prehension

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act or power of grasping and holding something, especially with a hand, limb, or prehensile organ

   The primate's precise prehension allowed it to pick up a single seed.

2. 2
   noun

   in Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy, a basic nonconscious relation by which an entity takes account of or incorporates another datum

   Whitehead used prehension to describe a relation more fundamental than conscious perception.

Borrowed from Latin prehensio ('a seizing'), from prehendere ('to seize or take'). It belongs to the same word family as apprehension, comprehension, and prison. Alfred North Whitehead gave prehension a specialized role in process philosophy for a basic mode of relating to and incorporating experience.

Topics