Introduction to a translation of the chapter upon instinct in Von
Hartmann's "Philosophy of the Unconscious."

I am afraid my readers will find the chapter on instinct from Von
Hartmann's "Philosophy of the Unconscious," which will now follow, as
distasteful to read as I did to translate, and would gladly have
spared it them if I could. At present, the works of Mr. Sully, who
has treated of the "Philosophy of the Unconscious" both in the
Westminster Review (vol. xlix. N.S.) and in his work "Pessimism," are
the best source to which English readers can have recourse for
information concerning Von Hartmann. Giving him all credit for the
pains he has taken with an ungrateful, if not impossible subject, I
think that a sufficient sample of Von Hartmann's own words will be a
useful adjunct to Mr. Sully's work, and may perhaps save some readers
trouble by resolving them to look no farther into the "Philosophy of
the Unconscious." Over and above this, I have been so often told
that the views concerning unconscious action contained in the
foregoing lecture and in "Life and Habit" are only the very fallacy
of Von Hartmann over again, that I should like to give the public an
opportunity of seeing whether this is so or no, by placing the two
contending theories of unconscious action side by side. I hope that
it will thus be seen that neither Professor Hering nor I have fallen
into the fallacy of Von Hartmann, but that rather Von Hartmann has
fallen into his fallacy through failure to grasp the principle which
Professor Hering has insisted upon, and to connect heredity with
memory.

Professor Hering's philosophy of the unconscious is of extreme
simplicity. He rests upon a fact of daily and hourly experience,