Now  sense  must  be  unified  as  perception  before
we  can  have  knowledge.  Lotze  holds  two  views  as
to  the  nature  of  perception,  and  these  views  are  incon-


REALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  123

sistent  with  one  another.  The  one  may  be  described
as  materialistic,  the  other  as  spiritualistic.  It  is  the
materialistic  view  with  which  we  shall  deal  at  this
point.  On  this  view  Lotze  connects  perception  with
the  mechanical  interactions  taking  place  in  the
material  world,  making  it  a  continuation  of  these
interactions.  Sense  is  brought  into  the  soul  through
mechanism,  and  it  becomes  unified  in  perception
through  the  same  activity.  He  tells  us  that  the
first  subjective  order  in  which  the  individual  receives
experiences,  and  gathers  them  up  into  the  unity  of
his  own  mind,  is  not  altogether  subjective.  It  has
a  certain  objectivity  in  that  it  corresponds  to  an
order  in  the  outside  world.  By  means  of  the  delicate
organisation  of  the  senses  there  is  an  order  and
sequence  of  the  stimulations  received  by  the  soul
from  the  body  which  corresponds  to  the  actual
relations  between  things.  This  order  acts  as  a  guide
to  the  soul  in  relating  the  sensations  which  are  excited
by  the  external  stimuli,  so  that  the  order  of  sensa-
tions corresponds  to  the  order  of  things  afiecting  the
body.  Speaking  of  the  relation  between  body  and
soul  he  says  :  '  But  the  delicate  organisation  that
makes  it  possible  for  the  body  to  transmit  these
signals  (i.e.  stimulations  due  to  the  action  of  the
outer  world)  in  a  definite  grouping  and  sequence,
answering  to  the  actual  relations  of  things,  also  guides
the  soul  to  an  alternation  and  association  of  its
sensations,  in  which  it  attains  all  the  truth  possible
through  the  mere  apprehension  of  given  facts  without
reflective  elaboration  of  their  internal  connection.'  ^
Thus  we  see  that  apprehension  or  perception  of  the
outside  world  is  mediated  through  a  unity  of  sense
contents,  this  unity  being  carried  out  by  a  purely
mechanical  process.  Although  it  is  in  perception
that  the  soul  comes  to  its  first  knowledge  of  the
material  world,  and  although  it  is  in  this  knowledge
that  the  soul  comes  to  experience  its  individuality

*  Mikrokoamoa,  Bk.  iii.  Chap.  i.  (Eng.  trans.,  vol.  i.  p.  283).
