ABSTRACT
If we imagine a human being without sight, hearing, taste, smell, or the sense of temperature, and having no channels through which to receive impressions of the outer world, save the tactile and muscular senses; then the only attributes of body cognizable by him, will be the statico-dynamical and the statical. All the knowledge which he can gain of things, by touching, pressing, pulling, and rubbing them, and by moving his limbs or body, or both, in contact with them, comes under these heads: the one comprehending that knowledge gained by an activity on his part, and a reactivity on the part of the things; the other comprehending that knowledge gained by his independent internal activity in putting together certain of the impressions he has received,— knowledge in respect of which the things themselves are altogether passive. These statico-dynamical and statical attributes of body are usually presented to consciousness closely united.
