'One thing is the feeling that something is happening,
an intuition which finds what it finds and cannot be made
to find anything else. Another thing is the belief that
what is found is a report or description of events that
have happened already, in such a manner that the earlier
phases of the flux I am aware of existed first, before
the later phases and without them; whereas in my intuition
now the earlier phases are merely the first part of the
given whole, exist only together with the later phases,
and are earlier only in a perspective, not in a flux of
successive events.'
we may have an intuition that something is happening
and an intuition that something has happened
Santayana's point is that - this - or these intuitions -
do not tell us - the nature of substance - or - the reality
of change - of time
one's sense of things - is no guide to the actuality
of things or events
'actual change if it is to be known at all, must be known
by belief and not by intuition'
belief - here - based on observation - of the objective
reality
OK
let us accept that to know objective reality - one must
look out - not in
observation presents a different picture to reflection
the same object known differently -
as a thing outside of consciousness
as an image - in consciousness -
different ways of seeing -
Santayana really sees transcendentalists as prisoners
of transcendentalism I mean once in - how to get out -
or does he just like imprisoning them - to show they
can't get out
?
anyway he says 'doubt is always possible regarding
the existence of actual change'
but his own work shows one can doubt - in fact one must
doubt one's intuitions - certainly if one wishes to operate
on the street
the thing is we can think beyond what we see out there -
what we know inside - we can as it were step outside of
the subject and the object
('and where are we' you ask? - 'the unknown' I say)
we can always step back
this is the essential feature of consciousness
it is not bound
my point is doubt is never out of the question
doubt is without condition
p.s.
I said above 'as an image - in consciousness'
the thing is 'image' here is but a description of what?
I think it's an example of an attempt to identify an
unknown with a name
and the name - is really a metaphor - a metaphor
for object
I think it's a translation of an observed entity -
to a reflected entity
or the attempt to give the reflection - an object
like meaning
and if you say well this is all a bit 'how's ya mother'
I would say yes - it is
and it's the way of it -
to understand the language of the inner life you need
to appreciate poetry
it's the language of poetry - metaphor
and yes - in this sense it is all very - non-objective
language is public
but we need to bring it home
welcome it inside
at the close of day
