Haptic technology tactual perception. The sense of touch may be classified as passive and active, and the term "haptic" is often associated with active touch to communicate or recognize objects. Haptic technology has made it possible to investigate how the human sense of touch works by allowing the creation of controlled haptic virtual objects. The word "haptic", from the ("haptikos"), means "pertaining to the sense of touch" and comes from the Greek verb ("haptesthai)", meaning "to contact" or "to touch". According to Robert Lee this sensation is also referred to as 3D touch One of the earliest applications of haptic technology was
Analogy of the sun region in which truth and real being brightly shine, it understands and knows it and appears to have reason; but when it has nothing to rest on but that which is mingled with darkness—that which becomes and perishes, it opines, it grows dim-sighted, changing opinions up and down, and is like something without reason. ('The Republic, VI: 508d; trans. W. H. D. Rouse) The allusion to "...that which becomes and perishes..." relates to all of that which is perceived by the bodily senses. The bodily senses make it clear that all visible things are subject to change, which Socrates categorizes