Synonyms

sensation sense_impression sense_experience

Examples

"a sensation of touch"

Used in print

It takes a great_deal of abstraction to free oneself from the primitive impression of larger unities of power and influence and to view one 's world simply as a collection of sense_data arranged in such_and_such sequence and pattern , devoid_of all power to move the feelings and actions except in_so_far as they present themselves for inspection .

Whitehead is here questioning David_Hume 's understanding of the nature of experience ; he is questioning , also , every epistemology which stems from Hume 's presupposition that experience is merely sense_data in abstraction from causal efficacy , and that causal efficacy is something intellectually imputed to the world , not directly perceived .

As_long_as perception is seen as composed only of isolated sense_data , most_of the quality and interconnectedness of existence loses its objectivity , becomes an invention of consciousness , and the result is a philosophical scepticism .

Related terms

perception sound smell taste vision threshold masking synesthesia feel