Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

concept of a good life.

Another way to look at things — and I think it follows neatly from the perspectivism described above — is through the compelling sequence of Sensation, Perception, Impulse, Image, Symbol. (Note the similarity with Jung’s four functions of consciousness — sensation, feeling, intuition and thought. And it’s worth mentioning that the progression has a close similarity to Buddhism’s ‘five aggregates’ — body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.) Image and symbols are, essentially, our narratives and essences that have been explored in many of the previous chapters. It can be seen from this sequence (Sensation, Perception…) that they need not be derived from the traditional means of science and philosophy at all — they can come to us as a much more direct experience of the world.

But it’s a tricky list that I’ve given! At first it starts out similar to our initial stab at the workings of the world — it starts from observations of the world — from sense experience — although sense experience of a very personal sort, and including such things as feelings and emotions. But then, just perception — no interpretation — we simply register the fact of our sensations. (This is one of those odd quirks in philosophy, like being conscious and being aware of the consciousness. Likewise, we are not just the passive recipients of sensations, but we are active participants in the acts of perception.) I should add here — and this makes this sequence very much more coherent — that Francis Hutcheson believed that both moral sentiments and aesthetic feelings should

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