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CH. VI.]
VITAL PRINCIPLE.
161
but that which recognises them must, in potentiality, be the thing recognised, and be present also in it. If to any one of the senses there is no contrary, then that sense recognises itself, is in activity and separate from all else. An affirmation, like a negation, is something in relation to something, and is always either true or false; but not so with the mind, as it is true when it judges of any thing after its essence, and may not be true when it judges of something in its relation to something else. Thus, the visual perception of any particular object is true, but whether a something white which is seen be or be not a man is not invariably true; and this holds good for abstractions.
