Fundamental Philosophy, Vol. 1 (of 2)

by Jaime Luciano Balmes

65. There are two senses which inform us with certainty of extension, sight and touch. We shall not now inquire if that be a true sensation which we have of extension, or if it be an idea of a very different order, resulting from the sensation. I propose hereafter to examine this point, but shall now confine myself to comparing sight with touch only as tending to give us the sensation of extension, or, if you will, to furnish us with what is necessary to form an idea of it.

We cannot but see that extension lies within the domain of touch, and that, too, whether it be considered only as a surface, or also as a solid. The same faculty cannot be denied to sight, so far as surfaces are concerned; for it is impossible to see if at least a plane be not presented to the eye. A point without extension cannot be painted upon the retina, but the instant an object is painted, it has painted parts. We can by no effort of our imagination, conceive colors without extension; for what is color without a surface over which it may extend?

66. So hostile was Condillac to the sense of sight that he was unwilling to allow it even the faculty of perceiving extension in surfaces; but as he is of all philosophers the one who has most contributed to the propagation and establishment of this opinion, we will examine his doctrine and its fundamental reasons. We have only to read the chapters in which he explains it, to see that he was not himself very confident of its truth, but that he felt himself contradicted by both experience and reason.

In his Traité des Sensations,[36] where he examines the ideas of a man limited to the sense of sight, he says that colors are distinguished by the sight because they seem to form a surface of which the eyes occupy a part, and then asks: "Will our statue, judging itself to be at one time many colors, perceive itself as a sort of colored surface?" We must bear in mind that, according to Condillac, the statue confined to one sense will believe itself the sensation, that is, it will think that it is the odor, the sound, or the taste, according as the sense of smell, hearing, or taste, is the sense in exercise; for which reason, if a surface enter into the sensation of sight, the statue ought to believe itself a colored surface. I shall not examine the correctness of these observations, but shall confine myself to the main point, which is the relation of sight to a surface.

67. According to Condillac, the statue will never believe itself a colored surface, that is, although it may perceive the color, it will not perceive the surface. Let the philosopher himself speak, for his own words will suffice to condemn his opinion, and to show the uncertainty with which he advanced it, or else the obscurity under which it labors: "The idea of extension supposes the perception of many things, some distinct from others. This perception we cannot deny to the statue, for it feels that it is repeated outside of itself as many times as there are colors modifying it. When it is the red, it feels itself outside of the green; when the green, it feels itself outside of the red, and so with other colors." Some may imagine that, conformably to these principles, Condillac goes on to establish that sight gives us the idea of extension, since it makes us perceive things, some outside of others, in which, according to him, the idea of extension exactly consists. But he does not; far from following the true road, he miserably loses his way; he not only violates the principle he has just laid down, but notably changes the state of the question. He continues: "But in order to have a distinct and precise idea of magnitude, it is necessary to see how the things perceived, some outside of others, are connected, how they mutually terminate, and how they are all enclosed in the limits which bound them." This, I repeat, is to change the state of the question; we are not now treating of a distinct and precise idea, but simply of an idea. How far the idea of extension given by sight is perfect, is another question; although it is manifest that if sight can give us an idea of extension, it will come by continual exercise to render this idea more perfect.

68. The statue, in Condillac's opinion, could not perceive itself to be circumscribed by any limit, because it could know nothing beyond itself; but did he not just now tell us that the statue would believe itself different colors; that some of these were outside of others; and that when it would be one, it would perceive itself outside of the others? Does this not imply not only one but many limits?

This difficulty did not altogether escape Condillac; for after having asked if the me of the statue, when modified by a blue surface, bordered with white, would not believe itself a limited blue color, he says: "At first sight we were inclined to believe that it would; but the contrary opinion is much more probable." But why? "The statue cannot perceive itself extended by this surface, save inasmuch as each part modifies it in the same way; each part should produce the sensation of blue color; but if it is alike modified by a foot of this surface and by an inch, it cannot perceive itself, in this modification, to be one magnitude rather than another. Therefore it does not perceive itself as magnitude; therefore the sensation of color does not involve the idea of extension." It is easy to see that Condillac either supposes what is in debate, or else says nothing to the point. According to him, the statue is alike modified by a foot of colored surface and by an inch. If by this he means that the two modifications are identical under all aspects, he supposes the very thing he ought to have proved; for this is precisely the point in dispute, whether surfaces differing in magnitude do, or do not, produce different sensations. If he means, as his words seem to indicate, that the sensation as color, and solely as color, is the same in a foot of colored surface as in an inch, he utters, indeed, an incontestable truth, but one not at all to his purpose. Undoubtedly, the sensation of blue, as blue, is the same in different magnitudes, and no one ever thought of denying it. But this is not the question: it is whether, the color remaining one and the same, the sensation of sight is modified differently, according to the variety of magnitude of the colored surface. Condillac denies it, but in an uncertain and hesitating way. We believe his negation to be so groundless that the direct contrary may be proved.

69. I would ask Condillac if he can have color without surface; if an object without extension can be painted upon the retina; if we can even conceive a color without extension. No one of these is possible, sight is therefore necessarily accompanied by extension.

70. Condillac places the idea of extension in some things being presented to us outside of others. This, as he him self confesses, is verified in the sensation of color; therefore the sight of what is colored must produce the idea of extension. Condillac's subterfuge here is an exceedingly weak one. He pretends that it is necessary, in order to have the idea of extension, to have that of its limits. But first of all, we have shown from his own doctrine that these limits are perceived by the senses; besides it is a very strange pretension to attribute to sight the faculty of giving us the idea of unlimited extension, and to deny to it that of producing the idea of limitation; as if there did not by the very fact of our seeing what is extended, rise within us the idea of limitation, if from no other cause, from the very limitation of our organ; or as if an unlimited were not more inconceivable than a limited sensation.

But suppose the limits not be perceived by the senses, does unlimited extension therefore cease to be extension? Is it not rather extension of the highest order? Does the idea of space without end, because unlimited, cease to be an idea of extension?