The heart is the source (spring) of all these powers (faculties), in
Aristotle’s opinion; yet the sway over them is in different organs
(instruments). Thus the sway over the outward (apparent) senses is in
their known organs; whereas the sway over the picturing (representing
common-sense) power is in the anterior hollow (ventricle) of the brain;
the sway over the imaginative, in the middle hollow thereof; the sway
over the remembering, in the posterior hollow thereof; and the sway
over the conjecturing, throughout all the brain, but above all in the
compartment of the imaginative within the brain [or, throughout the
whole of the brain, but more especially alongside of the imaginative
thereof]. And in so far as these hollows (ventricles) suffer harm and
hurt, so will the manifold workings of these powers suffer also;
for were they, (the powers,) standing independently, that is to say
subsisting in themselves, and efficient independently, that is to
say putting forth their workings of themselves, they would not need,
for their proper and peculiar actions, any sort of instrument or
organ: in this wise one recognizes that these powers do not subsist
in themselves, but that the undying power is the Speaking (Reasoning)
Soul, as we shall hereafter set forth; yet for all this, the soul does
maybe at times seek out for itself after a fashion (so to speak) the
purest quintessences of the kernels of these powers, and cause them
to exist of themselves, the setting forth of which shall, D.v., soon
follow.
* * * * *
The following is the terminology of the five inward senses:
1. Common-Sense = hiss mushtarak, mutaçawwirah.
2. Vis formans, imaginatio = khayâl, muçawwirah, fantasia,
takhayyul, mutakhayyilah.
3. Vis cogitativa, vis imaginativa = mufakkirah, mutakhayyilah,
mutawahhimah, zânnah, mutaçarrifah, mutafakkirah, takhayyul.
4. Memory, remembering, preserving = hâfizah, mutazhakkirah,
zhâkirah, zhikr.
5. Vis existimativa, opinativa = wahm, mutawahhimah, zhânnah,
takhayyul, wahmiyyah.
Here follows an attempt to clear up this bewildering subject:
1. Perception, through any one or more of the five outward senses, of
the outward concrete form.
2. Conception of particular notions, over and beyond the concrete form
perceived.
3. Memory, which retains both outward forms perceived as well as
recalls inward particular forms conceived.
4. Common-Sense, rises a step higher than the three preceding, in that
it unites two or more of the products of any of the three preceding and
derives from them a new conception.
5. Opining, which rises higher still and passes judgment, or comes to a
definite opinion as to the truth or falsehood of conceptions formed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account