"Yes, but they--Wurt, and Knaust, and Pripasov--would answer

that your consciousness of existence is derived from the

conjunction of all your sensations, that that consciousness of

existence is the result of your sensations. Wurt, indeed, says

plainly that, assuming there are no sensations, it follows that

there is no idea of existence."

"I maintain the contrary," began Sergey Ivanovitch.

But here it seemed to Levin that just as they were close upon the

real point of the matter, they were again retreating, and he made

up his mind to put a question to the professor.

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"According to that, if my senses are annihilated, if my body is

dead, I can have no existence of any sort?" he queried.

The professor, in annoyance, and, as it were, mental suffering

at the interruption, looked round at the strange inquirer, more

like a bargeman than a philosopher, and turned his eyes upon

Sergey Ivanovitch, as though to ask: What's one to say to him?

But Sergey Ivanovitch, who had been talking with far less heat

and one-sidedness than the professor, and who had sufficient

breadth of mind to answer the professor, and at the same time to

comprehend the simple and natural point of view from which the

question was put, smiled and said: "That question we have no right to answer as yet."

"We have not the requisite data," chimed in the professor, and he

went back to his argument. "No," he said; "I would point out the

fact that if, as Pripasov directly asserts, perception is based

on sensation, then we are bound to distinguish sharply between

these two conceptions."

Levin listened no more, and simply waited for the professor to

go.




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