What is Thomas Hobbes' explanation for the cause of sensations?

[Math Is Hard]

Thomas Hobbes on "Sense"

Hi, I could use a hand with this.

I am not clear on how Thomas Hobbes (in Leviathan, Part I - Of Man) is explaining the cause of certain senses.

My book explains it this way:

"According to Hobbes, sensations are caused by the pressure of external objects on the sensory organs. In the case of taste and touch this pressure is direct, whereas in the case of hearing, vision and smell, the sensation is transmitted via motions in the surrounding air."

My question is: if Hobbes is saying that motions in the air are transmitting the sensation, does he mean that the motions are pushing particles in the air around and then those particles in turn strike the sensory organs causing the sensation? Does anyone understand what is meant by "mediation" in the passage below?

here's it is:

The cause of sense is the external body, or object, which presseth the organ proper to each sense, either immediately, as in the taste and touch; or mediately, as in seeing, hearing, and smelling: which pressure, by the mediation of nerves and other strings and membranes of the body, continued inwards to the brain and heart, causeth there a resistance, or counter-pressure, or endeavour of the heart to deliver itself: which endeavour, because outward, seemeth to be some matter without. And this seeming, or fancy, is that which men call sense; and consisteth, as to the eye, in a light, or colour figured; to the ear, in a sound; to the nostril, in an odour; to the tongue and palate, in a savour; and to the rest of the body, in heat, cold, hardness, softness, and such other qualities as we discern by feeling. 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. Neither in us that are pressed are they anything else but diverse motions (for motion produceth nothing but motion).

borrowed from: http://www.constitution.org/th/leviatha.htm

Thanks,
MIH

 

[oneredpanther]

Mediation in this archaic context means the manner in which the nerves form the "middle man" between the exterior world and the perceptive centres of the mind.

His notion of 'motions in the air' should not be taken literally (the writing is rather verbose and poetic after all) but rather refers to his acknowledgment of the difference in nature between things we can perceive at a distance, and those we must be in direct contact with.

The mechanics of light and smell will not have been well known, if at all, in Hobbes' time, but in a very generalised way his manner of explaining them still holds true today.

 

[Math Is Hard]

His notion of 'motions in the air' should not be taken literally (the writing is rather verbose and poetic after all) but rather refers to his acknowledgment of the difference in nature between things we can perceive at a distance, and those we must be in direct contact with.

Thanks for your help - this is much clearer now. I had the wrong interpretation entirely.

 

[Les Sleeth]

"According to Hobbes, sensations are caused by the pressure of external objects on the sensory organs. In the case of taste and touch this pressure is direct, whereas in the case of hearing, vision and smell, the sensation is transmitted via motions in the surrounding air."

My question is: if Hobbes is saying that motions in the air are transmitting the sensation, does he mean that the motions are pushing particles in the air around and then those particles in turn strike the sensory organs causing the sensation? Does anyone understand what is meant by "mediation" in the passage below

Hi MIH

The only thing Hobbes was exactly correct about is sound perception, which is a vibration that communicates itself as air pressure variations. The idea of pressure seems close since sense receptors need to be stimulated. Rather than pressure dependent, I think Hobbes would have done better to generalize sense experience as vibrationally dependent.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Thanks, Les. Hobbes is my least favorite of all the reading I've had to do.

 

[honestrosewater]

Thanks, Les. Hobbes is my least favorite of all the reading I've had to do.

Yeah, I couldn't stand The Leviathan. His style makes me want to .

 

[Math Is Hard]

hee hee hee - yes, Rachel, I got to agree. I am so OVER Hobbes. The only thing he's got going for him is that one of the "Calvin and Hobbes" characters was named for him, (I think). So he gets a "cool" point for that.