A recognizing apparatus is provided for recognizing a class to which an inputted characteristic pattern belongs from among a plurality of classes to be discriminated using a neural network. The classes are classified into a plurality of categories. The apparatus includes a network selecting portion for selecting a category to which the inputted characteristic pattern belongs and for selecting a neural network for use in discriminating the class to which the inputted characteristic pattern belongs in the selected category. The apparatus further includes a network memory portion, a network setting portion and a details discriminating portion. The network memory portion stores structures of a plurality of neural networks which have finished learning for respective categories, weights of the neural networks set by the learning and a plurality of discriminating algorithms to be used when the classes are discriminated by the neural networks. The network setting portion sets the structure and weights of a neural network selected by the network selecting portion and a discriminating alogrithm appropriate to the selected category. The details discriminating portion recognizes the class to which the inputted characteristic pattern belongs by performing the details discriminating operation using the neural network set by the neural network setting portion.