“I cannot agree with the assertion that this error (the error caused
by the bent appearance of a stick partly plunged into water,) is not
corrected by the understanding but by the touch; for, although the sense
in question makes us judge that the stick is straight, yet that cannot
correct the error of vision; but furthermore, it is requisite that reason
should teach us to confide, in this case, rather to our judgment after
touching, than to the judgment that we come to after using our eyes; but
this reason cannot be attributed to the sense, but to the understanding
alone; and in this very example, it is the understanding that corrects
the error of the sense.”[14]
The brain, then, is the exclusive seat of the soul; and all sensation,
even those operations that appear to depend upon the simple external
sense, is function of the soul.
Gall falls back upon Condillac, who, much less rigorous in this
particular than Descartes, says, that “all our faculties proceed from
the senses.”[15] But when Condillac speaks thus, he evidently speaks
by ellipsis, for he immediately adds these words: “The senses are only
occasional causes. They do not feel; it is the soul that alone feels,
through the medium of the organs.”[16]
Now, if it be the _soul_ only that feels, _à fortiori_, it is the soul
only that _remembers_, that _judges_, that _imagines_, &c. _Memory_,
_judgment_, _imagination_, &c., in a word, all our faculties, are
therefore of the soul, and therefore come from the soul, and not from the
senses.
There is no philosopher who has exaggerated more than Helvetius the
influence of the senses upon the intelligence. But Helvetius says, “In
whatsoever manner we interrogate experience, she always answers that any
greater or lesser superiority of mind is independent of any greater or
lesser perfection of the senses.”[17]
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