IMPORT OF PROPOSITIONS. 139 



in different degrees. When, therefore, I say, The 

 colour I saw yesterday was a white colour, or, The sen- 

 sation I feel is one of tightness, in both cases the 

 attribute I affirm of the colour or of the other sensa- 

 tion is mere resemblance,, simple likeness to sensa- 

 tions which I have had before, and which have had 

 those names bestowed upon them. The names of 

 feelings, like other concrete general names, are con- 

 notative ; but they connote a mere resemblance. When 

 predicated of any individual feeling, the information 

 they convey is that of its likeness to the other feelings 

 which we have been accustomed to call by the same 

 name. And thus much may suffice in illustration of 

 the kind of Propositions in which the matter-of-fact 

 asserted (or denied) is simple Resemblance. 



Existence, Coexistence, Sequence, Causation, 

 Resemblance : one or other of these is asserted (or 

 denied) in every proposition, without exception. This 

 five-fold division is an exhaustive classification of 

 matters -of- fact ; of all things that can be believed or 

 tendered for belief ; of all questions that can be pro- 

 pounded, and all answers that can be returned to 

 them. Instead of Coexistence and Sequence, we shall 

 sometimes say, for greater particularity, Order in Place, 

 and Order in Time : Order in Place being one of the 

 modes of coexistence, not necessary to be more parti- 

 cularly analyzed here ; while the mere fact of coexist- 

 ence, or simultaneousness, may be classed, together 

 with Sequence, under the head of Order in Time. 



7. In the foregoing inquiry into the import of 

 Propositions, we have thought it necessary to ana- 

 lyze directly those alone, in which the terms of the 

 proposition (or the predicate at least) are concrete 

 terms. But, in doing so, we have indirectly analyzed 



