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Critique of Knowledge
not actually. Locke writes that, whatever alterations are made in the body, if they reach not the mind; whatever impressions are made in the outward part, if they are not taken notice of within, there is no perception. For we may burn our body with no other effect than it does a billet unless the motion be continued to the brain; and there the sense of hurt or idea of pain be produced in the mind, wherein conists actual perception. In modern psychology, Prof. Woodworth gives a formula 'W-S-O-R-W' for explaining the fascinating problem of how an individual perceives an objective fact. At any given moment a man is set for the present situation. He might be listening to a low hum just as a smooth tone. But if he tries to make out what the sound can be, he is more likely to perceive it as the hum of an aeroplane.67
According to the Jainas, sense perception can be analysed into four stages as (i) avagraha,68 (ii) iha, (iii) avāya, and (iv) dharaṇā. These stages of sense experience arise through the operation of the sense organs and the mind. The earlier forms like Avagraha, develop into the subsequent forms, and all of them partake of the same essential nature." Avagraha refers to the first simple and primitive stage of experience. This may be said to be merely the stage of sensation. Next comes Īha. In this stage there is a mental element, and it refers to the integrative factors of the mind. In the third stage, we get a clear and decisive cognition of the object. This is Avāya' It implies the presence of the inferential element in perception. Dharaṇā is retention of what is already experienced in the perceptual cognition. In fact, it is not actually a stage of perceptual experience although it is included in perceptual experience.
87
66. Locke (John): An Essay concerning Human Understanding Ch. IX Perception.
67. Woodworth (R. S.): Psychology: A Study of Mental Life, p. 403. 68. Tattvärthasutra, 15.
69. Pramānamimāmsā, I, 1.20 and commentary.
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