Sensual cognition and its place in the process of reflecting reality

The way a person begins to comprehend the world takes place through a method of so-called "living contemplation." Usually it means sensory cognition, or reflection of reality in the form of sensations, perceptions and representations. Between different philosophical currents, a dispute arose over whether all these types of understanding are determined by social practice, or whether they can be reduced to mental activity (predominantly passive) of a single individual. In addition, in this dispute, the problem arose that the main thing in this process is how the contemplated object acts on us, or how we construct this subject with our brain activity.

Sensual cognition begins with sensation. It arises in connection with the fact that some phenomena or their individual properties directly affect the sense organs of man and create the first reflection of these phenomena in our consciousness. Therefore, even a theory emerged that we are only given "grasping" certain properties, and whether the connections between them that we allegedly establish are real are still unknown. Whatever it was, connecting the subject with the outside world and being one of the sources of information, sensations give an incomplete, very limited and one-sided picture of reality. A vivid example of this is the famous parable of the elephant and the four blind men who could not tie together what they felt.

Sensual cognition as a process continues with the next, more complex stage - perception. It already reflects the totality of properties inherent in objects and phenomena. That is, this stage of comprehension gives us a more holistic image, which we can divide into many aspects and nuances. In this case, despite the fact that the basis of perception are sensations, it is not reduced only to their mechanical sum. This is a completely different form that not only allows us to learn something new (for example, it reveals the properties and features of certain objects), but it also performs the function of regulating this process. Perception directs our activity, proceeding from the characteristic qualities of objects that we have become known through it.

Sensory cognition also creates images or representations, but proceeding not from the direct influence of objects on the subject, but from the memory of the traces of this impact that occurred earlier. Thus, this is a generalized picture of a phenomenon or object that we no longer see or hear. Moreover, such an image can not only reproduce the past, but also be extrapolated to the future, becoming an imagination. In this respect, Locke's and Berkeley's theory of human consciousness is interesting as a specific mirror, creating an idea of the whole by its parts.

Thus, the initial methods of cognition are based on a more or less adequate reflection of the phenomenon or object in our brain through the senses. However, they can be fully considered as such only when it comes to determining the source of our information about reality. After all, information of this kind only then can be considered knowledge in the philosophical sense of the word, if it is related to further thought activity, is subject to and controlled by its categorical apparatus of logic. In other words, if every such sensual form contains human meaning and meaning, then it can be considered the first stage of comprehension of the world.

Without a triad of sensation-perception-reflection, the basic levels of cognition would be impossible. However, it is limited in its essence and capabilities and can not fully give a true or at least close to it with a significant degree of information about reality. This level is reached already by the next stage of the process of comprehension, which goes beyond the limits of direct perception. This higher form of knowledge, in comparison with the sensible, is rational thinking.