CONCEPT AND PERCEPT
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 587 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
L.von BERTALANFFY called for the interaction and integration of percepts and concepts: “Analysis has to proceed at two levels: that of phenomenology, that is of direct experience, encompassing perception of outside things, feelings, thinking, willing, etc.; and of conceptual constructs, the reconstruction of direct experience in systems of symbols, culminating in science; it being well understood that there is no absolute gap between percept and concept, but that the two levels intergrade and interact” (1967, p.94).
Such interaction and integration is a permanent feature of human mind. However, it has not yet been generally recognized, due to the dominant tendency to reification.
Neither percept nor concept are “pure”. Any concept is an ordered abstraction of former percepts, and any percept is “tainted” by formerly acquired concepts. It all must necessarily start in the newborn brain, through some basic rules of neuronal nets operation.
On this topic, J.W. SUTHERLAND even writes: “… simply because a concept developed ab intra (with no apparent empirical groundings) there is no guarantee that it will not be real — i.e., there is always a possibility that a congery of man's mind might parallel a congery of nature. Hence, the concept has the same a priori right to be considered by science as the percept” (1973, p.84).