Humanity’s First Exam1850–1940 ⇄ now

1866 · English · United States

Substance and Shadow

Henry James Sr.

Passage selected for Humanity's First Exam
discrimination from his creator, on which the entire truth of his creation is grounded. What the creature is in-himself or essentially, must become phenomenally organized to his own experience, in order to his having any consciousness, or before he can claim that projection from his creator which makes existence or anything else predicable of him. And finite existence, existence in time and space, alone expresses what the creature is in-himself or essentially, namely: a form of universal destitution and hence of dependence upon what is not him^ self

Chapter 15 · p. 266 · line 10266

2 selected passages and classifications

Passage 1

What the creature is in-himself or essentially, must become phenomenally organized to his own experience, in order to his having any consciousness, or before he can claim that projection from his creator which makes existence or anything else predicable of him. And finite existence, existence in time and space, alone expresses what the creature is in-himself or essentially, namely: a form of universal destitution and hence of dependence upon what is not him^ self

A creator–creature account of consciousness and dependence; an analogue for made minds, not a direct rights claim.

Chapter 15 · p. 266 · JTP-034

Passage 2

What then is the remedy ? How shall we reinstate marriage in men's reverence, and rescue it from the purely hypocritical patronage it receives at the hands of our swarming scribes and Pharisees ? The answer is very simple, namely : by leaving the institution more in woman's keeping, and less in man's ; by making her most answerable for its honor, who is most interested in its stability.

James proposes a legal reallocation of marital authority as the condition of a wife's freedom.

Chapter 26 · p. 519

Text

141,107 words

Loading text…