feel a little annoyed because in the after- dinner speech I made last night I omitted some of my best points, that in the interstices of the at- tention which I am giving to my present task I am groping about to recall the address of one of my correspondents, that I am just dismissing from my attention a rambling reexperiencing of my last night’s dream, and that in anticipation of the writ- ing of a note — for which I must in a moment interrupt my present occupation — I am looking