Aristotle on the Truth and Falsity of Three Sorts of Perception

Abstract

Aristotle's theory of perception is complicated by the fact that he recognizes three kinds of perceptible object: special, common, and incidental, all of which have different levels of reliability. Focusing on De Anima 3.3, 428b17–25, this paper discusses why these three sorts of perception are true and false. It argues that perceptions of special objects can be false because of the blind-spot phenomenon and that common objects are typically perceived as predicated of an incidental object. This helps explain why perceptions of common objects are the most error prone. The paper ends with a suggestion about the importance of predicational perception for Aristotle's epistemology.