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The Theory Of Perception As A Physical Chemical Process

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Perception can be understood on the model of change. Aristotle started off by stating the explanation of perception as a physical-chemical process by atomist philosophers at that time ‘like is affect by like’ alleging that chemical elements in us meets the like elements in the things we perceive. If we do have the same elements inside our sense organs, it is then questioned as to why the sense-organs do not perceive themselves i.e. why doesn 't the eye see itself or why do part of the eye not see the other parts of the eye; why do they not produce perception without an external object? Aristotle then implant his explanation - that senses themselves are potentials and it is to be activated with something actual. With the example of wood as a fuel having a potential to be a fire but will not become so until something external “activates it” and burns it. The same way as man having the potential to sense but can only do so when something external makes them active. The activation process turns potentiality into actuality. To be affected or to be moved requires something active, like the wood example. Activity, the fullest kind of actuality, brings about this change. This change is then explained with the “like/unlike” theory. A thing can only be changed by a thing that’s unlike itself “for it is the unlike which is affected”. For example, a red cloth cannot be changed by a red dye; a drink of the room temperature cannot be heated nor cooled by the temperature of the room -

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