On the Senses and Their Objects

work by Aristotle

Also known as: “Parva naturalia”

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July 1, 2026

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Aristotle's work, often discussed in relation to his writings on the soul and epistemology, explores how humans gain knowledge through their senses. He identified at least five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Aristotle believed that sensation occurs when a sense organ is stimulated by an external object, creating a "sensible species" within the organ that represents the object.12

He posited that the soul is the form of a living body, and its faculties, including the senses, are distinguished by their operations and objects. For Aristotle, perception is a form of knowledge, where the forms of perceived objects are present in the soul without their matter. This process allows humans to interact with and understand the external world.34

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Dreams as extensions of the waking state
…his work Parva naturalia (On the Senses and Their Objects), the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 bce), despite the practice of divination and incubation among his contemporaries, attributed dreams to sensory impressions from “external objects…pauses within the body…eddies…of sensory movement often remaining like they were when they first started, but…
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…his work Parva naturalia (On the Senses and Their Objects), the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 bce), despite the practice of divination and incubation among his contemporaries, attributed dreams to sensory impressions from “external objects…pauses within the body…eddies…of sensory movement often remaining like they were when they first started, but…
Read More