Abstract
THE integrality of the individual in the higher Metazoa is a 'biologically convenient delusion'. The expression 'psycho-analysis' implies a mental unity which can undergo analysis. This is the delusion. The reactions of the human machine are loosely linked behaviour systems, participating in a common delusion of being the self. Most lower animals react to stimuli without hesitation. As we ascend the scale inhibition appears. There is no longer a mere algebraic summation of stimuli. There is reference back to a storage organ, a 'brain'. According to the record of that storage organ, the organism, not as a whole but as much of it as is affected by the recorded stimuli, reacts. Circumstances may have changed and it may act disastrously, or it may 'profit by experience'.
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WELLS, H. The Illusion of Personality*. Nature 153, 395–397 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153395a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153395a0
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