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change the case is different from what it is in local movement [both being
different species of kinesis]. Local movements, of course, arrive first at a
point midway before reaching their goal (and Sound, it is currently believed,
is a movement of something locally moved), but we cannot go on to assert
this [arrival at a point midway] like manner of things which undergo
qualitative change. For this kind of change may conceivably take place in a
thing all at once, without one half of it being changed before the other; e.g. it
is conceivable that water should be frozen simultaneously in every part. But
still, for all that, if the body which is heated or frozen is extensive, each part
of it successively is affected by the part contiguous, while the part first
changed in quality is so changed by the cause itself which originates the
change, and thus the change throughout the whole need not take place
coinstantaneously and all at once. Tasting would have been as smelling now
is, if we lived in a liquid medium, and perceived [the sapid object] at a
distance, before touching it.
Naturally, then, the parts of media between a sensory organ and its object
are not all affected at once—except in the case of Light [illumination] for the
reason above stated, and also in the case of seeing, for the same reason; for
Light is an efficient cause of seeing.
7
Another question respecting sense-perception is as follows: assuming, as is
natural, that of two [simultaneous] sensory stimuli the stronger always tends
to extrude the weaker [from consciousness], is it conceivable or not that one
should be able to discern two objects coinstantaneously in the same individual
time? The above assumption explains why persons do not perceive what is
brought before their eyes, if they are at the time deep in thought, or in a fright,
or listening to some loud noise. This assumption, then, must be made, and
also the following: that it is easier to discern each object of sense when in its
simple form than when an ingredient in a mixture; easier, for example, to
discern wine when neat than when blended, and so also honey, and [in other
provinces] a colour, or to discern the nete by itself alone, than [when sounded
with the hypate] in the octave; the reason being that component elements tend
to efface [the distinctive characteristics of] one another. Such is the effect [on
one another] of all ingredients of which, when compounded, some one thing
is formed.
If, then, the greater stimulus tends to expel the less, it necessarily follows
that, when they concur, this greater should itself too be less distinctly
perceptible than if it were alone, since the less by blending with it has
removed some of its individuality, according to our assumption that simple
882
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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