different between percept vs perception

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin perceptum, neuter of perceptus (“perceived”), past participle of percipi? (“to perceive”); see perceive.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??s?pt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?s?pt/

Noun

percept (plural percepts)

1. (philosophy, psychology, now rare) Something perceived; the object of perception. [from 19th c.]
   • 1860, William Hamilton, Lectures in Metaphysics, III.3:

     Whether it might not, in like manner, be proper to introduce the term percept for the object of perception, I shall not at present inquire.

2. (philosophy, psychology, linguistics) A perceived object as it exists in the mind of someone perceiving it; the mental impression that is the result of perceiving something. [from 19th c.]
   • 1901, Charles Sanders Peirce, Grammar of Science:

     I see an inkstand on the table: that is a percept. Moving my head, I get a different percept of the inkstand.

   • 1905, William James, ‘How Two Minds Can Know One Thing’, Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods:

     So far as in that world it is a stable feature, holds ink, marks paper and obeys the guidance of a hand, it is a physical pen. [...] So far as it is instable, on the contrary, coming and going with the movements of my eyes, altering with what I call my fancy, continuous with subsequent experiences of its ‘having been’ (in the past tense), it is the percept of a pen in my mind.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy:

     Socrates remarks that when he is well he finds wine sweet, but when ill, sour. Here it is a change in the percipient that causes the change in the percept.

Related terms

• perception
• perceive
• perceptive

Further reading

• percept in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• percept in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• precept

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French perception, from Latin percepti? (“a receiving or collecting, perception, comprehension”), from perceptus (“perceived, observed”), perfect passive participle of percipi? (“I perceive, observe”); see perceive.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p??s?p?(?)n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p??s?p?(?)n/

Noun

perception (countable and uncountable, plural perceptions)

1. The organisation, identification and interpretation of sensory information.
2. Conscious understanding of something.

   perception of time

3. Vision (ability)
4. Acuity
5. (cognition) That which is detected by the five senses; not necessarily understood (imagine looking through fog, trying to understand if you see a small dog or a cat); also that which is detected within consciousness as a thought, intuition, deduction, etc.

Synonyms

• ken

Related terms

• perceive
• percept
• perceptual

Derived terms

• petite perception

Translations

Further reading

• perception in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• perception in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• preception

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin percepti?, percepti?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.s?p.sj??/

Noun

perception f (plural perceptions)

1. tax collection
2. perception (clarification of this definition is needed)

Derived terms

• petite perception (philosophy)

Related terms

• percevoir

References

• “perception” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Further reading

• perception on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr