apperception

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French aperception (New Latin apperceptiō, used by Gottfried Leibnitz (1646–1716)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæpəˈsɛpʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæpɚˈsɛpʃən/

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.
   • 1887, John Dewey, Psychology:

     Conception is... the simplest act of thinking; it is the apprehension of the universal, as perception is the apperception of the particular.

   • 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

Translations

mind’s perception of itself as subject

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 覺察／觉察 (zh) (juéchá), 覺知／觉知 (zh)

• Finnish: apperseptio
• French: aperception (fr) f, apperception (fr) f (Anglicism)
• German: Apperzeption (de) f
• Italian: appercezione (it) f
• Polish: apercepcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: apercepção f
• Russian: апперце́пция (ru) f (appercépcija)
• Sicilian: appircizziuni f
• Spanish: apercepción f

mental perception

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: apperseptio
• Polish: apercepcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: apercepção f
• Russian: апперце́пция (ru) f (appercépcija)

mental assimilation of new experience

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: apperseptio
• Polish: apercepcja (pl) f, samoświadomość (pl) f
• Portuguese: apreensão (pt) f
• Russian: апперце́пция (ru) f (appercépcija)

References

• apperception in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “apperception”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “apperception”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "apperception" in Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 ed.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (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.