Filosofía Fundamental, Tomo II

In this early‑19th‑century philosophical treatise, the author turns a careful eye to the very fabric of sensation itself. By dissecting simple visual experiences—such as the perception of two mouldings at a distance—the work shows how an inner feeling can arise with, or without, any corresponding external object. The discussion makes clear that raw sensation is a private, fleeting event, while the judgment that accompanies it is what links the mind to the world outside.

The author then expands the inquiry, contrasting human perception with the crude tactile awareness of a simple animal. Human senses, he argues, span a vast internal landscape that brushes the edge of intelligence, yet they remain fundamentally distinct from rational thought. Even if sensory faculties were refined endlessly, they would never transform into intellectual capacities, because each operates within its own proper order.

Finally, the text warns against the prevailing notion that the universe progresses automatically from simple to complex through a single, mysterious force. It challenges the idea that higher forms of life inevitably emerge from the perfecting of lower ones, urging readers to reconsider assumptions about nature’s direction and the limits of sensory knowledge.