Transcendental unity of apperception: concept, essence and examples

History of the concept

Apperception was first described by the scientist Leibniz. In his works he talked about reflex acts and perception. Following Leibniz, apperception was studied by Kant, who used this term to designate self-consciousness.

Each scientist interpreted the method of perception in his own way:

• Leibniz argued that apperception is the sensations that a person is aware of.
• For Kant, apperception was an innate ability of consciousness, which is accompanied by a natural process of cognition of the surrounding world and oneself from the inside.
• According to Herbart, perception is the fusion of new ideas with those deposited in consciousness from the past.
• Alfred Adler created such a concept as the apperception scheme. We are talking about the totality of individual ideas of a person that relate to the surrounding world and people. According to him, the behavior of an individual in most cases is determined by a psychological process.
• The scientist Wundt was inclined to believe that apperception is a mental process through which a person becomes aware of his thoughts and perceptions.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, various scientists began to develop the concept of perception. With its help, experts explained new facts using past experience.

Scope of use of the concept

In general, this phenomenon has been considered by many philosophers and representatives of other sciences. It is widely used in psychology, medicine, sociology and other areas of human existence. Kant combined the capabilities of people. He distinguished empirical apperception, which means to know oneself, and transcendental, which points to pure perception of the world. For example, Herbart I. speaks of this concept as a process of cognition, a person obtaining new knowledge and combining it with existing knowledge. Wundt W. characterizes apperception as a mechanism that structures personal experience in the human mind. Adler A. became famous for his opinion that a person sees what he wants to see. In other words, he notices only what fits his concept of the world. This is how a certain model of personality behavior is formed.

Such a concept as the transcendental unity of apperception, in simple words, characterizes a person’s ability to interpret his own worldview. This is his personal attitude or assessment of the world and people around him. This understanding is present in medicine and sociology.

Types of apperception

Apperception in psychology is a human state that depends on the perception and content of the individual’s psychological life, the characteristics of the individual, and also existing experience. People remember the most important moments for themselves, which are related to personal interests or hobbies.

There are the following types of apperception:

Activation of apperception occurs when it is necessary to formulate a general idea using personal impressions. By perceiving and realizing new information, a person changes. His existing experience is complemented and his knowledge is expanded.

Transcendental apperception

16-17 paragraphs of transanalytics.

There is a certain logical problem behind this.

Kant's entire theory is based on distinguishing several types of apperception:

-intellectual apperception (I think) and sensory apperception (I am)

(?) I do not infer about the existence of the Self, I think and feel it (?)

Intellectual apperception 2 types:

1)analytical unity of self-awareness.

Such unity of self-consciousness, which is necessary in order for logical continuity to be observed in the process of cognition, in order for the laws of logic to be observed. Controls the execution of logical procedures. In order to know, we use concepts. The concept of R. - red, is identical to itself, should not be identical to the negation of itself, etc. The laws of logic, which were introduced by Aristotle, are nothing new.

2) synthetic unity of self-consciousness.

In order for our cognition of the concept R. Which is red to have cognitive value, the experience of givenness must be somehow connected with this concept. If this concept remains some kind of intellectual, then what is the use of it? The concept must be given. Just as a concept can be given, things are given. In this sense, K says that the concept P presupposes the existence of certain things A, B, C. It belongs. With these things we are always dealing with a situation where the thing A, which we can characterize through the concept P or through some set of other concepts, the thing is never purely red, it is large, heavy, etc.

Red horse, red dawn, etc.

We have this disjunction:

V-P or U (any other set of properties)

C-P or X (another set of properties)

We think of all things in this world as a mentally differentiated whole.

In this case, the concept of synthesis is not that we are dealing with something unified, but K has a deeper idea: an internally differentiated whole. We are talking about disjunctive synthesis. Those things in sensory knowledge *****(???) by us as “P or something” - this is how we perceive the world. The essence of this ability is the consistency of sensory experience and reflection. This coherence is “I think” in the sense of the synthetic unity of self-consciousness.

Here K has something that he then actively uses. The set of categories K itself does not explain. Our sensory experience is also quite random. K says that in principle I could feel things differently. I say “snow is white” but I could experience the world in such a way that the subject was whiteness, and I would say that in this case I was given whiteness, in this case snowy, in another case another, etc...

But I say “snow is white”, this is how I feel this world. This is my sensuality, it captures the thing: snow, milk. Whiteness for me is a predicate. But we can imagine other sensory experiences. From a logical point of view, it makes no difference. It’s even better to think in logical classes, to take whiteness as a basis. (We could perceive the world as Kandinsky writes it, composition No. 17 - probably how an ant sees this world). Our sensory experience is random, our thinking ability is random in its set of categories, but the connection between them is necessary - this is the Kantian way, which differs significantly from other philosophy. This is its specificity. This is not Descartes, not Spinoza, not Leibniz, not Fichte, but this is Kant. Much in human experience is accidental, but there are correlational particulars, coordination of sensuality and reason, and the condition for this coordination is the synthetic unity of self-consciousness, which Kant calls primary in relation to analytical unity. What is initially important for us is the ability for disjunctive thinking, and then the use of formal rules.

Kant is interested in the conditions of agreement. Then the American thinker, very original, but not as universal as K, Charles Peirce, the creator of semiotics, comes from Kant. He says that the scientific community consists of two parts, 1 part describes sensory experience and uses protocol judgments, the other part is engaged in reflection, and 2 languages ​​must be agreed upon, the language that describes sensory experience must be agreed upon with the language that describes reflexive reactions, reflexive concepts.

We can say that Kant is talking about the harmonization of two types of description. But this coordination, on the one hand, is associated with the presence of a synthetic unity of self-consciousness. But there is another connection that Kant points out. (this is the difference between the 1st and 2nd editions of the Critique) Also, the connection between concepts and images of contemplation presupposes some kind of coordination. In fact, reason and sensibility are harmonized by transcendental apperception. Transcendental apperception is what we reduce to, in fact it is not thinking, we do not know where it comes from, why this is so. If we are interested in objective agreement, then Kant raises questions here.

In the 1st edition of the Critique, Kant connects reason and sensibility through the transcendental faculty of imagination. And this ability of imagination in some ways turns out to be the supreme ability.

In the 1st edition, K says that there are 2 trunks that come from a single root - 2 trunks with which cognition is associated: sensuality and reason, from a single root of imagination.

In the 2nd edition, K abandons this, there is a more original move. Some are supporters, others do not share this point of view. The 2 trunks do not have a single root. There are 2 trunks and 2 roots: sensuality and reason, and imagination is not some kind of 3rd ability that would be more fundamental, imagination is an ability that is associated with adjustment, with the synchronization of sensuality and reason. This imagination is connected with the fact that if we have a certain class of concepts, then these concepts are defined. An image is always attributed to s-well. The ability to correlate sensuality and reason (reason uses concepts, sensuality creates images) K. called transcendental schematism. Trasschematism is a mysterious art that is contained in the soul, but we can only functionally describe it and not indicate it.

Example: we have the number 5 and there is an image of five - 5 points. K. did not call 5 points a scheme, but a scheme called the matching algorithm itself with any number (5 or 1005) but one at a time - matching some image 5 (.), 1005 (.), etc.

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason in St. The main content ends with the doctrine of trance. apperception and the doctrine of trace schematism (there is also dialectics, the doctrine of method).

The basis of Kantian philosophy is the specificity of Kantian thought:

1. concept of experience

we feel, experience (K. does not have the concept of experience, but then all this began to relate to the philosophy of re(?) understanding) the world in the way we understand it. The very concept of honey mushrooms, some kind of knowledge based on experience, is possible only insofar as in some implicit way sensibility and thinking are already coordinated with each other.

We cannot imagine here something from the 3rd point of view of K. - these are not innate ideas, not some kind of power of reason; we cannot reduce either sensibility to thinking in order to understand how they are coordinated, nor thinking to sensibility. But we must grasp this dual dependence.

When K. speaks of transcendental apperception, he is talking about what we feel, how we think; trance. Apperception makes the concept of thinking given.

On the other hand, the concept of transcendence. schematism shows us that in fact we think the way we feel, i.e. our thinking is limited by the ability to conceive transcendental schemes, i.e. give images, concepts.

In this comp. a specific feature of Kant’s philosophical thinking. We can say that this is his individual trait - but this will not be entirely correct: the point is not in the peculiarities of psychology, but in the characteristics of the type of thinking that, starting with Kant, is the most influential. Another type of thinking is possible, then something different will happen, but in European culture, in Western philosophy, this type received, at least for a long time, a clear advantage. With Fichte, already with Hegel, the situation changes; this duality does not exist. We could say that K is a sickly, weak little man, and his thinking is so indecisive, on the one hand, it seems that sensuality should dominate, on the other hand, thinking.

But in fact, it is precisely a certain consistency and power of thought that is manifested in this. In philosophy, power manifests itself primarily not in some grandiose result, not in the function of some prophecy, but in consistency. Kant's thought is strong precisely because of its consistency. Ethical philosophy is important here, but from the same positions Kant also gives an extensive practical philosophy, that is, he forms his own concept of morality (Kant’s ethics), and then also aesthetic philosophy.

Practical philosophy of KANT.

Several works, but the main provisions and central concepts of Kantian practice. Philosophy, the concept of the categorical imperative, formula. Kant in his work “Fundamentals of the Metaphysics of Morals”

Kantian ethics. phenomenon, firstly, a priori (a priorist concept of ethics), it is not utilitarian

. Kant does not connect ethics with any practical expediency or benefit.

There are quite a few concepts of utilitarian ethics:

— ethics of property in terms of evolution

- work ethic - makes joint human activity more effective

- military ethics - military morality is appropriate: where morale is higher, military actions are more effective (for example, English historians write that Russian soldiers demonstrated the highest morale in the Battle of Borodino, so the Russian army was defeated much less)

Kantian ethics in this sense is not utilitarian

On the other hand, Kantian ethics does not proceed from some metaphysical concept of goods, it is not ontological

.

Plato's ethics: there is a certain good for everyone, and by reflecting on this good, we can formulate certain rules of human behavior.

In this sense, Kantian ethics is closer to Aristotle than to Plato. For Aristotle, the basis of a virtuous act is a correct decision; there is a syllogism - a decision that is based on the ability of genesis.

At the heart of Kantian ethics is the concept of freedom—free will. This type of ethics is also called diontological.

y.

Ontological ethics proceeds from the concept of some unconditional being; and there is ethics, which comes from the concept of free will and the concept of duty. Kantian ethics is one of the fundamental examples of diontological

ethics, i.e. ethics, which is based on the concept of duty.

Classification of apperception in psychology

There is a certain classification of apperception, taking into account modern psychological teachings:

Apperception is a complex psychological process that helps a person perceive the world around him, various phenomena, objects, and people. He is able to put forward certain hypotheses regarding all these objects, guided by old knowledge and skills, and acquiring new ones.

Mechanisms of perception

Apperception in psychology is a person’s perception that is formed throughout his life. Experience accumulates, an internal state and certain attitudes appear.

To understand the mechanism of apperception, it is necessary to consider its application in real life. If you present documents with intentional errors to an inexperienced person, he will not notice them. A professional, in turn, will immediately identify shortcomings.

Perception in psychology is formed according to a certain mechanism in which the following human abilities take part:

• thinking with the help of some stereotypes;
• identification of surrounding people using a certain personality type;
• use of reflexive mechanisms.

A person also uses empathy to perceive others. A phenomenon characterized by design abilities. The individual, forming his perception, transfers the feelings of others onto himself.

Philosophy in accessible language: the philosophy of Kant

KANT'S PHILOSOPHY: BASIC CONCEPTS AND PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS Philosophy of Kant:
Immanuel Kant (lived 1724-1804) is the founder of classical German philosophy.
It was Kant who carried out the so-called “Copernican revolution.” The entire work of the philosopher can be divided into two periods; precritical and critical period. The precritical period
is like a preparatory stage preceding the critical period. During this period, Kant was engaged in the natural sciences; physics, astronomy, mathematics. Over time, Kant will draw a conclusion and say that modern science is guilty of narrowness and one-sided thinking.

Critical period

— It was during this period that Kant revealed himself as a philosopher. Kant asks such philosophical questions; What do I know? What can my mind know and what are its sources? What is a person? Kant would write three works: the Critique of Pure Reason, the Critique of Practical Reason, and the Critique of Judgment.

"Critique of Pure Reason"

It is this work that best reflects Kant's philosophy. The possibilities of boundaries and limits in our knowledge are the key task of the work “Critique of Pure Reason.” Kant wants to show what more a person can claim in knowledge. Pure reason, according to Kant, is a free reason, free from any empirical experience, an autonomous reason, independent of the material conditions in which a person lives. All our knowledge begins with experience. If a person is deprived of any connection with the outside world, then knowledge will become impossible. Without feelings and emotions, human existence is not possible. Kant asks, “How is pure non-experiential knowledge possible?”

Kant's philosophy: "Theory of Judgment"

According to Kant, people have two types of judgments;
A posteriori judgments
are experimental judgments, judgments that are possible only within the framework of specific observable experience.

A priori judgments

– pre-experienced judgments - that is, judgments that are the key to any human cognitive ability.

Explanation: The entire content of our judgments comes completely only from our experience and these are not innate judgments like Descartes. Each person begins to understand this world with the help of already established forms of knowledge, with already formed types of our judgments developed with the help of the experience of previous generations. Human experience is limitless, it is constantly expanding, so each of us, starting to understand this world, has a huge database.

In turn, Kant also divides a priori knowledge into: A priori analytical judgments

- These are explanatory judgments. These judgments have properties (qualities) already contained in the subject.

A priori synthetic judgments

- the quality of a given judgment is not contained directly in the subject, but is indirectly related to it. These are judgments that can expand our knowledge without resorting to experience. For example, Kant considered all mathematical judgments to be a priori synthetic because they cannot be observed in the world around us (it is not possible to observe the number 5), but they can be imagined.

Kant’s philosophy: “Theory of knowledge” epistemology:

Kant says that our experience does not give us exact knowledge about the world around us. It is impossible to know an object as it really is. Kant introduces terms such as:

Noumenon (thing in itself)

- an object that will forever remain inaccessible to our knowledge as it is.
Phenomenon (appearance)
is the way in which this object appears to us as we can imagine it.
A person is both a phenomenon and a noumenon, for myself I am a phenomenon, that is, I can know myself, but for another person, I am a noumenon thing in itself.
In order for us to begin to cognize an object, it must initially be given to us (appear to us); in order to cognize, we need to perform at least some kind of activity, movement. Cognizing an object, it will appear to everyone differently because we see this world completely differently, we perceive objects also differently.

Kant's philosophy. Space and time:

Kant asks; Is there something in our knowledge that would be completely uniform for all people, regardless of mood, level of knowledge, or characteristics of perception? Are there immutable constants in our knowledge?

Kant will answer this question as follows; If we consistently discard from the empirical object, all those qualities and properties that a person observes and sees, that is; color, smell, taste, then what remains is the space that this object occupies. Space is one of the pure forms in our sensory knowledge. We can see the world around us differently and relate to it differently. But we always act in space. Another pure form of our sensory knowledge according to Kant is time (here Kant, I will introduce, the space-time continuum). Space and time are the necessary forms, pure transcendental conditions, for the formation of experience.

Kant's philosophy: Transcendental aesthetics.
Definitions according to Kant: The concept of transcendental
- according to Kant, it is fundamentally unknowable, something that is not possible to know.
Objects and concepts that will forever remain beyond our understanding (the Idea of ​​God, the phenomenon of the immortality of the soul) are hidden knowledge from our cognitive abilities. The concept of transcendental
is the construction by our cognitive ability of the conditions of experience. Creative activity and search of a person, the ability to construct the conditions of experience, before the appearance of the experience itself (for example; hypotheses, ideas, theories).

Kant's philosophy: Transcendental unity of apperception

What does such a complex concept as the Transcendental unity of apperception mean?
perception
is an unconscious sensation.
(A person constantly feels many stimuli at the same time, but is not aware of them). Accordingly, apperception
is conscious sensations.
The unity of apperception
is the totality, all conscious sensations, the understanding that I am I.
Transcendental unity of apperception
is when I am aware of ideas about something, while at the same time being aware of myself. Awareness of oneself in this world. In other words, this is the unity of consciousness, which synthesizes the diverse content of all concepts.

Kant's Philosophy: Ethics

Man is the most unknowable riddle and mystery that Kant tried to unravel.
Kant's ethics is a science that considers relationships between people, and the person himself, as the highest value. Kant asks the question: What is morality? Morality
is an internal, necessary property of a person. The only source that shapes a person’s morality is the moral law that exists within the person himself. Kant believes that a person has a natural desire for happiness, and it is this desire that unites everyone, because everyone wants to be happy. But is it possible for a person to be happy and moral at the same time? Here Kant comes to the conclusion that this is impossible. Happiness and morality are mutually exclusive concepts. When we strive for happiness, we forget about morality. Sometimes we achieve our goals on the path to happiness through immoral means. “The end justifies the means,” even if they are immoral.

(source: Lecture on philosophy, Ph.D., associate professor Elena Leonidovna Pavlova)

Diagnosis of apperception

The study of personality perception is carried out using special tests:

Diagnostics of apperception is carried out if it is necessary to differentiate a person’s condition or if he is being tested before being appointed to an important post. Testing is also necessary to determine if a patient is depressed or may be suicidal.

Perception and apperception

Perception and apperception differ from each other in the mechanism of perception of the surrounding world. In the first case, a person simply sees, hears and feels. Information is perceived, but comprehension does not occur.

With apperception, the formation of consciousness and receptivity of things, phenomena, objects, people is observed. The information received is comprehended using the senses, emotions, desires, ideas and thoughts.

Through apperception, an individual can also understand his own inner world, guided by views, desires and interests. Numerous mental components characterize a person’s personality.

Apperception in psychology

Understanding the world and life occurs through the prism of one’s own experience. It could be fear, complexes or failures. This also includes various situations in life that a person no longer wants to remember, experiences that arose against the background of negative or positive circumstances. The same goes for the concept of good and evil.

In most cases, perception and apperception are two components that complement each other. A complete picture is formed due to the fact that all experienced moments are stored in memory, whether they are important or not. And if necessary, a person can return to them again to conduct a full analysis.

Transcendental unity of apperception: concept, essence and examples

The world is relatively constant. But a person’s vision in relation to him can change. Depending on what kind of vision it is, he answers us with such colors. You can always find evidence of this. The world has everything that a person wants to see. But some focus on the good, while others focus on the bad. This is the answer why each person looks at the world differently.

Unity and identity

The environment depends on what things a person pays attention to most.

His sense of self is determined solely by his own opinion, attitude to circumstances and everything that happens around him.

Unity and identity in the self-awareness of the subject is a prerequisite for cognitive synthesis. This is the transcendental unity of apperception, which should cut off any anomalies in the individual’s thinking.

What a person thinks, how he feels about current events - all this determines his emotions, feelings and forms a certain idea, point of view and similar manifestations.

Anything that is within the control of the human mind can happen in the world.

Such a concept as the transcendental unity of apperception presupposes the presence of self-awareness, reflecting a person’s way of thinking in relation to any event in life and the world around him without the manifestation of sensory evaluation.

It is important to have tolerance and not be surprised by the presence of a variety of things in the world at the same time: beautiful and terrible. What does it mean to be tolerant? It is to consciously accept the imperfection of the world and oneself. You need to understand that everyone can make mistakes. The world is not perfect. And this is due to the fact that everything around a person may not correspond to his or another person’s idea.

For example, they want to see someone as a brunette, but he is a redhead. Or the child should be calm and obedient, but he is restless and naughty.

Therefore, the transcendental unity of apperception presupposes tolerance, which manifests itself in the fact that there is an understanding of the possible inconsistency of other people and the world around one’s expectations and ideas.

The world is as it is - real and permanent. Only the person himself and his worldview change.

Different people - different perceptions

In philosophy, the transcendental unity of apperceptions is a concept introduced by Kant. He first used it in his work "Critique of Pure Reason".

The philosopher separates original and empirical apperception. In life you can often encounter a situation where people, being participants in the same events, can talk about them in different ways. It depends on the person's personal perception. And it happens that one gets the impression that these are completely different cases, although they are talking about the same thing.

This is a conditional perception of everything that surrounds a person. It depends on personal experience, ideas and acquired knowledge.

For example, a person engaged in design, entering a room, will first of all evaluate its furnishings, color design, arrangement of objects, etc.

Another person, a florist, entering the same room, will pay attention to the presence of flowers, what they are like and how they are cared for. Consequently, the same room will be perceived and evaluated differently by two different people.

In philosophy, the transcendental synthetic unity of apperception suggests that the revealed structure of the self can be used to explain a priori synthetic cognitions. This meaning is embedded in the concept of “transcendental”.

Forms and laws

Kant says that, knowing the pure forms of such synthesis, by which he understands categories, people can anticipate laws. In turn, these laws must obey phenomena as a consequence of possible experience. Otherwise, these laws will not reach empirical consciousness and will not be perceived.

Therefore, the transcendental synthetic unity of apperception presupposes the highest principle of knowledge, which is analytical in nature. The very concept of “I” already has the idea of ​​a synthesis within it of all possible ideas.

But the analytical unity of apperception itself can take place solely due to its original synthetic nature. Kant calls the connection with objective categorical syntheses the objective unity of self-consciousness.

It is different from subjective, which is based on chance or personal associations.

Manuscript analysis

The philosopher interprets self-consciousness as a purely spontaneous act, indicating that pure apperception belongs to the highest cognitive abilities. In connection with such ideas, it is not surprising that Kant sometimes identifies the unity of apperception (original) and understanding.

An analysis of the philosopher’s manuscripts showed that on the eve of the presentation of his work “Critique of Pure Reason” he interpreted the “I” in the spirit of rational psychology. This means that “I” is a thing in itself, accessible to apperception (direct intellectual contemplation). The rejection of this position subsequently led to inconsistencies in the structure of the argument.

Later, the concept of “transcendental apperception” and its unity served as the basis for the creation of Fichte’s scientific works.

Scope of use of the concept

In general, this phenomenon has been considered by many philosophers and representatives of other sciences. It is widely used in psychology, medicine, sociology and other areas of human existence. Kant combined the capabilities of people.

He distinguished empirical apperception, which means to know oneself, and transcendental, which points to pure perception of the world. For example, Herbart I. speaks of this concept as a process of cognition, a person obtaining new knowledge and combining it with existing knowledge.

Wundt W. characterizes apperception as a mechanism that structures personal experience in the human mind. Adler A. became famous for his opinion that a person sees what he wants to see. In other words, he notices only what fits his concept of the world.

This is how a certain model of personality behavior is formed.

Such a concept as the transcendental unity of apperception, in simple words, characterizes a person’s ability to interpret his own worldview. This is his personal attitude or assessment of the world and people around him. This understanding is present in medicine and sociology.

Differences

Such an interesting science as rational psychology was refuted by Kant.

In it, the concept of transcendental apperception with its unity is not confused with the transcendental subject, its bearer, about whom practically nothing is known.

It is on the erroneous identification of these terms that rational psychology is based. It is believed that this concept itself is only a form of thinking, different from the transcendental subject in the same way that thought is different from a thing.

It is very important to note that impressions boil down, first of all, to one general idea of ​​the subject. Based on it, basic and simple concepts are developed.

In this sense, Kant meant the synthesis of apperception.

At the same time, he argued that the forms of this synthesis, combinations of impressions, the concept of space, time and basic categories are the innate property of the human spirit. This does not follow from observation.

With the help of such a synthesis, a new impression, thanks to comparison and juxtaposition, is introduced into the circle of previously developed concepts and impressions retained in memory. This is how it gets its place between them.

Selective perception, or apperception, examples of which were given above, indicates an attentive and thoughtful perception of the surrounding world, based on one’s own experience, knowledge, fantasies and other views. All these categories are different for different people. First of all, a person looks at what corresponds to his goals, motives and desires. Through the prism of his passion, he studies and describes the world around him.

If a person has a strong feeling within himself, which is called “I want,” then he begins to search for something that corresponds to his desire and contributes to the realization of his plans. The sensations are also influenced by the attitudes and mental state of the individual.

Based on the fact that the synthetic unity of apperception leads a person to understand the world around him through the prism of his mental images and sensations, the opposite can be said.

For example, for each person with whom communication occurs, the other person develops one or another attitude towards her. This is social apperception.

It refers to the influence of people on each other through ideas, opinions and joint activities.

The very concept of apperception is divided into types: cultural, biological and historical. It can be congenital and acquired. Apperception is very important for human life.

The person himself has the ability to change due to the influence of new information, to realize, perceive, and supplement his knowledge and experience. It is clear that as knowledge changes, the person himself changes.

A person’s thoughts influence his character, behavior, and ability to put forward hypotheses regarding other people, phenomena and objects.

The philosophical concept of apperception, the definition of which tells us about the conscious perception of everything around us on the basis of personal experience and knowledge, is of Latin origin. It is widely used in psychology.

The result of such a process will be clarity and distinctness of the elements of consciousness.

This is a key property of the human psyche, expressing the predetermination of the perception of phenomena and objects of the external world in accordance with the characteristics of psychological experience, accumulated knowledge and the state of the individual in particular.

The term apperception was first proposed by the German philosopher and mathematician G. V. Leibniz. He also studied logic, mechanics, physics, legal science, history, was a scientist, philosopher and diplomat, inventor and linguist. Leibniz is the founder and first president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The scientist was also a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Leibniz used this term to designate consciousness, reflective acts that give a person the thought of “I”. Apperception is different from perception, unconscious perception.

He explained the difference between perception-perception (the internal state of the monad) and apperception-consciousness (reflective knowledge of this state within a person). Leibniz G.V.

introduced the distinction between these concepts in a polemic with the Cartesians, who accepted unconscious perceptions as “nothing”.

Development

Subsequently, the concept of apperception received its greatest development in German philosophy and psychology. This was facilitated by the works of I. Kant, I. Herbart, W. Wundt and others. But even if there were differences in understanding, this concept was considered as an ability of the soul, spontaneously developing and being the source of a single stream of consciousness.

Leibniz limited apperception to the highest level of cognition. Kant did not think so, and distinguished between transcendental and empirical apperception. Herbart already introduces the concept of apperception into pedagogy. He interprets it as the subjects’ awareness of new information under the influence of a stock of experience and knowledge, which he calls the apperceptive mass.

Wundt turned apperception into a universal principle that explains the beginning of all mental life in a person, into a special mental causation, an internal force that determines the behavior of the individual.

In Gestalt psychology, apperception is reduced to the structural integrity of perception, which depends on primary structures that arise and change depending on their internal laws. Perception itself is an active process where information is received and used to formulate hypotheses and test them. The nature of such hypotheses depends on the content of past experience.

When the perception of an object occurs, traces of the past are also activated. Thus, the same object can be perceived and reproduced in different ways. The richer a particular person’s experience, the more intense his perception will be, the more he will be able to see in the event.

What a person perceives, the content of what is perceived, depends on the task assigned by this very person and the motives of his activity. The content of the reaction is significantly influenced by the subject's attitude factor.

It develops under the direct influence of the experience that was gained earlier. This is a kind of readiness to perceive a new object in a certain way. This phenomenon was studied by D. Uznadze together with his colleagues.

It characterizes the dependence of the perception itself on the state of the subject, which is determined by previous experience. The influence of the installation extends to the operation of different analyzers and is wide-ranging.

The process of perception itself involves feelings that can change the meaning of the assessment. If there is an emotional attitude towards an object, then it can easily become an object of perception.

Source: https://FB.ru/article/460730/transtsendentalnoe-edinstvo-appertseptsii-ponyatie-suschnost-i-primeryi

Examples of apperception of perception

Every person has the ability of apperception. All people individually perceive the world around them, using their own skills and knowledge.

Examples of apperception of perception:

• When a person watches a certain program that talks about new films, he remembers the picture that should be released in theaters the other day. At the same time, the presenter of this program can also additionally talk about the main characters or individual scenes. However, the release time of the movie turned out to be important information for the viewer.
• The master who makes skis will evaluate the product for mountain skiing, taking into account his professional skills and knowledge. This concerns the quality of the material and its processing. A skier who is going to buy skis for vacation first of all evaluates the elasticity, strength of the product and other similar characteristics.
• While driving to work, a person does not pay attention to surrounding details, things and people. What is important to him is the number of the minibus on which he needs to get to work and all the accompanying issues associated with the trip.
• Many people use knowledge and experience gained in the past to answer questions. If, for example, a man left a woman in order to get him back, she will look for all kinds of means and useful information within herself.
• A distrustful person will always see in his interlocutors deception, a dirty trick, or a desire for manipulation.
• While listening to any music, an individual identifies familiar and pleasant sounds that he has already heard before.

Many people often choose a vacation spot based on their emotions and feelings that they experienced the previous weekend. In most cases, focusing on sensations, beliefs or emotions causes a person to make limited decisions.

The same goes for conclusion, choice. A person will give more preference to those moments that he associates with positive events, avoiding negativity and negative emotions.

Apperception

Apperception (from Latin ad - to + perceptio - perception) - attentive, meaningful, conscious, thoughtful perception. We paid attention and understood what we saw. At the same time, different people, depending on their ability to comprehend and past experience, will see different things. They have different apperception.

Another definition of apperception is mental processes that ensure the dependence of the perception of objects and phenomena on the past experience of a given subject, on the content and direction (goals and motives) of his current activity, on personal characteristics (feelings, attitudes, etc.).

The term was introduced into science by G. Leibniz. He was the first to separate perception and apperception, understanding the first stage as a primitive, vague, unconscious presentation of any content (“many in one”), and apperception as the stage of clear and distinct, conscious (in modern terms, categorized, meaningful) perception.

Apperception, according to Leibniz, includes memory and attention and is a necessary condition for higher knowledge and self-awareness. Subsequently, the concept of apperception developed mainly in German philosophy and psychology (I. Kant, I. Herbart, W. Wundt, etc.), where, despite all the differences in understanding, it was considered as an immanently and spontaneously developing ability of the soul and the source of a single stream of consciousness . Kant, without limiting apperception, like Leibniz, to the highest level of knowledge, believed that it determines the combination of ideas, and distinguished between empirical and transcendental apperception. Herbart introduced the concept of apperception into pedagogy, interpreting it as the awareness of new material perceived by subjects under the influence of a stock of ideas - previous knowledge and experience, which he called the apperceptive mass. Wundt, who turned apperception into a universal explanatory principle, believed that apperception is the beginning of a person’s entire mental life, “a special mental causation, an internal mental force” that determines the behavior of an individual.

Representatives of Gestalt psychology reduced apperception to the structural integrity of perception, depending on primary structures that arise and change according to their internal laws.

Apperception is the dependence of perception on the content of a person’s mental life, on the characteristics of his personality, on the past experience of the subject. Perception is an active process in which received information is used to formulate and test hypotheses. The nature of these hypotheses is determined by the content of past experience. When we perceive an object, traces of past perceptions are also activated. Therefore, the same object can be perceived and reproduced differently by different people. The richer a person’s experience, the richer his perception, the more he sees in the subject. The content of perception is determined by both the task assigned to a person and the motives of his activity. A significant factor influencing the content of perception is the subject’s attitude, which develops under the influence of immediately previous perceptions and represents a kind of readiness to perceive a newly presented object in a certain way. This phenomenon, studied by D. Uznadze and his colleagues, characterizes the dependence of perception on the state of the perceiving subject, which in turn is determined by previous influences on him. The influence of the installation is broad, extending to the operation of various analyzers. The process of perception also involves emotions, which can change the content of perception; with an emotional attitude towards an object, it easily becomes an object of perception.

Apperceptive distortion

Apperception in psychology is a complex process that requires careful study.

To make the tests as effective as possible, experts use the following forms of distortion:

Apperceptive distortions can lead to the appearance of hallucinations that are distinguishable from each other. This is explained by the fact that a person makes volitional efforts. He unknowingly provokes them, and at the same time receives great pleasure.

Apperception

(from Latin ad - to and perceptio - perception), one of the fundamental properties of the human psyche, expressed in the conditioning of the perception of objects and phenomena of the external world and the awareness of this perception by the features of the general content of mental life as a whole, the stock of knowledge and the specific state of the individual.
The term "A." introduced by G. Leibniz (see “New experiments on the human mind”, M.-L., 1936, p. 120), denoting with him the process of awareness of an impression that has not yet reached consciousness; this determined the first aspect of the concept of A.: the transition of the sensory, unconscious (sensations, impressions) into the rational, conscious (perception, idea, thought). I. Kant drew attention to the fact that the activity of the mind synthesizes the atomic elements of sensibility, due to which perception always has some integrity. To designate the connection and unity of representations in consciousness, Kant introduced the concept of “synthetic unity of consciousness,” i.e., the unity of the process of awareness. At the level of sensibility, such unity is ensured by reason
, which is “... the ability a priori to connect and bring the diverse [content] of representational data under the unity of apperception” (Soch., vol. 3, Moscow, 1964, p. 193). Kant called the synthesis from existing ideas transcendental A. In the 19th century. I. F. Herbart, through the concept of A., explained the conditionality of the content of a new representation by the stock of already existing representations. W. Wundt, thanks to whom the concept of A. became widespread in psychology, combined all three aspects in it: awareness of what was perceived, its integrity and its dependence on previous experience. With the help of A., he tried to explain the selective nature of consciousness and behavior.

In modern psychology, the concept of A. expresses the undoubted fact that different people (and even one person at different times) can perceive the same object differently and, conversely, perceive different objects as the same. This is explained by the fact that the perception of an object is not a simple copying, but the construction of an image

, carried out under the influence of the individual’s sensorimotor and categorical schemes, stock of knowledge, etc.
In this regard, a distinction is made between stable A. (determined by the worldview and general orientation of the individual) and temporary A. (determined by mood, situational attitude to what is perceived, etc.), which are closely intertwined in a specific act of perception. Varieties of the idea of ​​​​A. are the concepts of gestalt, attitudes
, expressing various aspects of the activity of the individual.

Lit.:

Ivanovsky V., On the question of apperception, “Questions of Philosophy and Psychology”, 1897, No. 1;
Rubinstein S.L., Fundamentals of General Psychology, 2nd ed., M., 1946, p. 50-58, 241; Metzger W., Psychologie, Darmstadt, 1954, S. 100, 128. See also lit. at Art. Perception
.

V. A. Kostelovsky.

Contents TSB

Apperceptive hallucinations

Apperception in psychology is not always ideal perception. Sometimes there is a distortion in the knowledge of the surrounding world, and related problems arise, including hallucinations. In most cases, the main cause is psychological personality deviations.

Apperceptive hallucinations are perceptual disorders in which numerous images without real objects appear before a person’s eyes. They differ in sense organs, which can be visual, auditory, tactile or olfactory.

A distinctive feature of apperceptive hallucinations is the mechanism of their occurrence. Non-existent images or sounds appear when the person himself wants it. He forces himself to experience these feelings, receiving pleasure from the current situation.

Many patients diagnosed with schizophrenia are in this situation. At the first time the disease develops, the patient forces himself to experience auditory hallucinations, which after a while become reality for him. He hears sounds in his head and around him.

The following types of apperceptive hallucinations exist:

There is also a classification of apperceptive hallucinations according to degree of complexity:

Taking into account also the special conditions of occurrence, apperceptive hallucinations are classified into hypnagogic, functional, psychogenic, and those arising from sensory deprivation.

Development of perceptual skills

Most psychologists are inclined to believe that for mutual relationships and friendly communication, it is enough for one person to smile at others. Smiling is one of the important criteria for the development of perceptual skills.

With the help of facial expressions you can get a huge amount of information about a person’s feelings. Learning to smile correctly and control your emotions can greatly improve your perceptual skills.

Ekman's technique helps to distinguish emotional manifestations as accurately as possible and learn to develop perception abilities. Each person has certain zones where basic emotions are manifested (sadness, joy, fear, anger, rage). We are talking about the idea of ​​the forehead, eyes, mouth, chin and nose.

Child Study Test

Apperception in children is tested using special tests that are suitable for ages 3-10 years. The methodology in psychology was created by the scientist Bellak. During testing, the child is shown various images of animals engaged in certain activities.

He needs to tell the story that comes to mind when looking at these cards. What animals are shown in the picture, what they are doing, what they are doing and with whom. After the story, the psychologist asks clarifying questions to the child so that a complete picture emerges. It is important to show the images to children in a certain sequence during testing.

This examination technique allows us to identify the child’s ability to perceive the world around him, namely:

• existing needs and motives;
• internal conflicts, if present;
• fears, phobias;
• fantasies;
• attitude towards peers, methods of behavior;
• presence of defense mechanisms;
• communication with close relatives (brother, sister, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather).

Apperception helps to realize, comprehend, and reflect on the current reality, using skills and knowledge from the past. In the case of children, these perceptions need to be corrected so that in the future they have correct concepts about the world around them.

Thanks to apperception, a person is filled with experience that will be useful to him in his future life. In psychology, a phenomenon is formed depending on the assessment that an individual gives to the current situation. The final opinion, of course, will differ from the perception of other people. That is why the world around us is so diverse for each individual.