Human perception definition4/16/2023 ![]() ![]() Leibniz ( Citation1982, 81) contrasts sensory representations as confused with intellectual ones as distinct, while Hume ( Citation1739/ Citation2000, SB1-2) compares impressions and ideas on the scales of force and vivacity. However, opposing parties here sometimes agree in thinking about the difference between sensory and intellectual states as gradations on a scale. The perception/cognition distinction becomes pivotal in early modern philosophy, with rationalists and empiricists taking opposing views as to on which of its sides lie the chief sources and resources of knowledge. In the Aristotelian, and later Thomistic, traditions, the distinction is linked with a metaphysical division between two forms of soul: a sensitive form, shared with brutes, versus a rational form, which may, perhaps in part, aspire to immortality. In The Republic, Plato compares sensible objects of knowledge unfavourably with intelligible ones, and, in Theaetetus, argues at length that knowledge is not perception. Clark Citation2016)?įinally, the perception/cognition distinction has long loomed large in Western philosophy. ![]() Block CitationMS), or a matter of continuity more than of division (cf., e.g. Fodor Citation1983) or form of representation (cf. an inflection point in cognitive architecture (cf. Will perception versus cognition turn out to be a joint in psychological nature, e.g. Third, the distinction is vital also to the grand psychological-cum-philosophical project of charting the basic structure of mind. Yet do these subjects genuinely perceive, or merely swiftly cognize, these properties? To get a handle on this, we need a grip on what marks the perceptual as opposed to the cognitive or vice versa. Bergqvist and Cowan Citation2018) of perceived objects or events. Helton Citation2018), or even moral properties (cf., e.g. Drożdżowicz Citationthis issue), emotions or intentions (cf., e.g. In debates on high-level perception, it is agreed that suitably skilled perceivers quickly and effortlessly can spot the natural kinds (Siegel Citation2010), meanings (cf., e.g. Second, the question what distinguishes perception from cognition connects with that of where the border between them lies. On the other hand, cognition seems to enjoy a freedom and flexibility with regards to its objects denied to perception, reaching into the remote past and distant future, the purely abstract, the fictional, and arcane theoretical posits. Strawson Citation1959 Campbell Citation2002), or provide content to certain concepts, such as colour concepts (Peacocke Citation1992), in a way in which thought alone could not. Perception has been held to enable reference to particulars (cf. Perceptions have for example been held to justify beliefs without themselves requiring justification, a privilege rarely extended to mere beliefs (cf., e.g. Why, though, care about this distinction?įirst, perception and cognition have been assigned quite different roles. This paper will provide a review of debates on the perception/cognition distinction. But giving an account of their difference is, perhaps surprisingly, difficult. ![]() How does perception differ from cognition? It seems plain that perception and cognition differ at least, paradigms of each class – seeing a nearby tree, thinking about dinner options – seem clearly different. Against this background, we distinguish some main options for an account of the perception/cognition distinction, in particular concerning whether there is one, several, or no interesting and principled distinction(s) to be drawn here. the way in which perceptions seem to be tightly causally linked with distal or proximal stimuli. Third, their place in cognitive architecture, i.e., roughly, in the information-flow of the mind, such as their alleged (non-)modularity. the non-propositional nature of the contents, or non-discursive character of the vehicles, that have been held to characterise perceptual representation. Second, the way in which they represent the world, e.g. First, their phenomenal character, such as the often-remarked vivacity or immediacy of perception. Four main respects in which perception and cognition have been held to differ are discussed. Yet what is the nature of the distinction? In what way, or ways, do perception and cognition differ? The paper reviews recent work on these questions. Perceiving and thinking have also been assigned quite different roles, in epistemology, in theories of reference and of mental content, in philosophy of psychology, and elsewhere. The difference between perception and cognition seems introspectively obvious in many cases. ![]()
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