preconception

n.
An opinion or conception formed in advance of adequate knowledge or experience, especially a prejudice or bias.

n

Definition: idea formed before event occurs or facts received
Antonyms: ignorance

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In the strict sense, the term "preconception" in the work of Wilfred R. Bion refers to a necessary antecedent to all forms of thought (be it a conception, concept, or deductive system). When a preconception is "realized," that is, comes into contact with sensory data close to it, it becomes a conception and a concept. Bion later greatly expanded and generalized this notion.

In Bion's theory, preconception functions like the categories in Emmanuel Kant's epistemological theory, that is, as an innate predisposition to receive certain information, as the form of thought. The term designates a state of expectancy.

This formulation theoretically grounds the innate character of preconception. The example of preconception that Bion repeatedly gives, the nursling's expectation of the breast that provides nourishment, suggests Freud's notion of primal fantasies. From this perspective, the infant need not receive, for example, a threat of castration to be subject to the castration complex, because the infant can have primal fantasies of sexual mutilation.

Later, in his Elements of Psycho-Analysis (1963), Bion readjusted the term and eliminated references to the innate and phylogenetic aspects of preconception. With regard to his grid, Bion explained that each element along the vertical axis functions as a preconception relative to the terms that follow on the same line, with the exception of the saturated beta elements. In addition, the grid as a whole functions as a preconception. The analyst's free-floating attention is also like preconception, in that it involves a state of expectation induced in the analyst by the analyst's personality and training.

With the aim of producing a more abstract and expanded formulation, Bion proposed representing preconception by means of a function (preconception) and an unknown variable (realization). Once a realization becomes known (agitation, curiosity, castration, etc.), it becomes a constant.

Bion developed the term "preconception" by generalizing and concretizing it, yet such development does not fully comport with the genetic importance that Bion attributed to it in the formation of thoughts or with its epistemological role in resolving certain conundrums of psychoanalysis (empiricism versus innatism).

Bibliography

Bion, Wilfred R. (1962a). Learning from experience. London: Heinemann.

——. (1962b). A theory of thinking. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 43, 306-310.

——. (1963). Elements of psycho-analysis. London: Heinemann.

—PEDRO LUZES

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence
  Synonyms: prepossession, parti pris, preconceived opinion, preconceived idea, preconceived notion

Meaning #2: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation
  Synonyms: bias, prejudice

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - forudfattet mening, fordom

Nederlands (Dutch)
vooroordeel, voorbarige opinie

Français (French)
n. - idée préconçue, préjugé

Deutsch (German)
n. - vorgefaßte Meinung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - προκατάληψη, πρόληψη

Italiano (Italian)
preconcetto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - preconceito (m), pré-concepção (f)

Русский (Russian)
заранее составленное мнение

Español (Spanish)
n. - prejuicio, preconcepción

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - förutfattad mening

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
预想, 偏见

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 預想, 偏見

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 예상, 선입관

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 予想, 先入観, 偏見

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تصور قبلي, تصوير مسبق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮דיעה מוקדמת, דיעה קדומה‬

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