Note 2 — ÉTUDE SUR STUART MILL

For, as our conception of a body is that of an unknown exciting cause of sensations, so our conception of a mind is that of an unknown recipient, or percipient, of them; and not of them alone, but of all our other feelings. As body is the mysterious something which excites the mind to feel, so mind is the mysterious something which feels and thinks. It is unnecessary to give in the case of mind, as we gave in the case of matter, a particular statement of the sceptical system by which its existence as a Thing in itself, distinct from the series of what are denominated its states, is called in question. But it is necessary to remark, that on the inmost nature of the thinking principle, as well as on the inmost nature of matter, we are, and with our faculties must always remain entirely in the dark. All which we are aware of, even in our own minds, is (in the words of Mr. Mill) a certain "thread of consciousness"; a series of feelings, that is, of sensations, thoughts, emotions, and volitions, more or less numerous and complicated.