The Limits of Sensory Knowledge

Discussing the Anonymous Arts Master’s Views on Aristotle’s De Anima

Abstract

The reliability of sensory knowledge, and whether perception accurately reflects the external world, is a perennial philosophical problem. This essay examines the Anonymous Arts Master’s text, “Questions on De Anima I–II,” a work dated to approximately 1270. The analysis focuses primarily on the second book and the 17th question posed by the author: “How does sense know that the object sensed has a different being from its being that is conjoined to sense?” (pp. 76) In posing this, the Anonymous Arts Master addresses a fundamental epistemological issue: the distinction between external reality and its mental representation. Whether we know that the outside world is actually different from its projection in our mind, and he asks if we can trust our senses, which build this perception of the outside. The author addresses a significant issue within epistemology, the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and acquisition of knowledge. This essay will first outline the problem, then provide relevant historical context for the author's position, and finally, critically discuss the question within its historical and philosophical framework.