INTEGRATION OF PERCEPTION
Contents:
Sensations are the effects of the environment on our senses, which means identical sensations are the same one effect, and hence, the same one fact of reality or the same one aspect of things in reality. Perceptions are sensations retained in a specific order (i.e. in a specific spatial and temporal order) which the mind can focus on as a whole. Hence, perceptions can be broken down into smaller perceptions and sensations. Similarities, hence, show the existence of identical parts of the perception (ultimately based on identical sensations), while differences show the existence of non-identical parts of the perception (ultimately based on non-identical sensations).
ASIDE: The law of identity, causality and interpreting perceptions:
One might ask: if perceptions are, at their core, drawn from the effects of the environment, how can we know what caused these effects (given that an effect can have more than one cause)? The answer: an entity acts only according to its identity, and thus, the more effects one grasps from one source, the more one knows what causes do and do not lead to the effects, and consequently, the more one knows of the identity of the entity or entities being perceived. For example, if we grasp a green, leaf-shaped entity, we may question whether it is an image or a real leaf. But what an image is as a whole, by its nature, is not what a real leaf is as a whole, which means there are other effects that would arise from one but not the other (such as touch).
To integrate information means to retain many pieces of information (sensations and perceptions, in this case) with one conscious unit. Such an act is possible due to the law of identity and its corollaries (non-contradiction, excluded middle and causality). How? We can: (1) identify similarities and differences between entities or events, and (2) grasp the necessity of other information based what is observed.
NOTE: To say that something is necessary is to say that to deny its existence would contradict either observations or the context (context being the sum of what is known).
Integration lets our conscious focus hold vastly more information with the same effort. Information lets us know about the objects in our environment and the nature of their actions. Hence, given a purpose, the more information we integrate, the more we can hold in focus, the more information we can relate to our purpose and the more wisely (and thus, effectively) we can pursue our purpose, especially with respect to a broader context.
Hence, we ask: how are perceptions integrated?
Perception presupposes goal-directed behaviour. In other words, it is goal-directed, i.e. purposeful action that separates a perceiving entity from a merely interacting entity. Evidently then, if perceptions are to be integrated, they are to be integrated by a purposeful entity and not a purposeless one, i.e. with purpose and not without.
NOTE: Concepts such as goal or purpose can be identified objectively without grasping the metaphysical source of these concepts (which is life, as we shall prove in ethics); hence, goal and purpose here are not floating concepts drawing from a topic that comes later, even though we have not yet grasped their metaphysical source.
A purpose, to be pursued in fact, needs to be pursued in the purposeful entity’s environment. Thus, by extension, for purposeful, perceiving entities, a purpose is pursued in relation to a specific set of perceived facts that relate to the entity’s environment (note that a “perceived fact” is not “perception as opposed to reality” but “perception of reality”). In other words, a purpose as well as any perception considered in pursuit of the purpose are considered in a context.
Hence, perceptions are integrated based on two aspects: purpose and context. Thus, to retain many perceptions purposefully with fewer conscious units, we need to find the similarities between the perceptions that necessitate and are necessitated by the characteristics that relate to the object of our purpose within a certain context.
This serves as the key link between perceptions and unit-perception.
NOTE: If X necessitates Y in a given context, i.e. based on the sum of what is known, then X implies Y. Now, note that saying “X necessitates Y” is the same as saying “Y is necessitated by X”. Hence, if X necessitates and is necessitated by Y, then X and Y imply each other, i.e. the existence of X and Y are inseparable such that it is a contradiction to say that X exists while Y does not or Y exists while X does not.
We can integrate even further by finding the similarities that necessitate and are necessitated by the aforementioned similarities, thus reducing the conscious units even further. These core similarities that necessitate and are necessitated by the identity of some X within a context are the essentials of X within the context. Note that identifying some X within a context also implies differentiating X within the context, i.e. differentiating X from everything else within the context. Hence, among the characteristics that relate to the object of our purpose are also characteristics that together differentiate the object from everything else within the context. Thus, by finding the essentials of X we are also finding the essential set of distinctive characteristics of X within the context.
What is the objectivity of the essence? The essence, as we observe, is not taken arbitrarily but is derived entirely from perception (whose objectivity is a given), an objective (i.e. real) purpose and an objective (i.e. factual) context (i.e. other knowledge of reality apart from the perception). Thus, an essential is objective, i.e. it refers to a part of reality that by its nature necessitates and is necessitated by many real characteristics that relate to a real purpose.
This serves as the key link between perceptions and concept-formation, which shall be discussed after unit perception. Due to the interrelated nature of essentials to integration, I saw it fit to include this section on essentials here rather than later, even though it would become more relevant in the sections after unit perception.