[523c]
at the same time issue in a contradictory perception.1 Those that do have that
effect I set down as provocatives, when the perception no more manifests one
thing than its contrary, alike whether its impact2 comes from nearby or afar.
An illustration will make my meaning plain. Here, we say, are three fingers, the
little finger, the second and the middle.” “Quite
so,” he said. “Assume that I speak of them as seen near at
hand. But this is the point that you are to consider.”
“What?” “Each one of them appears to be
1 Cf. Jacks, Alchemy of Thought, p. 29: “The purpose of the world, then, being to attain consciousness of itself as a rational or consistent whole, is it not a little strange that the first step, so to speak, taken by the world for the attainment of this end is that of presenting itself in the form of contradictory experience?” αἴσθησις is not to be pressed. Adam's condescending apology for the primitive character of Plato's psychology here is as uncalled-for as all such apologies. Plato varies the expression, but his meaning is clear. Cf. 524 D. No modern psychologists are able to use “sensation,” “perception,” “judgement,” and similar terms with perfect consistency.
2 For προσπίπτουσα Cf. Tim. 33 A, 44 A, 66 A, Rep. 515 A, 561 C, Laws 791 C, 632 A, 637 A, Phileb. 21 C; also “accidere” in Lucretius, e.g. iv. 882, ii. 1024-1025, iv. 236 and iii. 841, and Goethe's “Das Blenden der Erscheinung, die sich an unsere Sinne drängt.”
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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