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VOCABULARY OF PHILOSOPHY – ATTENTION

ATTENTION (attendo, to stretch towards), concentrated observation, the voluntary directing of the energy of the mind towards an object. «The phrase direction of consciousness might often be advantageously substituted for it» (Holand’s Mental Physiology, p. 14).It implies Will, as distinct from Intelligence and Sensibility, being the voluntary direction of intelligence. According to Dr Reid, «Attention is a voluntary act; it requires an active exertion to begin and to continue it; and it may be continued as long as we will; but consciousness is involuntary, and of no continuance, changing with every thought» (Intellectual Powers, essay I. ch. V.). According to Reid, Attention to external things is observation. Attention to the subjects of our own consciousness is reflectionAttention and abstraction are the same process, viewed in different relations (Hamilton’s Metaphysics, lect. XIII. I. 236).
 
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