_MADAM,_
I have chosen, in the first place, the Work of that famous Philosopher
_Hobbs_ called _Leviathan_, wherein I find he sayes,[1] _That the
cause of sense or sensitive perception is the external body or Object,
which presses the Organ proper to each Sense_. To which I answer,
according to the ground of my own _Philosophical Opinions_, That all
things, and therefore outward objects as well as sensitive organs, have
both Sense and Reason, yet neither the objects nor the organs are the
cause of them; for Perception is but the effect of the Sensitive and
rational Motions, and not the Motions of the Perception; neither doth
the pressure of parts upon parts make Perception; for although Matter
by the power of self-motion is as much composeable as divideable,
and parts do joyn to parts, yet that doth not make perception; nay,
the several parts, betwixt which the Perception is made, may be at
such a distance, as not capable to press: As for example, Two men
may see or hear each other at a distance, and yet there may be other
bodies between them, that do not move to those perceptions, so that
no pressure can be made, for all pressures are by some constraint
and force; wherefore, according to my Opinion, the Sensitive and
Rational free Motions, do pattern out each others object, as Figure
and Voice in each others Eye and Ear; for Life and Knowledge, which
I name Rational and Sensitive Matter, are in every Creature, and in
all parts of every Creature, and make all perceptions in Nature,
because they are the self-moving parts of Nature, and according as
those Corporeal, Rational, and Sensitive Motions move, such or such
perceptions are made: But these self-moving parts being of different
degrees (for the Rational matter is purer then the Sensitive) it
causes a double perception in all Creatures, whereof one is made by
the Rational corporeal motions, and the other by the Sensitive; and
though both perceptions are in all the body, and in every part of
the body of a Creature, yet the sensitive corporeal motions having
their proper organs, as Work-houses, in which they work some sorts
of perceptions, those perceptions are most commonly made in those
organs, and are double again; for the sensitive motions work either
on the inside or on the out-side of those organs, on the inside in
Dreams, on the out-side awake; and although both the Rational and the
Sensitive matter are inseparably joyned and mixed together, yet do they
not always work together, for oftentimes the Rational works without
any sensitive paterns, and the sensitive again without any rational
paterns. But mistake me not, _Madam_, for I do not absolutely confine
the sensitive perception to the Organs, nor the rational to the Brain,
but as they are both in the whole body, so they may work in the whole
body according to their own motions. Neither do I say, that there is
no other perception in the Eye but sight, in the Ear but hearing, and
so forth, but the sensitive organs have other perceptions besides
these; and if the sensitive and rational motions be irregular in those
parts, between which the perception is made, as for example, in the
two fore-mentioned men, that see and hear each other, then they both
neither see nor hear each other perfectly; and if one's motions be
perfect, but the other's irregular and erroneous, then one sees and
hears better then the other; or if the Sensitive and Rational motions
move more regularly and make perfecter paterns in the Eye then in the
Ear, then they see better then they hear; and if more regularly and
perfectly in the Ear then in the Eye, they hear better then they see:
And so it may be said of each man singly, for one man may see the
other better and more perfectly, then the other may see him; and this
man may hear the other better and more perfectly, then the other may
hear him; whereas, if perception were made by pressure, there would
not be any such mistakes; besides the hard pressure of objects, in my
opinion, would rather annoy and obscure, then inform. But as soon as
the object is removed, the Perception of it, made by the sensitive
motions in the Organs, ceaseth, by reason the sensitive Motions cease
from paterning, but yet the Rational Motions do not always cease
so suddenly, because the sensitive corporeal Motions work with the
Inanimate Matter, and therefore cannot retain particular figures long,
whereas the Rational Matter doth onely move in its own substance and
parts of matter, and upon none other, as my Book of Philosophical
Opinions will inform you better. And thus Perception, in my opinion, is
not made by Pressure, nor by Species, nor by matter going either from
the Organ to the Object, or from the Object into the Organ. By this it
is also manifest, that Understanding comes not from Exterior Objects,
or from the Exterior sensitive Organs; for as Exterior Objects do not
make Perception, so they do neither make Understanding, but it is the
rational matter that doth it, for Understanding may be without exterior
objects and sensitive organs; And this in short is the opinion of
Madam,
_Your faithful Friend_
_and Servant._
[1] _Part._ 1. _ch._ 1.