Perception, in medieval philosophy

Most medieval theories of perception operate within the general framework of Aristotelian philosophy, which places great emphasises on the causal nature of the process of coming to know external things and the passivity of our perceptual powers with respect to those objects. Problems in explaining, within this framework, how we tend to be successful in perceiving these objects and their properties, led some thinkers, especially in the thirteenth century, to challenge this framework. This entry presents an overview of these theories focusing on three main questions: what is the difference between perception and knowledge, what perception for, and whether perception is an active or passive process.