“But surely in case 14c) B acted entirely
automatically.
If all that happened was really what was described there, he did not
know why he chose the bolt he did choose.
He had no reason for choosing it.
If he chose the right one, he did it as a machine might have done
it”.
Our first answer is that we did not deny that B in case
14c) had what we should call a personal experience, for we
did not say that he didn't see the materials from which he
chose or that which he chose, nor that he didn't have muscular
and tactile sensations and such like while he did it.
Now what would such a reason which justified his choice and made it
non-automatic be like? (i.e.:
What do we
17.
imagine it to be
like?)
I suppose we should say that the opposite of automatic comparing,
as it were, the ideal case of conscious comparing, was that of having a
clear memory image before our mind's eye or of seeing a real
sample & of having a specific feeling of not being able to
distinguish in a particular way between these samples and the
material chosen.
I suppose that this peculiar sensation is the reason, the
justification, for the choice.
This specific feeling, one might say, connects the two experiences of
seeing the sample, on the one hand, and the material on the
other.
But if so, what connects this specific experience with
either?
We don't deny that such an experience might
intervene.
But looking at it as we did just now, the distinction between automatic
and non-automatic appears no longer clear-cut and final as it did
at first.
We don't mean that this distinction loses its practical value
in particular cases, e.g., if asked under
particular circumstances, “Did you take this bolt from the
shelf automatically, or did you think about it?”, we may
be justified in saying that we did not act automatically and give as a
reason || explanation we had looked at the material
carefully, had tried to recall the memory image of the pattern, &
had uttered to ourselves doubts and decisions.
This may
in the particular case be taken to distinguish
automatic from non-automatic.
In another case however we may distinguish between an automatic
& a non-automatic way of the appearance of a memory
image, and so on.