In epistemology, sensualism (also sensationalism or sensationism) is a doctrine whereby Sense and perception are the basic and most important form of true cognition. It may oppose abstract ideas.
This question was long ago put forward in Greek philosophy (Stoicism, Epicureanism) and further developed to the full by the British and French Sensualists (John Locke, David Hume, Étienne Bonnot de Condillac) and the Associationism (Thomas Brown, David Hartley, Joseph Priestley). In the 19th century, it was very much taken up by the Positivism (Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Hippolyte Taine, Émile Littré).According to Schopenhauer, this judgment was attributed to Aristotle. Schopenhauer presents the Latin version as Nihil est in intellectu nisi quod antea fuerit in sensu. See The World as Will and Representation, Volume II, Chapter VII. It is possible that it was mentioned by the Stoicism Cicero and was repeated by Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas.
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