Classical literature; Knowledge, Theory of -- Early works to 1800
from sense are reconstructed in science. They and not the mere
impressions of sense are the truth of the world in which we live; and
(as an argument to those who will only believe 'what they can hold in
their hands') we may further observe that they are the source of our
power over it. To say that the outward sense is stronger than the
inward is like saying that the arm of the workman is stronger than the
constructing or directing mind.
Returning to the senses we may briefly consider two questions--first
their relation to the mind, secondly, their relation to outward
objects:--
1. The senses are not merely 'holes set in a wooden horse' (Theaet.),
but instruments of the mind with which they are organically connected.
There is no use of them without some use of words--some natural or
latent logic--some previous experience or observation. Sensation, like
all other mental processes, is complex and relative, though apparently
simple. The senses mutually confirm and support one another; it is hard
to say how much our impressions of hearing may be affected by those
of sight, or how far our impressions of sight may be corrected by the
touch, especially in infancy. The confirmation of them by one another
cannot of course be given by any one of them. Many intuitions which are
inseparable from the act of sense are really the result of complicated
reasonings. The most cursory glance at objects enables the experienced
eye to judge approximately of their relations and distance, although
nothing is impressed upon the retina except colour, including gradations
of light and shade. From these delicate and almost imperceptible
differences we seem chiefly to derive our ideas of distance and
position. By comparison of what is near with what is distant we learn
that the tree, house, river, etc. which are a long way off are objects
of a like nature with those which are seen by us in our immediate
neighbourhood, although the actual impression made on the eye is very
different in one case and in the other. This is a language of 'large and
small letters' (Republic), slightly differing in form and exquisitely
graduated by distance, which we are learning all our life long, and
which we attain in various degrees according to our powers of sight or
observation. There is nor the consideration. The greater or less strain
upon the nerves of the eye or ear is communicated to the mind and
silently informs the judgment. We have also the use not of one eye only,
but of two, which give us a wider range, and help us to discern, by the
greater or less acuteness of the angle which the rays of sight form,
the distance of an object and its relation to other objects. But we are
already passing beyond the limits of our actual knowledge on a subject
which has given rise to many conjectures. More important than the
addition of another conjecture is the observation, whether in the case
of sight or of any other sense, of the great complexity of the causes
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