Human Senses in Renaissance Science

GISELA CORONADO SCHWINDT

Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy

Basilea

Lugar: Springer; Año: 2020; p. 1 - 5

Philosophical discussions about senses and perception processes, characterizedscientific debates during the Renaissance. The inquiry into the nature of the senses in the generation of knowledge, influenced by anthropocentrism that placed in the spotlight on human reason, was framed between two positions bequeathed by classical antiquity and reworked during the Middle Ages: platonic conception of the hierarchy of the senses and the Aristotelian. During the Renaissance, these positions were criticized in light of the new corpuscular philosophy that aspired to replace the dominant Aristotelian theory of real sensory qualities and sensitive species. In addition, the construction of a metaphysical hierarchy of perceptions began to be developed, in which the vision took a leading place, as well as the way of conceiving the body and it functioning, that gave way to a positive assessment of other senses, such as touch. At the same time, a question began to be about the reliability of the information conveyed by the senses as the 16th and 17th centuries advanced.PD: PD: El sistema no permitió ingresar la pertenencia institucional del Dr. Marco Sgarbi (Universidad Ca ´Foscari de Venecia)