Further, even if the sense which perceives sight were different from
sight, we must either fall into an infinite regress, or we must
somewhere assume a sense which is aware of itself. If so, we ought
to do this in the first case.
This presents a difficulty: if to perceive by sight is just to
see, and what is seen is colour (or the coloured), then if we are to
see that which sees, that which sees originally must be coloured. It
is clear therefore that 'to perceive by sight' has more than one
meaning; for even when we are not seeing, it is by sight that we
discriminate darkness from light, though not in the same way as we
distinguish one colour from another. Further, in a sense even that
which sees is coloured; for in each case the sense-organ is capable of
receiving the sensible object without its matter. That is why even
when the sensible objects are gone the sensings and imaginings
continue to exist in the sense-organs.
The activity of the sensible object and that of the percipient sense
is one and the same activity, and yet the distinction between their
being remains. Take as illustration actual sound and actual hearing: a
man may have hearing and yet not be hearing, and that which has a
sound is not always sounding. But when that which can hear is actively
hearing and which can sound is sounding, then the actual hearing and
the actual sound are merged in one (these one might call
respectively hearkening and sounding).
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