(71.) Our resistance against the destruction of the other class of
prejudices, those of sense, is commonly more violent at first, but less
persistent, than in the case of those of opinion. Not to trust the
evidence of our senses, seems, indeed, a hard condition, and one which,
if proposed, none would comply with. But it is not the direct evidence
of our senses that we are in any case called upon to reject, but only
the erroneous judgments we unconsciously form from them, and this only
when they can be shown to be so _by counter evidence of the same sort_;
when one sense is brought to testify against another, for instance; or
the same sense against itself, and the obvious conclusions in the two
cases disagree, so as to compel us to acknowledge that one or other
must be wrong. For example, nothing at first can seem a more rational,
obvious, and incontrovertible conclusion, than that the _colour_ of
an object is an inherent quality, like its weight, hardness, &c. and
that to _see_ the object, and see it _of its own colour_, when nothing
intervenes between our eyes and it, are one and the same thing. Yet
this is only a prejudice; and that it is so, is shown by bringing
forward the same sense of vision which led to its adoption, as evidence
on the other side; for, when the differently coloured prismatic rays
are thrown, in a dark room, in succession upon any object, whatever be
the colour we are in the habit of calling its own, it will appear of
the particular hue of the light which falls upon it: a yellow paper,
for instance, will appear scarlet when illuminated by red rays, yellow
when by yellow, green by green, and blue by blue rays; its own (so
called) proper colour _not in the least degree mixing with that it so
exhibits_.
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