omnipercipience

English

Etymology

From omni- +‎ percipience.

Noun

omnipercipience (countable and uncountable, plural omnipercipiences)

1. Perception of everything.
   • 1669, Henry More, “[An Antidote against Idolatry: […].] What is Idolatry According to the Determination of Clear and Free Reason.”, in An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph 5, pages 20–21:

     [T]erreſtrial, celeſtiall, and ſuperceleſtiall, not onely all theſe Omnipercipiencies but any one of them is a certain Excellency in God, and, for ought we know, incommunicated to any Creature. […] [T]his Omnipreſence or Omnipercipience terreſtriall is one main ground of that religious Worſhip due to God which we call Invocation.

   • 1870, Thomas Nichols, A Handy-book of the British Museum, page 106:

     In the carving outside, a pair of eyes overlooks a kind of fence, a symbol of the omnipercipience and omnipresence of God.

   • 2018, Jonathan Harrison, God, Freedom and Immortality:

     According to the second possible theory about the nature of God's omnipercipience, God has an infinite number of discrete visual fields, which no more fit together to enclose regions of space than do different photographs of an object taken from different places.

2. The ability to fully understand the perspective and feelings over everybody.
   • 2000, Ronald Chrisley, Sander Begeer, Artificial Intelligence: Critical Concepts, page 317:

     The ideal observer theory maintains that the statemetn "X is right" means that X would be approved by an ideal moral judge who had the following characteristics: omniscience (knowledge of all relevant facts), omnipercipience (the ability to vividly imagine the feelings and circumstances of the parties involved, that is, something like empathy) , disinterestedness ( nonbiasedness), and dispassionateness ( freedom from disturbing passion).

   • 2002, Michael Martin, Atheism, Morality, and Meaning, page 58:

     Now it is not clear if Firth's characterization of omnipercipience includes empathy; that is, the ability to identify with other sentient beings and feel their pain, terror, pleasure, and so on. But whatever his intentions, let us understand omnipercipience to include perfect and unlimited powers of empathy.

   • 2005, Arthur J. Dyck, Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities, page 224:

     Approximating the ideal of omnipercipience demands of each person a positive interest in one's own life and that of all others, and an empathic willingness to rejoice and grieve within oneself and with others.

   • 2005, Ursula King, Tina Beattie, Gender, Religion and Diversity, page 58:

     Omnipercipience —even if it were attainable, which is highly question-begging— would more likely persude one of the restlessness of the task to see fully, rather than of the possibility of reaching a summit of understanding.

   • 2019, Harriet A. Harris, Faith and Philosophical Analysis:

     Thus the terms of Taliaferro's ethical theory are unlike those of major moral philosophers, including Hume, Kant, Mackie and WIlliams, precisely in his appeal to (non-moral) facts, impartiality and omnipercipience.

Related terms

• omnipercipient

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “omnipercipience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)