Lucretius on Perception and Reason

Book IV. 26-614:

1. What does Lucretius mean by “the images of things”? That is, what are they made of? Where do they come from? What is their shape? Are the images only visual?

2. How does Lucretius explain “light”? What is it?

3. How does Lucretius explain vision? How do people see things? How does he explain touch?

4. When we mis-perceive something, what is the problem? Do our sense organs malfunction or do we interpret our sensations incorrectly?

5. According to Lucretius, what is the origin of all truth? What is the origin of all reasoning?

6. What is sound? How do we hear things? (not assigned)

7. What is flavor? How do we taste things? (not assigned)

8. What is odor? How do we smell things? (not assigned)

Lines 722-908:

9. How does Lucretius explain imagination (mental images)?

10. How does Lucretius explain dreams?

11. Is it the purpose of our eyes to see? Our ears to hear? Our tongue to taste?

12. How does Lucretius explain our motivation to do things? (a fuller explanation is in Book III)

Book II.788-864:

13. How do we see colors?

14. How do we feel heat and cold?

15. How do we taste flavors (or savor)?

16. How do we smell odors?

17. Are colors, sounds, feelings, flavors, and odors “images”?