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Plotinos (3); Complete Works, in Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinos Complete Works in Chronological Order Grouped in Four Periods - 3 Author:Plotinus Volume: 3 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1918 Original Publisher: Comparative Literature Press Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million... more »-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: SECOND ENNEAD, BOOK EIGHT. Of Sight; or of Why Distant Objects Seem Small.1 (OF PERSPECTIVE.) VARIOUS THEORIES OF PERSPECTIVE. 1. What is the cause that when distant visible objects seem smaller, and that, though separated by a great space, they seem to be close to each other, while if close, we see them in their true size, and their true distance? The cause of objects seeming smaller at a distance might be that light needs to be focussed near the eye, and to be accommodated to the size of the pupils2; that the greater the distance of the matter of the visible object, the more does its form seem to separate from it during its transit to the eyes; and that, as there is a form of quantity as well as of quality, it is the reason (or, form) of the latter which alone reaches the eye. On the other hand, (Epicurus) thinks that we feel magnitude only by the passage and the successive introduction of its parts, one by one; and that, consequently, magnitude must be brought within our reach, and near us, for us to determine its quantity. QUALITY IS MORE ESSENTIAL THAN QUANTITY. (Do objects at a distance seem smaller) because we perceive magnitude only by accident, and because color is perceived first? In this case, when an object is near, we perceive its colored magnitude; when at a distance, we perceive first its color, not well enough distinguishing its parts to gather exact knowledge of its quantity, because its colors are less lively. Why shouldwe be surprised at magnitudes being similar to sounds, which grow weaker as their form decreases in di...« less