--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To put the matter in Aristotelian…" description: "\"To put the matter in Aristotelian terminology, visual impressions are prior in the order of being to concepts pertaining to physical color, whereas the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/804/wilfrid-sellars-76053_color_to-put-the-matter-in-aristotelian-termin_2009741.jpg" --- # To put the matter in Aristotelian terminology, visual… ![“To put the matter in Aristotelian terminology, visual impressions are prior in the order of being to concepts pertaining to physical color, whereas the latter are prior in the order of knowing to concepts pertaining to visual impressions.” quote by Wilfrid Sellars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/804/wilfrid-sellars-76053_color_to-put-the-matter-in-aristotelian-termin_2009741.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/804/wilfrid-sellars-76053_color_to-put-the-matter-in-aristotelian-termin_2009741.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/804/wilfrid-sellars-76053_color_to-put-the-matter-in-aristotelian-termin_2009741.jpg) > “To put the matter in Aristotelian terminology, visual impressions are prior in the order of being to concepts pertaining to physical color, whereas the latter are prior in the order of knowing to concepts pertaining to visual impressions.” Wilfrid Sellars ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Visual impressions precede concepts of color, but concepts of color precede the knowledge of those impressions. **In simple terms:** Seeing comes before naming, but naming shapes how we understand seeing. Key Takeaway Recognize the interplay of perception and concept formation. Themes philosophy perception epistemology language cognition Mood reflective analytical Type theoretical explanatory When to use this quote - art criticism - scientific observation - education - design - everyday decision making Key Concepts Phenomenology conceptual analysis ontological hierarchy Questions to Reflect On - How do our concepts alter what we notice? - Can we ever separate pure perception from prior knowledge? A Different Perspective The claim may overstate the linearity of perception and concept formation, ignoring feedback loops. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) ## Related quotes > [“Visual impressions are greatly intensified and the eye recovers some of the perceptual innocence of childhood, when the sensum was not immediately and automatically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/visual-impressions-are-greatly-intensified-and-the-eye-recovers-some/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [Having visual impressions is, of course, necessary for seeing things, but it is not sufficient. What must be added is not anything sensible. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gottlob-frege/having-visual-impressions-is-of-course-necessary-for-seeing-things/) [Gottlob Frege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gottlob-frege/) > [“– first visual impressions are everything. If we’re not attracted to you, we won’t ask you out and we’ll never know how smart and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-bolouri/first-visual-impressions-are-everything-if-we-re-not-attracted-to-you/) [Joanna Bolouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-bolouri/) > [I typically don't use the distinction 'positive' and 'negative' liberty, because negative sounds bad and positive sounds good, and I don't think that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-barnett/i-typically-don-t-use-the-distinction-positive-and-negative-liberty/) Randy Barnett > [Whether the person should then be called "an intellectual" seems to reduce the issue to a question of terminology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/whether-the-person-should-then-be-called-an-intellectual-seems-to/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Political confusion starts with terminology confusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/political-confusion-starts-with-terminology-confusion/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [Some of my favorite songs--and I don't know if this is the right terminology--are white-boy classics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/some-of-my-favorite-songs-and-i-don-t-know-if-this-is-the-right/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [The usual terminology of political language is stupid. 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You have to be fearless.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-jordan/being-an-artist-is-like-being-an-athlete-you-have-to-be-in-there/) [Lawrence Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-jordan/) > [I never studied film theory, so I don't know the terminology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-moyle/i-never-studied-film-theory-so-i-don-t-know-the-terminology/) Allan Moyle > [This labour of the artist to discover a means of apprehending beneath matter and experience, beneath words, something different from their appearance, is of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-labour-of-the-artist-to-discover-a-means-of-apprehending-beneath/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I assume my stance, and take back the club, low, slowly; at the top, my eyes fog over, and my joints dip and swirl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/i-assume-my-stance-and-take-back-the-club-low-slowly-at-the-top-my/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) ## More by Wilfrid Sellars > [ \[T\]he categories of intentionality are nothing more nor less than the metalinguistic categories in terms of which we talk epistemically about overt speech as… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfrid-sellars/t-he-categories-of-intentionality-are-nothing-more-nor-less-than-the/) Wilfrid Sellars > [The interpretation of thought as ""inner speech" has taken different forms, and has been used to clarify a variety of problems--thus problems pertaining to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfrid-sellars/the-interpretation-of-thought-as-inner-speech-has-taken-different/) Wilfrid Sellars Explore all 3 Wilfrid Sellars quotes ## More Color quotes > [We never really perceive what color is physically!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/we-never-really-perceive-what-color-is-physically/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The color of somebody's skin or the way he wears his hair or clothes has nothing to do with anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-color-of-somebody-s-skin-or-the-way-he-wears-his-hair-or-clothes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > ['Lovecraft Country' is reclaiming all these pulp genres for people of color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-green/lovecraft-country-is-reclaiming-all-these-pulp-genres-for-people-of/) [Misha Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-green/) > [When I haven't any blue I use red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-i-haven-t-any-blue-i-use-red/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [A well-fashioned day - with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/a-well-fashioned-day-with-a-beginning-and-an-end-a-purpose-and-a/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. 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