ABSTRACT
James pronounced some of the arguments put forth by Eduard von Hartmann in support of the unconscious so weak as to be unworthy of consideration. In fact, his judgment seems directed toward the whole case mounted by von Hartmann, not this or that specific argument. Though their views regrading this question do sharply diverge, there is an extremely important affinity. Consciousness in itself is indeed a paradigm of continuity. Along with space and time, consciousness is for both of these pragmatists a phenomenon in which continuity is preeminent. They only reveal that it is a continuum in which conflicts, oppositions, and ruptures are commonplace. In addition, consciousness is continuous with the unconscious and with the subliminal parts of the human mind. There is not an absolute breach between consciousness and what at present falls outside of the vivid focus of conscious experience. There is rather a seamless continuity.
