Conocer de oídas: El acceso sensorial a la sabiduría en los escritos de don Juan Manuel (s. XIV)

Article

Authorship

ASISS GONZÁLEZ, FEDERICO JAVIER

Date

2019

Publishing House and Editing Place

Grupo de Investigación y Estudios Medievales (GIEM) de la Facultad de Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Magazine

Cuadernos Medievales (pp. 73-86) Grupo de Investigación y Estudios Medievales (GIEM) de la Facultad de Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Summary Information provided by the agent in SIGEVA

The senses are not mere windows to the world. Neither they are just organs received by nature that humans cannot control, other than to use them as instruments to incorporate knowledge. The senses, as the body itself, have a history that speaks of an epoch and its strategic power struggles. Actually, the way in which don Juan Manuel theorizes on human and divine acts of knowledge through hearing is an example of that. Through hearing, one not only meets God and the souls of its subjects, but al... The senses are not mere windows to the world. Neither they are just organs received by nature that humans cannot control, other than to use them as instruments to incorporate knowledge. The senses, as the body itself, have a history that speaks of an epoch and its strategic power struggles. Actually, the way in which don Juan Manuel theorizes on human and divine acts of knowledge through hearing is an example of that. Through hearing, one not only meets God and the souls of its subjects, but also rules, by using words that are meant for others to hear. The truth and the lies are not only expressed through words, as they are constructed under the influence of the particular relations established between power and knowledge. This article deconstructs both the different ways in which hearing is perceived in relation to power and knowledge, and the complex argumentation that supported all the nuances associated to this sense in the medieval logic.