Life — January 14, 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page presents a series of humorous vignettes illustrating the caption "If There Really Were No Sensation in Matter." The cartoon satirizes philosophical materialism—the idea that matter is the only substance in existence and that sensation/consciousness cannot arise from it. Each scene depicts ordinary human activities rendered absurd if matter truly had no sensation: people at social gatherings, driving automobiles, playing sports, romantic encounters, and domestic scenes all proceed mechanically without feeling or response. The humor lies in the contradiction—showing how ridiculous daily life would be if materialist philosophy were literally true, since humans would behave like unfeeling automatons despite appearing to act normally. This reflects early 20th-century debates between materialism and vitalism regarding consciousness and human experience.