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Aristotle's Touch Paradox Requires An Inner Organ
- Aristotle treats each sense as having an organ, an object, and a medium, but touch problematically makes flesh both medium and organ.
- This creates a paradox: if medium and organ must differ, touch seems to require an 'inner' tactile organ or space.
Lucretius Reduces All Senses To Atomic Touch
- Lucretius rejects the organ/medium paradox by making all perception the result of atoms contacting us in different shapes.
- He explains tastes like milk as 'smooth' because particles are round, and bitter herbs as 'hooked' particles.
Physicians Cultivate Touch To Diagnose Internal States
- David cites Galen and William Harvey to show medicine's tactile emphasis: physicians must cultivate fingertips as diagnostic tools.
- Harvey used touch to discover circulation by feeling pulses and heart action, complementing vision for confirmation.