In higher organisms (like people), these two modes of perception combine into what Whitehead terms "symbolic reference", which links appearance with causation in a process that is so automatic that both people and animals have difficulty refraining from it. By way of illustration, Whitehead uses the example of a person's encounter with a chair. An ordinary person looks up, sees a colored shape, and immediately infers that it is a chair. However, an artist, Whitehead supposes, "might not have jumped to the notion of a chair", but instead "might have stopped at the mere contemplation of a beautiful color and a beautiful shape." This is not the normal human reaction; most people place objects in categories by habit and instinct, without even thinking about it. Moreover, animals do the same thing. Using the same example, Whitehead points out that a dog "would have acted immediately on the hypothesis of a chair and would have jumped onto it by way of using it as such." In this way symbolic reference is a fusion of pure sense perceptions on the one hand and causal relations on the other, and that it is in fact the causal relationships that dominate the more basic mentality (as the dog illustrates), while it is the sense perceptions which indicate a higher grade mentality (as the artist illustrates). COUNT 9
QSN1 Which concept does Whitehead state is more dominant in a lower mentality? ANS1 causal relationships QSN2 What is Whitehead's term for the two modes of perceptions combining? ANS2 symbolic reference QSN3 What dominates more basic mentality in symbolic reference? ANS3 causal relationships QSN4 What does symbolic reference link appearance with? ANS4 causation QSN5 What does having sense perceptions conclude about a person? ANS5 higher grade mentality QSN6 What is the purpose of symbolic reference? ANS6 links appearance with causation in a process that is so automatic that both people and animals have difficulty refraining from it QSN7 How does Whitehead describe the process of a typical person noticing a chair? ANS7 An ordinary person looks up, sees a colored shape, and immediately infers that it is a chair QSN8 How might an artist view a chair differently than a typical person? ANS8 "might have stopped at the mere contemplation of a beautiful color and a beautiful shape." QSN9 How does Whitehead say a dog may interpret the presence of a chair? ANS9 "would have acted immediately on the hypothesis of a chair and would have jumped onto it by way of using it as such."