Discuss Herbart’s notion of the apperceptive mass. For example, how does the apperceptive mass determine which ideas are experienced consciously and which are not? Include in your answer the concept of the limen, or threshold.
Herbart’s view of the idea was very closer to the Leibniz’s view of the monad, but Herbart also taken the concept of apperception from Leibniz. According to Herbart, compatible ideas gather in a group of consciousness form and thus, this group of compatible ideas constitutes the phenomenon of apperceptive mass. It is related to attention that contains all the ideas that are emerging constitutively.
It is believed that apperceptive mass contains ideas that are competing to each other. An idea will be allowed to enter the apperceptive mass when it is compatible with the other ideas that are present at the moment. If the idea is not compatible, then the ideas present in the apperceptive mass will charge their energy to prevent the new idea from emerging into it. Hence, it will allow conscious expression by permitting compatible ideas in the apperceptive mass.
Herbart used the term repression to explain the force that is used to hold ideas incompatible with the unconscious nature of the apperceptive mass. He believed that if enough ideas are repressed into the unconscious, they could combine their energy that forces their action into consciousness, that in turn, displacing the existing apperceptive mass. They also must wait for a more compatible apperceptive mass that can force repressed ideas into consciousness, therefore, creating a new apperceptive mass.
Limen, also known as threshold, was also used by the Herbart to explain the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious mind. He postulated the concept of limen to describe the relationships among the apperceptive mass and the conflict among ideas. He also describes the ideas in the form of limen to explain the goals of mathematical terms in the era of physical world.