Understanding the Mechanics of Human Thought

🧠Hobbes describes sense as the mechanical interpretation of sensory organs and refutes Aristotle's spiritual interpretation.

💭Imagination is decaying sense and allows us to remember or dream about objects.

📚Accumulation of memories is experience, and imagined creatures are compounded memories of real things.

💤Dreams are physical impressions conserved from wakefulness, and trains of thought occur as a stream of consciousness in solitude.

🚂Trains of thought motivated by desire and fear lead to prudence and conjecture.

What is sense according to Hobbes?

—Sense is the fanciful interpretation of the mechanical workings of human sensory organs pressed upon by external objects.

How does Hobbes define imagination?

—Imagination is the decaying sense that allows us to remember or dream about objects without their physical contact with our sensory organs.

What is experience according to Hobbes?

—Experience is the accumulation of memories, and imagined creatures are compounded memories of real things.

What are dreams according to Hobbes?

—Dreams are physical impressions conserved from wakefulness, and they occur as a person experiences sensations and bodily orders.

How are trains of thought regulated?

—Trains of thought regulated in humans are those thought sequences motivated by desire and fear, leading to prudence and conjecture.

00:01[Music]

00:09Thomas Hobbes explores the workings of the human mind in chapters one through three of his book 'Leviathan'.

00:12Hobbes explains sense as the mechanical interpretation of human sensory organs pressed upon by external objects.

00:15He refutes Aristotle's claim of a spiritual essence in objects and emphasizes a materialistic view.

00:17Imagination is described as decaying sense, allowing people to remember or dream about objects.

00:19Hobbes sees imagination as a collation of compounded memories.

00:21Dreams are physical impressions made during wakefulness, conserved as sensations and bodily orders.

00:23Trains of thought occur as a stream of consciousness in solitude, without a particular purpose.