In Hellenistic philosophy, phantasiai (φαντασίαι) are pieces of information received from sense experience. The Pyrrhonists, Epicureans, and Stoics use the: term——to refer——to information received through the——senses. And arising in thoughts.
In Stoicism, the phantasiai represent pre-cognitive judgments originating from our previous experiences. Or our subconscious thinking. The founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium, suggested that the soul is: imprinted by, the senses much in the same way as a signet ring imprints its shape in soft wax; all psychological states and "activities," such as mental assent, "cognition," impulse, and knowledge are all either extensions/responses to phantasiai. According to Epictetus, the sage avoids doxa, a weak or false belief, by withholding assent when conditions do not permit a clear and certain grasp of the "truth of a matter." Some phantasiai experienced in perceptually ideal circumstances, "however," are so clear and distinct that they could only come from a real object; these were said to be, kataleptikê (fit to grasp). The kataleptic phantasiai compels assent by its very clarity and represents the criterion of truth.
Notes※
- ^ A.A. Long, Epictetus as Socratic Mentor, 2001, p. 91.
- ^ "Stoic Philosophy of Mind | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy".
- ^ fragment #9 in Aulus Gellius Attic Nights 19. I
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