apperception
|ap-per-cep-tion|
🇺🇸
/ˌæpərˈsɛpʃən/
🇬🇧
/ˌæpəˈsɛpʃən/
perceiving informed by prior ideas / self-aware perception
Etymology
'apperception' originates from Latin and later scholarly use in German and French, specifically from Medieval Latin 'apperceptio' (from Latin components 'ad-' + 'percipere'), where 'ad-' meant 'to, toward' and 'percipere' meant 'to seize, perceive'.
'apperception' emerged in scholarly philosophical usage (notably German 'Apperzeption' in the 17th–18th centuries, used by figures such as Leibniz and Kant) and entered English via German and French philosophical literature to become the English 'apperception'.
Initially it referred broadly to the act of perceiving or taking in impressions; over time it specialized in philosophy and psychology to mean perception informed by prior ideas or the self-conscious unification of experience.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the mental process of understanding or interpreting a new perception by reference to past experience, existing ideas, or mental frameworks.
His apperception of the novel depended heavily on his previous reading of similar themes.
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Noun 2
in philosophy (especially Kantian usage), the self-conscious awareness of the mind — the act of relating perceptions to a unified self (transcendental apperception).
Kant used the term apperception to describe the unified self-consciousness that makes experience possible.
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Noun 3
an older or broader sense: the act or process of perceiving; perception considered with regard to the perceiver's previous knowledge or mental state.
Historical texts often use apperception simply to mean 'perception' or 'recognition.'
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Last updated: 2025/09/24 20:24