Topics Mind

Question What is the difference between sensation and perception? Can you have perception without a sensation?

Accepted:
November 12, 2009

Comments

There are no agreed upon answers to your questions, but here are some possibilities:

Some philosophers (including myself) think of sensations as as a special class of perceptions -- namely, perceptions of one's own internal bodily states. When I perceive (versus infer) that my stomach is cramping, it is a sensation; and when I have an aching sensation, it is a perception of a bodily state. If this is right, then it is possible to have a perception (of a nearby house, say) without having a sensation (of tension in one's muscles, say)-- unless our awareness of external states is always accompanied by some awareness, however minimal, of our own internal states (our awareness of the house requiring some awareness of its effect on one's own body).

Other philosophers think of sensations as the sensuous qualities (or "qualia") that accompany many experiences. The sensuous quality of redness and the sensuous quality of a minor chord count as sensations on this view. If someone can perceive that an apple is red without experiencing the sensuous quality of redness, or if my experience of a minor chord lacks a sensous quality, then it is possible to have perception without sensation; otherwise.

Most philosophers agree that perception is an especially direct way of gaining knowledge, but there are many competing accounts of what gives it this special directness. If the requisite directness depends on either bodily inwardness or sensuous character, then perception will not be possible without sensation.

Question What is the difference between sensation and perception? Can you have perception without a sensation? Accepted:November 12, 2009

Question What is the difference between sensation and perception? Can you have perception without a sensation?

Accepted:
November 12, 2009