The problems of both thing and ego may be stated thus: there is a conflict between an alleged unity, on the one hand, with an empirically manifest plurality, on the other. We consider a thing to be one substance, yet possessing a number of conflicting qualities; and we regard the self as a single entity conscious of many thoughts. But is the thing the one, or its many qualities? Is the self or psyche the one, or its thoughts? Herbart maintains that this dilemma arises due to a missing link, one that can only be supplied by “speculation”. Speculative use of the method of relations would have us consider the conflicting elements not as distinct entities in genuine opposition, but rather as members of a unifying relation. For example, the “thing” turns out to be the nexus or system of (its) predicates, and nothing else beyond them (cf. Beiser 2014: 118). Similarly, Herbart regards the psyche not as a substance, but simply as the condition of mental change itself.