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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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Ixxvi INTRODUCTION SECT.<br />

give imperfect or misleading representations<br />

<strong>of</strong> the<br />

objects which they represent, and <strong>to</strong> this is due that<br />

untrustworthiness <strong>of</strong> the senses which was used by the<br />

Sceptics and other schools <strong>to</strong> undermine the very possi-<br />

bility <strong>of</strong> certain knowledge. But, according<br />

<strong>to</strong> S<strong>to</strong>ic<br />

belief, there do exist perceptions which, <strong>to</strong> a healthy<br />

consciousness, give so complete and perfect a representation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the object and all its sensuous properties and<br />

qualities, 'apprehend' it so fully, 1 and reproduce it so<br />

convincingly, that by an inner and self-evidencing virtue<br />

they constrain mental assent <strong>to</strong> the completeness and<br />

accuracy <strong>of</strong> the representation, and furnish a sure basis<br />

for knowledge.<br />

It has been usual 2 <strong>to</strong> restrict these authoritative per-<br />

ceptions <strong>to</strong> the sphere <strong>of</strong> sense-impression, and <strong>to</strong> urge<br />

that there was no logical escape from this for the con-<br />

sistent materialist but S<strong>to</strong>ic ; monism, by its identification<br />

<strong>of</strong> matter with soul, eludes this difficulty, and the organs<br />

<strong>of</strong> sense are not the only possible channels <strong>of</strong> contact<br />

between subject and object, the mind and the external<br />

world. The S<strong>to</strong>ic paradoxes regarding the '<br />

materiality '<br />

1 Hence called (})ai>Ta

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