The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 11 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
Philosophy
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 11 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
‘As colour is not inherent in the object, but an effect thereof upon us,
caused by such motion in the object as hath been described; so neither
is sound in the thing we hear, but in ourselves. One manifest sign
thereof is, that as a man may see, so also he may hear double or treble,
by multiplication of echoes, which echoes are sounds as well as the
original, and not being in one and the same place, cannot be inherent in
the body that maketh them. And to proceed to the rest of the senses, it
is apparent enough that the smell and taste of the same thing are not
the same to every man, and therefore are not in the thing smelt or
tasted, but in the men. So likewise the heat we feel from the fire is
manifestly in us, and is quite different from the heat which is in the
fire: for our heat is pleasure or pain, according as it is great or
moderate; but in the coal there is no such thing. By this the fourth and
last proposition is proved; viz. That as in vision, so also in
conceptions that arise from other senses, the subject of their inherence
is not in the object, but in the sentient. And from hence also it
followeth that whatsoever accidents or qualities our senses make us
think there be in the world, they be not there, but are seeming and
apparitions only: the things that really are in the world without us,
are those motions by which these seemings are caused. And this is the
great deception of sense, which also is to be by sense corrected: for as
sense telleth me, when I see directly, that the colour seemeth to be in
the object; so also sense telleth me when I see by reflection, that
colour is not in the object.’—_Human Nature_, chap. ii. p. 9.
The second chapter of the ‘Leviathan’ contains an account of the manner
in which our ideas are generated, and is as follows:
‘That when a thing lies still, unless somewhat else stir it, it will lie
still for ever, is a truth that no man doubts of. But that when a thing
is in motion, it will eternally be in motion, unless somewhat else stay
it, though the reason be the same (namely, that nothing can change
itself) is not so easily assented to. For men measure not only other
men, but all other things by themselves; and because they find
themselves subject after motion to pain and lassitude, think every thing
else grows weary of motion, and seeks repose of its own accord; little
considering whether it be not some other motion wherein that desire of
rest they find in themselves consisteth. From hence it is, that the
Schools say, heavy bodies fall downward out of an appetite to rest, and
to conserve their nature in that place which is most proper for them:
ascribing appetite and knowledge of what is good for their conservation
(which is more than man has) to things inanimate, absurdly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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