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CHAPTER IV. 

 OF THE LAWS OF MIND. 



1. WHAT the Mind is, as well as what Matter is, 

 or any other question respecting Things in themselves, 

 as distinguished from their sensible manifestations, it 

 would be foreign to the purposes of this Treatise to 

 consider. Here, as throughout our inquiry, we shall 

 keep clear of all speculations respecting the Mind's own 

 nature, and shall understand by the Laws of Mind, 

 those of mental Phenomena ; of the various feelings 

 or states of consciousness of sentient beings. These, 

 according to the classification we have uniformly fol- 

 lowed, consist of Thoughts, Emotions, Volitions, and 

 Sensations : the last being as truly States of Mind as 

 the three former. It is usual indeed to speak of 

 Sensations as states of body, not of mind. But this is 

 the common confusion of giving one and the same 

 name to a phenomenon and to the proximate cause or 

 conditions of the phenomenon. The immediate ante- 

 cedent of a Sensation is a state of Body, but the sen- 

 sation itself is a state of Mind. If the word Mind 

 means anything, it means that which feels. If we 

 allow ourselves to use language implying that the 

 Body feels, there is no reason against being consistent 

 in that language, and saying that the Body also 

 thinks. 



The phenomena of Mind, then, are the various 

 feelings of our nature, both those called physical, and 

 those peculiarly designated as Mental : and by the 

 Laws of Mind, I mean the laws according to which 

 those feelings generate one another. 



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