Preconceptions

Preconceptions [προλήψεις]

A compound word, comprised of the preposition "pro" (meaning "pre-", i.e. before something) and the noun "lepsis" (pl. "lepses"), a derivative of the verb lambanein, meaning literally "to take"; figuratively, to comprehend, i.e. to "take knowledge (of something)"; thus the compound word means, quite aptly for Epicurus' usage, "to recognize something on the basis of prior knowledge".

Epicurean prolepsis is a collective, summary, abstracted comprehension of things that follows repeated exposure to real things, e.g. one gradually develops such a prolepsis for the concept of "dog" having first seen real dogs on several occasions.

Roman authors followed Cicero in either using Epicurus' term verbatim (albeit of course transliterated to the Roman alphabet), or translating it as anticipatio, in the sense that, once such a preconception has been built on on the basis of sensorial experience, it becomes part of our "cognitive repository", and we can thereby easily and securely recognize the next specimen we encounter (e.g. the next particular dog we see) by referring to our concept of what "dog" means in general. The exact semantic equivalent of prolepsis, the Latin praenotio, or the quite serviceable notities, gained less wide acceptance in Roman usage.

It is crucial, however, that the specifically Epicurean meaning of the term not be confused with Platonic ideas, which, in Plato's view, precede experience with the real things they denote, e.g. one has a preconceived notion of "dog-ness", thanks to which one recognizes a real dog when seeing one for the first time. In this respect, both the Greek term (denoting prior conception) and the Latin one (denoting anticipation) are perhaps infelicitous, since they may be misinterpreted as stemming from some hypothetical, pre-experiential awareness.

Epicurean prolepses are as commonsensical as Platonic ideas are metaphysical.

It is also important that the usage of this term in ancient Greek not be confused with its meaning in modern Greek, i.e. "superstition" -- a most foreign concept to Epicureanism. (In the latter case, the "pro-" refers to the oral tradition, the carrier of all superstitions, and thus to the fact that superstition is "pre-rational".) An alterative meaning that has in fact remained the same across the millennia is "precaution"; it is, however, doubtful that Epicurus would have meant this in his own usage of the word. There is always such a risk of confusion when philosophers either coin uncommon terms, or invest common terms with uncommon meaning.