第12章 意識と経験 n.9 - 感覚と知覚の違い
. ウォルト・ディズニーによって我々は 「本当の」犬を見ていると思いこませられるかも知れないが、その犬は 雄鶏の鳴き声をしたり消えてしまったりして、我々を驚かす。 けれども、我々の期待は経験の結果なのであるから、それが通常起るところのこと -- ただし自然の諸法則は不変であると想定して-- を表現するより他ないことは明らかである。 * 野田氏は次のような訳注を挿入している。 「これまで「注意」と訳したのは noticing であったがここでは attention(注目)と言われている。 attention J いうとき注意の能動性を強調しているように見えるほか、両者に大した区別を設けていないから、同じ訳語 をあてておく。(訳者) |
Chapter 12: Consciousness and Experience , n.9'Perception' as opposed to 'sensation' involves habit based upon past experience. We may distinguish sensation as that part of our total experience which is due to the stimulus alone, independently of past history. This is a theoretical core in the total occurrence. The total occurrence is always an interpretation in which the sensational core has accretions embodying habits. When you see a dog, the sensational core is a patch of colour stripped of all the adjuncts involved in recognizing it as a dog. You expect the patch of colour to move in the way that is characteristic of dogs, you expect that if it makes a noise it will bark or growl, and not crow like a cock. You are convinced that it could be touched and that it will not vanish into thin air, but has a future and a past. I do not mean that all this is 'conscious', but its presence is shown by the astonishment that you would feel if things worked out otherwise. It is these accretions that turn a sensation into a perception, and it is these, also, that make perception possibly misleading. Walt Disney might lead you to suppose that you were seeing a 'real' dog, and it might astonish you by crowing or vanishing. Since, however, your expectations are the result of experience, it is clear that they must represent what usually happens -- always assuming that the laws of nature are constant. |