apperception

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French aperception (modern Latin apperceptio, used by Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /apəˈsɛpʃən/

Noun

apperception (countable and uncountable; plural apperceptions)

1. (uncountable, psychology and philosophy, especially Kantianism) The mind's perception of itself as the subject or actor in its own states, unifying past and present experiences; self-consciousness, perception that reflects upon itself.
2. (uncountable) Psychological or mental perception; recognition.
   • 2009, Adam Roberts, Yellow Blue Tibia:

     For as she smiled I was gifted a glimpse past the apperception of an anonymous spherical quantity of human flesh; and into the individual.

3. (countable, psychology) The general process or a particular act of mental assimilation of new experience into the totality of one's past experience.

Related terms

• apperceive
• apperceptive

References

• “apperception” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• apperception in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “apperception” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "apperception" in Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2007 Microsoft Corporation.
• "apperception" in Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 ed.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
• Dictionary of Philosophy, Dagobert D. Runes (ed.), Philosophical Library, 1962. See: "Apperception" by Otto F. Kkraushaar, p. 15.