Q0576
“Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye sees the star as…” — Al-Ghazali (Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh))
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh). Theme: experience.
English
Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye sees the star as small, yet demonstration shows it larger than the earth.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Al-Ghazali
Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (1058–1111) taught law and theology in Baghdad before a crisis of certainty drove him from public office into Sufi practice and writing. He mastered the falāsifa well enough to attack their metaphysics in The Incoherence of the Philosophers, then narrated his own epistemic itinerary in Deliverance from Error.
How to read this passage
Empiricists treat experience as the source of ideas; phenomenologists describe its structure; pragmatists treat it as experimental and revisable. This passage enters that discussion through experience, reason.
Concepts in this quote
- Experience
- Experience is the lived encounter with world and self—foundation or limit for knowledge, art, and ethics.
- Reason
- Reason is the capacity to give and assess reasons—central to logic, science, ethics, and public argument.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Al-Ghazali. (n.d.). Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye sees the star as small, yet demonstration shows it larger than the earth. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0576
MLA: Al-Ghazali. “Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0576.
Chicago: Al-Ghazali. “Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0576.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Sense-data are not a secure foundation; the eye…”?
The passage is attributed to Al-Ghazali, Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh). The archive attributes this English wording to Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Al-Ghazali mean by experience?
Empiricists treat experience as the source of ideas; phenomenologists describe its structure; pragmatists treat it as experimental and revisable. This passage enters that discussion through experience, reason.