 Humboldt’s approach differs radically from that of his predecessors. “The Nature of thinking consists in reflecting”, he states in thesis 1, “that is, in the act by which the thinking subject differentiates itself from its thought” (im Unterscheiden des Denkenden vom Gedachten). This basic fact that every person can easily verify by performing such an act is the starting point of Humboldt’s deliberations. Now, to reflect we must in our mind arrest the continuous flow of impressions in order to concentrate on something, comprehend this something as a separate “unit” (Einheit), and set it as an object over against our thinking activity (thesis 2). As a next step, the mind can now proceed to compare several of these “units”, divide and combine them in different ways. In drawing the conclusion (thesis 4) from this state of affairs, Humboldt lays the ground for a radically new notion of the sign that anticipates (and points beyond) Saussure’s definition given in his Cours de Linguistique Générale. Thinking consists for Humboldt