第 24 节
作者:独来读网      更新:2021-02-25 00:21      字数:4914
  knowledge are not innate but come to be in us; or are innate but at
  first unnoticed。 Now it is strange if we possess them from birth;
  for it means that we possess apprehensions more accurate than
  demonstration and fail to notice them。 If on the other hand we acquire
  them and do not previously possess them; how could we apprehend and
  learn without a basis of pre…existent knowledge? For that is
  impossible; as we used to find in the case of demonstration。 So it
  emerges that neither can we possess them from birth; nor can they come
  to be in us if we are without knowledge of them to the extent of
  having no such developed state at all。 Therefore we must possess a
  capacity of some sort; but not such as to rank higher in accuracy than
  these developed states。 And this at least is an obvious characteristic
  of all animals; for they possess a congenital discriminative
  capacity which is called sense…perception。 But though sense…perception
  is innate in all animals; in some the sense…impression comes to
  persist; in others it does not。 So animals in which this persistence
  does not come to be have either no knowledge at all outside the act of
  perceiving; or no knowledge of objects of which no impression
  persists; animals in which it does come into being have perception and
  can continue to retain the sense…impression in the soul: and when such
  persistence is frequently repeated a further distinction at once
  arises between those which out of the persistence of such
  sense…impressions develop a power of systematizing them and those
  which do not。 So out of sense…perception comes to be what we call
  memory; and out of frequently repeated memories of the same thing
  develops experience; for a number of memories constitute a single
  experience。 From experience again…i。e。 from the universal now
  stabilized in its entirety within the soul; the one beside the many
  which is a single identity within them all…originate the skill of
  the craftsman and the knowledge of the man of science; skill in the
  sphere of coming to be and science in the sphere of being。
  We conclude that these states of knowledge are neither innate in a
  determinate form; nor developed from other higher states of knowledge;
  but from sense…perception。 It is like a rout in battle stopped by
  first one man making a stand and then another; until the original
  formation has been restored。 The soul is so constituted as to be
  capable of this process。
  Let us now restate the account given already; though with
  insufficient clearness。 When one of a number of logically
  indiscriminable particulars has made a stand; the earliest universal
  is present in the soul: for though the act of sense…perception is of
  the particular; its content is universal…is man; for example; not
  the man Callias。 A fresh stand is made among these rudimentary
  universals; and the process does not cease until the indivisible
  concepts; the true universals; are established: e。g。 such and such a
  species of animal is a step towards the genus animal; which by the
  same process is a step towards a further generalization。
  Thus it is clear that we must get to know the primary premisses by
  induction; for the method by which even sense…perception implants
  the universal is inductive。 Now of the thinking states by which we
  grasp truth; some are unfailingly true; others admit of error…opinion;
  for instance; and calculation; whereas scientific knowing and
  intuition are always true: further; no other kind of thought except
  intuition is more accurate than scientific knowledge; whereas
  primary premisses are more knowable than demonstrations; and all
  scientific knowledge is discursive。 From these considerations it
  follows that there will be no scientific knowledge of the primary
  premisses; and since except intuition nothing can be truer than
  scientific knowledge; it will be intuition that apprehends the primary
  premisses…a result which also follows from the fact that demonstration
  cannot be the originative source of demonstration; nor;
  consequently; scientific knowledge of scientific knowledge。If;
  therefore; it is the only other kind of true thinking except
  scientific knowing; intuition will be the originative source of
  scientific knowledge。 And the originative source of science grasps the
  original basic premiss; while science as a whole is similarly
  related as originative source to the whole body of fact。
  …THE END…
  。