Qualities and sensory perception

This article describes the conception of sensory perception during the earlymodern period. It discusses David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature wherehe contrasted the ancient metaphysics of substantial forms and occultqualities with the metaphysics of the Moderns. The article argues that Humewas fundamentally correct and that the doctrine of secondary qualities isindeed a distinctively modern doctrine that captures something of the veryessence of the new philosophical age