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PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. 291
when it lias gradually enhanced itself in the scale of beings
sufficiently for the light of knowledge to fall directly upon
it, presents itself in this newly arising consciousness as
will, and is here more immediately, consequently better,
known than anywhere else. This knowledge therefore
must supply the key for the comprehension of all that is
lower in the scale. For in this knowledge the thing in
itself is no longer veiled by any other form than that of the
most immediate apprehension. It is this immediate appre
hension of one s own volition which has been called the
inner sense. In itself the will is without apprehension, and
remains so in the inorganic and vegetable kingdoms. Just
as the world would remain in darkness, in spite of the sun,
if there were no bodies to reflect its light ; or as the mere
vibration of a string can never become a sound without air
or even without some sort of sounding-board : so likewise
does the will first become conscious of itself when know
ledge is added to it. Knowledge is, as it were, the
sounding-board of the will, and consciousness the tone it
produces. This becoming conscious of itself on the part of
the will, was attributed to a supposed inner sense, because
it is the first and most direct knowledge we have. The
various emotions of our own will can alone be the object of
this inner sense; for the process of representation itself
cannot over again be perceived, but, at the very utmost,
only be once more brought
to consciousness in rational
reflection, that second power of representing : that is, in
abstracto. Therefore also, simple representation (intui
tion) is to thinking proper that is, to knowing by
means of abstract conceptions what willing in itself is to
becoming aware of that willing, i.e. to consciousness. For
this reason, a perfectly clear and distinct consciousness, not
only
of our own existence but also of the existence of
others, only arises with the advent of Reason (the faculty
for conceptions), which raises Man as far above the brute,