SENSORY ERROR – THE SICK BODY AND ITS SENSATIONS – THE NERVOUS SYSTEM (AT VII:84–9)

A few major questions are still unanswered. First, how do the mind and body actually co-operate to give us experiences? Second, why do our experiences sometimes mislead us? How is sensory error possible if God is veracious and has set up the mind–body relation to enable us to function well as living organisms engaged in various intellectual and nonintellectual activities?

The Meditator tackles these questions in reverse order.

Consider a person who devours tasty food that is poisonous to humans and who subsequently dies. Her sensory system has failed to give her the message that this food should have been avoided and has failed to instruct her not to eat it. She was unable to taste the poison and was misled into consuming it. This shows that her sensory system is not perfect; she is not repelled by all poisons and there are some she cannot taste at all. Now, the Meditator has already acknowledged in Meditation Four that she has various imperfections. Such defects in her sensory system do not threaten her view that God has provided for her well. The only inference that can be drawn, she decides, is that the poisoned victim is not omniscient when it comes to correctly identifying harmful substances: “And this is not surprising, since man is a limited thing, and so it is only fitting that his perfection should be limited.