24. Whether the senses were given us for the sake of utility must be
examined as follows. If the soul were separated from the body, she
would not feel; she feels only when united to a body; therefore she
feels by and for the body. It is from the soul's intimacy with the
body that sensation results, either because all passions, when keen
enough, reach the soul; or whether the senses were made for us to
take care that no object approaches too near us, or exercises on our
organs an action strong enough to destroy them. If so, the senses
were given us for the sake of utility. Even if the senses do serve to
acquire knowledge and information, they would be of no use to a being
who possesses knowledge, but only to one who needs to learn he has the
misfortune of being ignorant, or who needs to remember, because he is
subject to forgetfulness. They are therefore not found in the being who
has no need to learn, and who does not forget.