Leviathan · Chapter
I: Of Sense explained
Hobbes begins his examination of human thought by analyzing sense perception.
What happens
Hobbes begins his examination of human thought by analyzing sense perception. He argues that all conceptions originate from sensory experience, where external objects press upon bodily organs, causing motions that produce appearances or 'fancies.' He contrasts this mechanistic view with the Aristotelian doctrine of 'visible species' and criticizes the universities for their reliance on insignificant speech.
Themes in this chapter
Human Nature and Passions
Hobbes grounds all human thought in sensory experience, establishing a materialist foundation for understanding human nature and the passions that arise from it.
Characters to notice
- Aristotle
Hobbes references Aristotle's doctrines as the basis for the 'visible species' theory taught in universities.
Key passages
“The original of them all, is that which we call 'sense,' for there is no conception in a man's mind, which hath not at first, totally or by parts, been begotten upon the organs of sense.”
All ideas originate from sensory experience; nothing in the mind exists that was not first perceived through the senses.
Hobbes asserts the empiricist principle that all knowledge derives from sensation.
“All which qualities called 'sensible,' are in the object, that causeth them, but so many several motions of the matter, by which it presseth our organs diversely.”
Sensible qualities like color and sound are not inherent in objects but are merely motions in matter that affect our sensory organs.
Hobbes presents a mechanistic view of perception, distinguishing between objective motion and subjective appearance.
“But the philosophy schools, through all the universities of Christendom, grounded upon certain texts of Aristotle, teach another doctrine, and say, for the cause of 'vision,' that the thing seen, sendeth forth on every side a 'visible species'...”
The universities, following Aristotle, claim that objects emit visible forms that are received by the eye, a view Hobbes rejects.
Hobbes criticizes Aristotelian scholasticism for its reliance on obscure and meaningless terminology.