  In his explanation of sense perception Telesio comes close to the Democritan theory which he combines with the basic Stoic notion of conservatio sui, a key term in Telesio's philosophy. Pleasure is identified with the sensation of self-preservation, pain is the sensation of destruction (DRN book VII, ch. III; vol. III, p. 10). In this, as well as in his theory of knowledge, Telesio seems to follow Girolamo Fracastoro's explanation of sense perception and understanding given in the closing chapters of De sympathia et antipathia rerum and in the epistemological treatise Turrius sive de intellectione.