Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3Grote, George
Philosophy
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3
Grote, George
Philosophy, Ancient; Plato; Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
[Footnote 87: I borrow here a striking passage from Dugald
Stewart, which illustrates both the passage in Plato's text, and
the general question as to the relativity of Cognition. Here, the
fact of relative Cognition is brought out most conspicuously on
its intellectual side, not on its perceptive side. The fact of
sense is the same to all, and therefore, though really relative,
has more the look of an absolute; but the mental associations with
that fact are different with different persons, and therefore are
more obviously and palpably relative.--Dugald Stewart, First
Preliminary Dissertation to Encyclopæd. Britannica, pp. 66, 8th
ed.
"To this reference of the sensation of colour to the external
object, I can think of nothing so analogous as the feelings we
experience in surveying a library of books. We speak of the
volumes piled up on its shelves as _treasures_ or _magazines_ of
the knowledge of past ages; and contemplate them with gratitude
and reverence as inexhaustible _sources_ of instruction and
delight to the mind. Even in looking at a page of print or
manuscript, we are apt to say that the ideas we acquire are
received by the sense of sight; and we are scarcely conscious of a
metaphor when we apply this language. On such occasions we seldom
recollect that nothing is perceived by the eye but a multitude of
_black strokes drawn upon white paper_, and that it is our own
acquired habits which communicate to these _strokes_ the whole of
that significancy whereby they are distinguished from the
unmeaning scrawling of an infant. The knowledge which we conceive
to be preserved in books, like the fragrance of a rose, or the
gilding of the clouds, depends, for its existence, on the
_relation_ between the object and the percipient mind: and the
only difference between the two cases is, that, in the one, this
relation is the local and temporary effect of conventional habits:
in the other, it is the universal and the unchangeable work of
nature. . . What has now been remarked with respect to _written
characters_, may be extended very nearly to _oral language_. When
we listen to the discourse of a public speaker, eloquence and
persuasion seem to issue from his lips; and we are little aware
that we ourselves infuse the soul into every word that he utters.
The case is exactly the same when we enjoy the conversation of a
friend. We ascribe the charm entirely to his voice and accents;
but without our co-operation, its potency would vanish. How very
small the comparative proportion is, which in such cases the words
spoken contribute to the intellectual and moral effect, I have
elsewhere endeavoured to show."]
[Side-note: Argument--That sensible Perception does not include
memory--Probability that those who held the doctrine meant to
include memory.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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