|apə(r)|sepshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: French aperception, from apercevoir to apperceive, perceive (after French percevoir: perception ), from Old French, to perceive, from a- (from Latin ad-) + percevoir to perceive, from Latin percipere — more at perceive
1. philosophy
a. in Leibnitz : a mental act in which the mind becomes aware or has knowledge of itself as it perceives
b. in Kant
(1) : consciousness of oneself as a changing phenomenon with a variable content — called also empirical apperception
(2) : consciousness of the persisting identity of oneself, irrespective of changing representations, as a necessary prerequisite to any experience — called also pure apperception, transcendental apperception
2. : mental perception : recognition
3. psychology
a. : the process of understanding (as of a new percept) in terms of one's previous experience — compare apperceptive mass , assimilation 5
b. : the perception of meaning