The Cognitive Divergence from Reality

Abstract This paper addresses falsity and error in Aristotle’s theory of cognition, focusing on perception. First, I will distinguish between (a) infallible cognitive states (i.e. perception of idia and thought about adiaireta) and (b) fallible cognitive states (i.e. perception of common and accidental sensibles and thought about compounds). This distinction marks an important turning point in understanding the role of phantasia in perception and, ultimately, the nature of Aristotle’s “realism”. I will argue that (a) the perception of proper sensible qualities and the thought of immaterial forms or essences make infallible cognitive contact with the basic elements of reality, whereas (b) more complex forms of cognition involving some correlation of these fundamental elements require the reactivation of perceptual traces through phantasia and may, therefore, diverge from reality.