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Single Idea 23639

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation ]

Full Idea

If it be made a question whether the toothache be in the mind that feels it, or in tooth that is affected, much might be said on both sides, while it is not observed that the word has two meanings.

Gist of Idea

It is unclear whether a toothache is in the mind or in the tooth, but the word has a single meaning

Source

Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 2: Senses [1785], 18)

Book Ref

Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.187

A Reaction

I'm glad Reid was struck by the weird phenomenon of the brain apparently 'projecting' a pain into a tooth. Presumably before the brain's role was known, people were unaware of this puzzle. There certainly are not two distinct experiences.

The 26 ideas with the same theme [role of interpretation in a direct act of perception]:

1821 Sensations cannot be judged, because similar sensations have equal value, and different ones have nothing in common [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
20792 Stoic perception is a presentation to which one voluntarily assents [Stoic school, by Stobaeus]
1883 How can the intellect know if sensation is reliable if it doesn't directly see external objects? [Sext.Empiricus]
2295 Why does pain make us sad? [Descartes]
4831 If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists [Spinoza]
23639 It is unclear whether a toothache is in the mind or in the tooth, but the word has a single meaning [Reid]
2774 Kant says the cognitive and sensory elements in experience can't be separated [Kant, by Dancy,J]
22033 Hegel tried to avoid Kant's dualism of neutral intuitions and imposed concepts [Hegel, by Pinkard]
4163 All perception is intellectual [Schopenhauer]
2878 We see an approximation of a tree, not the full detail [Nietzsche]
7156 Sense perceptions contain values (useful, so pleasant) [Nietzsche]
7181 Pain shows the value of the damage, not what has been damaged [Nietzsche]
7129 Perception is unconscious, and we are only conscious of processed perceptions [Nietzsche]
6098 Perception goes straight to the fact, and not through the proposition [Russell]
20749 Perceived objects always appear in a context [Heidegger]
18278 Kant showed that our perceptions are partly constructed from our concepts [Reichenbach]
20750 The mind does not unite perceptions, because they flow into one another [Merleau-Ponty]
22449 When we say 'is red' we don't mean 'seems red to most people' [Foot]
3482 Perception is a function of expectation [Searle]
4049 The way in which colour experiences are evoked is physically odd and unpredictable [Goldman]
19092 There is no pure Given, but it is cultured, rather than entirely relative [McDowell, by Macbeth]
2718 Perception is first simple, then objectual (with concepts) and then propositional [Audi,R]
4910 Sense organs don't discriminate; they reduce various inputs to the same electrical pulses [Carter,R]
4911 The recognition sequence is: classify, name, locate, associate, feel [Carter,R, by PG]
9124 We are unable to perceive a nose (on the back of a mask) as concave [Sorensen]
17979 Research shows perceptual discrimination is sharper at category boundaries [Murphy]