34. The Common Sense and the Reception of Contraries

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Problem of Discriminating Different Sensibles: How can we judge the difference between white and sweet when sight knows only white and taste knows only sweet?
• The Need for a Unified Internal Power: Neither external sense alone can make this discrimination; one unified power must know both simultaneously
• Receiving Contraries: The objection that one undivided thing cannot be acted upon by contrary motions (like sweet and bitter) at the same time
• Matter vs. Reason: The crucial distinction between how opposites work in material bodies versus how they function in knowing powers
• The Geometric Model of the Common Sense: The common sense as a point that is simultaneously the beginning and end of multiple lines
• The Common Sense as Internal Sense: Aristotle’s position that the common sense remains within the sensory order, not yet transcending to reason

Key Arguments #

The Discrimination Problem #

• If white is known only by sight and sweet only by taste, what single power knows both and judges their difference?
• Analogy: Two people cannot syllogize if one knows only the major premise and another only the minor premise; one person must grasp both
• Therefore, one unified sensory power must know both white and sweet to judge them as different

The Objection from Contraries #

• In matter, one contrary excludes another (wood cannot be simultaneously hot and cold)
• Sweet and bitter move the sense in contrary ways
• How can one undivided sense be acted upon by contraries at the same time?

The Solution: One in Number, Multiple in Definition #

• The common sense is one in number but multiple in definition
• Distinction between abilities: talking and walking are really distinct (two separate abilities), but being healthy and being sick are one ability exercised in contrary ways (they exclude each other in actuality)
• Discerning white and sweet is more like talking and walking: these happen simultaneously without excluding each other
• The common sense must therefore be like a single ability that can receive multiple sensibles simultaneously

Reason’s Superior Reception of Opposites #

• Reason can know opposites together, helping one know the other
• Medical knowledge knows both health and sickness; one opposite does not exclude knowing the other
• Ethical knowledge knows both virtue and vice; courage is understood in relation to cowardice and foolhardiness
• This shows reason is immaterial: it does not receive opposites the way matter does

Important Definitions #

• Common Sense (Central Sense): An internal sense power that receives sensibles from multiple external senses and judges their differences; described as a single power one in number but multiple in definition
• Receiving/Undergoing (πάσχειν): The passive action of senses being acted upon by sensible objects
• Contraries: Opposing qualities or states (sweet/bitter, white/black, health/sickness) that in matter cannot coexist but in reason can be known together
• One in Number, Multiple in Definition (ἓν ἀριθμῷ, πολλὰ λόγῳ): A single unified reality that can be described or defined in multiple ways according to different aspects

Examples & Illustrations #

The Ability Example: Healthy vs. Sick #

• Unlike talking and walking (which are truly distinct abilities), being healthy and being sick are one ability in my body that cannot be exercised simultaneously
• I can be healthy sometimes and sick other times, but not both at once
• Yet we can define this single ability by either health or sickness—one ability, multiple definitions

The Clay Example: Moldability #

• Clay has the ability to be a cube, sphere, cylinder, or pyramid
• These are really one ability—moldability—though definable in multiple ways
• But clay cannot be a cube and sphere at the same time
• This differs from the common sense, which receives multiple sensibles simultaneously

The Point and Lines Analogy #

• A geometric point is one in number
• Yet it serves as the beginning and end of multiple lines simultaneously (line to eye, line to ear, line to tongue)
• Each line can be defined differently, yet all share the same point
• The common sense is like this point: one in number, relating to many sensibles at once

The Line’s Point as Common Boundary #

• A point is the common boundary between two parts of a line
• It can be considered as the end of the first part and the beginning of the second part
• Yet it is one point, not two
• This shows how one thing can relate to multiple things simultaneously

Licorice: Black Taste Comparison #

• One can simultaneously compare the blackness of licorice with its taste
• Sight knows only black; taste knows only the taste
• A unified power must know both to judge their difference

Questions Addressed #

How Can One Power Receive Contrary Sensibles? #

• Question: If sweet moves the sense one way and bitter another way, contrary motions, how can one undivided sense receive both?
• Answer: The common sense is one in number but multiple in definition, like a point that is the beginning of multiple lines. It does not receive contraries the way matter does (which cannot be hot and cold simultaneously) but rather as a unified power relating to multiple sensibles at once.

Is the Common Sense Like the Ability to Be Healthy or Sick? #

• Question: Are the abilities of the common sense to know color and sweetness like two contrary abilities (health/sickness) that exclude each other?
• Answer: No. Knowing color and knowing sweetness happen simultaneously without excluding each other, like talking and walking. The common sense is one power receiving multiple sensibles at the same time.

Does the Common Sense Transcend the Sensory Order? #

• Question: Is the common sense something beyond sensation, approaching reason?
• Answer: No. Aristotle treats it as an internal sense, still within the sensory order. It is more inward than external senses but not yet reason or understanding, which are treated separately.

Theological Application #

The Incarnation and the Point Analogy #

• Two natures (divine and human) in one person (Christ)
• Just as a point is one yet serves as the beginning of multiple lines, a person is one yet subsists in multiple natures
• The human nature is assumed by the divine person (drawn to the endpoint of the divine nature) rather than possessing its own separate person
• This prevents the heresy of two persons (which would follow from two natures if each had its own endpoint)

Broader Philosophical Themes #

Reason vs. Matter in Receiving Opposites #

• In Matter: Contraries are truly exclusive; wood cannot be hot and cold simultaneously
• In Reason: Opposites illumine each other; knowing health helps understand sickness, knowing tragedy helps understand comedy
• This shows reason is immaterial and transcends material limitations

Critique of Hegelian and Marxist Philosophy #

• Hegel incorrectly applies the way opposites work in mind to material reality
• Marx attempts to reverse this by grounding all in matter, but still borrows Hegel’s notion of opposites together in matter
• The correct philosophical order is: start with matter, recognize its limitations, then rise to understanding mind’s different mode of operation

Geometry as Gateway to Higher Philosophy #

• Understanding geometric principles (point, line, surface, body) is essential for understanding philosophical concepts
• The point analogy clarifies not only sensation but also incarnation and other theological mysteries
• This demonstrates the unity of knowledge across mathematical, philosophical, and theological disciplines