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identify thinking and perceiving; e.g. Empedocles says ‘For ‘tis in respect of
what is present that man’s wit is increased’, and again ‘Whence it befalls
them from time to time to think diverse thoughts’, and Homer’s phrase ‘For
suchlike is man’s mind’ means the same. They all look upon thinking as a
bodily process like perceiving, and hold that like is known as well as
perceived by like, as I explained at the beginning of our discussion. Yet they
ought at the same time to have accounted for error also; for it is more
intimately connected with animal existence and the soul continues longer in
the state of error than in that of truth. They cannot escape the dilemma: either
(1) whatever seems is true (and there are some who accept this) or (2) error is
contact with the unlike; for that is the opposite of the knowing of like by like.
But it is a received principle that error as well as knowledge in respect to
contraries is one and the same.
That perceiving and practical thinking are not identical is therefore
obvious; for the former is universal in the animal world, the latter is found in
only a small division of it. Further, speculative thinking is also distinct from
perceiving-I mean that in which we find rightness and wrongness-rightness in
prudence, knowledge, true opinion, wrongness in their opposites; for
perception of the special objects of sense is always free from error, and is
found in all animals, while it is possible to think falsely as well as truly, and
thought is found only where there is discourse of reason as well as sensibility.
For imagination is different from either perceiving or discursive thinking,
though it is not found without sensation, or judgement without it. That this
activity is not the same kind of thinking as judgement is obvious. For
imagining lies within our own power whenever we wish (e.g. we can call up a
picture, as in the practice of mnemonics by the use of mental images), but in
forming opinions we are not free: we cannot escape the alternative of
falsehood or truth. Further, when we think something to be fearful or
threatening, emotion is immediately produced, and so too with what is
encouraging; but when we merely imagine we remain as unaffected as
persons who are looking at a painting of some dreadful or encouraging scene.
Again within the field of judgement itself we find varieties, knowledge,
opinion, prudence, and their opposites; of the differences between these I
must speak elsewhere.
Thinking is different from perceiving and is held to be in part imagination,
in part judgement: we must therefore first mark off the sphere of imagination
and then speak of judgement. If then imagination is that in virtue of which an
image arises for us, excluding metaphorical uses of the term, is it a single
faculty or disposition relative to images, in virtue of which we discriminate
and are either in error or not? The faculties in virtue of which we do this are
845
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156