A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive, 7th Edition, Vol. I
John Stuart Mill · en
In addition, however, to those attributes of a mind which are grounded
on its own states of feeling, attributes may also be ascribed to it, in
the same manner as to a body, grounded on the feelings which it excites
in other minds. A mind does not, indeed, like a body, excite
sensations, but it may excite thoughts or emotions. The most important
example of attributes ascribed on this ground, is the employment of
terms expressive of approbation or blame. When, for example, we say of
any character, or (in other words) of any mind, that it is admirable, we
mean that the contemplation of it excites the sentiment of admiration;
and indeed somewhat more, for the word implies that we not only feel
admiration, but approve that sentiment in ourselves. In some cases,
under the semblance of a single attribute, two are really predicated:
one of them, a state of the mind itself; the other, a state with which
other minds are affected by thinking of it. As when we say of any one
that he is generous. The word generosity expresses a certain state of
mind, but being a term of praise, it also expresses that this state of
mind excites in us another mental state, called approbation. The
assertion made, therefore, is twofold, and of the following purport:
Certain feelings form habitually a part of this person's sentient
existence; and the idea of those feelings of his, excites the sentiment
of approbation in ourselves or others.
As we thus ascribe attributes to minds on the ground of ideas and
emotions, so may we to bodies on similar grounds, and not solely on the
ground of sensations: as in speaking of the beauty of a statue; since
this attribute is grounded on the peculiar feeling of pleasure which the
statue produces in our minds; which is not a sensation, but an emotion.
VII. GENERAL RESULTS.
§ 15. Our survey of the varieties of Things which have been, or which
are capable of being, named--which have been, or are capable of being,
either predicated of other Things, or themselves made the subject of
predications--is now concluded.
Our enumeration commenced with Feelings. These we scrupulously
distinguished from the objects which excite them, and from the organs by
which they are, or may be supposed to be, conveyed. Feelings are of
four sorts: Sensations, Thoughts, Emotions, and Volitions. What are
called Perceptions are merely a particular case of Belief, and belief is
a kind of thought. Actions are merely volitions followed by an effect.
If there be any other kind of mental state not included under these
subdivisions, we did not think it necessary or proper in this place to
discuss its existence, or the rank which ought to be assigned to it.