Elements of Psychophysics, Vol. I

...remains. For while we are immediately conscious of our sensations and thoughts, we can perceive nothing of the movements in the brain which are linked to them and to which they, in turn, are linked; the physical here remains under a mental cover original: "geistigen Decke." This suggests a veil or shroud that hides the physical mechanisms of the brain from our internal self-awareness.. On the other hand, while we can subject the bodies of other people, animals, and all of nature directly to anatomical, physiological, physical, and chemical investigation, we are unable to experience anything directly of the souls belonging to the former, or of the God belonging to the latter; here, the mental remains under a physical cover. Thus, there remains a great deal of room for hypotheses and denial. Is there anything at all under one cover or the other, and what is to be found there?

The uncertainty, the wavering, and the arguing over these questions of fact have so far allowed for no firm starting point or point of attack for a theory concerning the relationships of something whose very existence is still largely being debated.

And what could be the reason for this peculiar relationship—that we can observe body and mind each on its own, and yet never both together as they directly belong together, even though we usually observe things that are directly connected most easily together? Given the unyielding nature of this relationship between the mental and physical realms, we might suspect that it is a fundamental one, rooted in their very basic relationship. But is there nothing similar that could at least illustrate this fact for us, if not lead us to its underlying cause?

Indeed, one can point to this or that. For example, if someone stands inside a circle, its convex The outer curve of a circle or sphere. side lies completely hidden from them under the concave The inner curve of a circle or sphere. surface; if they stand outside, conversely, the concave side lies under the convex surface. Both sides belong together just as inseparably as the mental and physical sides of a human being, and these can, by comparison, also be understood as an inner and an outer side; however, it is just as impossible to view both sides of the circle at once from a single standpoint in the plane of the circle as it is to view these two sides of a human from a single standpoint within the realm of human existence. Only when we