- From the variety among animals
Different species perceive the same objects differently (e.g., what is pleasant or nourishing to one animal is harmful or repulsive to another). We have no privileged reason to prefer human perceptions as the true ones. - From the differences among human beings
Individual humans (or groups) differ in constitution, temperament, and preferences, producing conflicting impressions of the same things. There is no neutral standard for deciding whose perception is correct. - From the different structures of the sense organs
The same object appears differently to different senses (e.g., a painting looks three-dimensional to sight but flat to touch). We cannot determine which sense (if any) reveals the object’s true qualities. - From circumstances (or conditions)
Perceptions vary with the observer’s state: health vs. illness, waking vs. sleeping, youth vs. age, motion vs. rest, hunger, drunkenness, emotional states, etc. The same thing can appear hot, sweet, or beautiful under one condition and the opposite under another. - From positions, distances, and locations
Objects change appearance according to where and how they are viewed (e.g., a tower looks round from afar and square up close; the same oar looks bent in water and straight out of it). - From intermixtures
We never perceive objects in isolation; they are always mixed with the medium (air, moisture, etc.) or with our own bodily conditions. What we experience is therefore a compound, not the pure object itself. - From the quantities and compositions (or formations) of objects
The same substance appears different according to its amount or arrangement (e.g., a few grains of sand feel rough, a larger quantity feels smooth; wine in small amounts invigorates, in large amounts intoxicates). - From relativity
Everything is relative to the perceiver, the circumstances, or other things. Nothing can be known as it is “in itself,” independently of these relations. - From the frequency or rarity of occurrence
Rare or unusual things strike us as more remarkable or valuable than common ones, even if they are not intrinsically different. Habit and familiarity alter our impressions. - From customs, laws, beliefs, and dogmatic assumptions
Different cultures, legal systems, religious traditions, and philosophical schools hold conflicting views about what is good, just, pious, or true. There is no agreed-upon criterion for deciding among them.
I suspend judgment on most claims to ultimate knowledge or inherent meaning, live by practical appearances and chosen commitments, confront the absence of cosmic significance without despair, and continue to treat certain moral distinctions as more than mere preference.
