This week, we learned about three mental acts in Logic. These are Simple Apprehension, Judgement, and Deductive Inference. Each of these mental acts in turn have a visual expression that corresponds to them. A Simple Apprehension has Terms, Judgement has propositions, and Deductive Inference has the syllogism. When a person has a Simple Apprehension, he or she grasps the concept of an object without determining anything being true or false about it. If I have a simple apprehension of a chair, I understand its essence and concept, for example the fact that it is used for sitting has legs.
Then there is the sense perception. When I see a chair, I sense the chair and am having a sense perception. I also have a term for this object used for sitting, namely the chair. When I look away from the chair, I no longer am sensing it and am therefore no longer having a sense perception. But I still remember the chair and what it looked like. This is called a mental image. This mental image is how I see the chair in my head. I can even have a mental image of a chair without ever having looked at a chair! Likewise, to grasp the concept of chair, I don't have to have a mental image of the chair. This is the result of grasping the essence or concept of the chair. Now let's say for a moment that I see a chair as a throne and my friend (let's call him Bob) sees a chair as a stool. Are we both grasping the same concept? Well, yes, both Bob and I understand what a chair is. Neither of us would disagree that a chair has legs or that it is used for sitting. Therefore even if Bob and I see two different types of a chair when we think of the term chair, we still both are grasping the concept of chair!
Once we assign terms to concepts, we can make judgments about them. But that's for another lesson!
Then there is the sense perception. When I see a chair, I sense the chair and am having a sense perception. I also have a term for this object used for sitting, namely the chair. When I look away from the chair, I no longer am sensing it and am therefore no longer having a sense perception. But I still remember the chair and what it looked like. This is called a mental image. This mental image is how I see the chair in my head. I can even have a mental image of a chair without ever having looked at a chair! Likewise, to grasp the concept of chair, I don't have to have a mental image of the chair. This is the result of grasping the essence or concept of the chair. Now let's say for a moment that I see a chair as a throne and my friend (let's call him Bob) sees a chair as a stool. Are we both grasping the same concept? Well, yes, both Bob and I understand what a chair is. Neither of us would disagree that a chair has legs or that it is used for sitting. Therefore even if Bob and I see two different types of a chair when we think of the term chair, we still both are grasping the concept of chair!
Once we assign terms to concepts, we can make judgments about them. But that's for another lesson!