"When we grasp it [the philosophy of Von Hartmann] as a whole, it
amounts to nothing more than this, that all or nearly all the
phenomena of the material and spiritual world rest upon and result
from a mysterious, unconscious being, though to call it being is
really to add on an idea not immediately contained within the all-
sufficient principle. But what difference is there between this and
saying that the phenomena of the world at large come we know not
whence? . . . The unconscious, therefore, tends to be simple phrase
and nothing more . . . No doubt there are a number of mental
processes . . . of which we are unconscious . . . but to infer from
this that they are due to an unconscious power, and to proceed to
demonstrate them in the presence of the unconscious through all
nature, is to make an unwarrantable saltus in reasoning. What, in
fact, is this 'unconscious' but a high-sounding name to veil our
ignorance? Is the unconscious any better explanation of phenomena we
do not understand than the 'devil-devil' by which Australian tribes
explain the Leyden jar and its phenomena? Does it increase our
knowledge to know that we do not know the origin of language or the
cause of instinct? . . . Alike in organic creation and the evolution
of history 'performances and actions'--the words are those of
Strauss--are ascribed to an unconscious, which can only belong to a
conscious being. {90a}

. . . . .

"The difficulties of the system advance as we proceed. {90b}
Subtract this questionable factor--the unconscious from Hartmann's
'Biology and Psychology,' and the chapters remain pleasant and
instructive reading. But with the third part of his work--the