The Uncertainty Of Perception Essay, Research Paper

The Uncertainty of Perception

& # 8220 ; Sing conditions what we believe believing conditions what we see. & # 8221 ; This observation is the nucleus of society and the substrate of human behaviour. Psychological surveies have reinforced and proved theories affecting the conditioning of worlds. However, failure lies in the effort to delegate the causes to a individual construct. Among the huge influences for human behaviour is our inclination to see what our beliefs would hold us to, and therefore, believe merely what we happen to see. Obviously, my old statement merely obfuscates our effort to grok the intended impression. In order to achieve entire apprehension of the profound thought the citation develops, I will try to analyse and use it to my experience and cognition of conditioning. Primarily, I need a concise reading of the thought. The contextual definition of see is & # 8220 ; to comprehend by the eye. & # 8221 ; Unfortunately, sight, is merely one of five senses. Even worse, the images we see through our eyes are statistically merely one-millionth of our existent world. Therefore, anything we see is non the full being or actuality of the universe around us but alternatively a finite perceptual experience ( by agencies of vision ) of the existence. The proficient definition of the other cardinal term, belief, is & # 8220 ; a province or wont of head in which trust or assurance is placed in some individual or thing. & # 8221 ; In context, I will utilize the typical philosopher & # 8217 ; s definition and define belief as & # 8220 ; the unreflective credence of an thought or system of ideas. & # 8221 ; Philosophically, belief is & # 8220 ; blind & # 8221 ; and is described as & # 8220 ; the procedure of doing a committedness to an thought in order to do that thought work for you. & # 8221 ; In a selfish sense, it is the procedure of doing thoughts true. Transitionally, the citation can be interpreted as & # 8220 ; Our finite perceptual experience of world determines what we will accept as the truth, and what we view as the truth will change our already limited perceptual experiences of life. & # 8221 ; Although wordy, a better intension is produced and the coherency of the construct is increased.

& # 8220 ; Well, now that we have seen each other, & # 8221 ; said the Unicorn, & # 8220 ; if you believe in me, I & # 8217 ; ll believe in you. Is that a deal? & # 8221 ; writes Lewis Carroll in his piece, Through the Looking-Glass. The state of affairs of the Unicorn and Man appears to be that neither believed in the other because they had ne’er seen the other species, therefore exemplifying the antique motto & # 8220 ; Seeing is believing. & # 8221 ; In today & # 8217 ; s modern society that axiom is apparent. Due to the Unicorn & # 8217 ; s find of Man, the Unicorn can now keep a belief that adult male does so be. Does the adult male non experience the same? The Unicorn had ne’er earlier perceived Man and when it saw one, all of the rumours it had heard about adult male before all of a sudden transformed from guess into truth, and that certainty is now accepted in the Unicorn & # 8217 ; s head. David Hume best described the relation of what we see and believe when he said the following about his & # 8220 ; Bundle of Perceptions & # 8221 ; theory: & # 8220 ; What we call a head is nil more than a pile or aggregation of different perceptual experiences, united together by certain dealingss, and supposed, though falsely, to be endowed with a perfect simpleness and identity. & # 8221 ;

Hume’s thought is that our head is the storage of the “Bundle of Perceptions” we experience mundane and from these we form a integrity or belief. These dealingss prove how “Seeing conditions what we believe.”

Although our perceptual experiences are finite, belief plays a major function in what we see every bit good. Marcus Aurelius said it best when he proclaimed that & # 8220 ; Our life is what our ideas make it. & # 8221 ; In other words, as worlds we subconsciously move how we think we should. Our actions are based upon our beliefs. We do what we think we ought to. If the subconscious can command our actions, so what stops it from commanding our senses? Nothing. Tragically, the unsurmountable uncertainness of what we see is increased even more when we apply the cognition that our vision is so limited. Doubt runs through our heads when the painstaking world that the same beliefs we have encompassed into our lives are now known to hold based on our undependable vision. This same uncertainty forces us as worlds to do ourselves reenforce our beliefs by distributing them and coercing them on others. Krishnamurti recognized this human defect and concluded, & # 8220 ; The changeless averment of belief is an indicant of fear. & # 8221 ; But why do we believe? Tertullian responded to that in his work De Carne Cristi with Credo quia impossible, or & # 8220 ; I believe because it is impossible. & # 8221 ; What Tertullian means is that cognizing is impossible when our perceptual experiences are confined so he must believe in order to go on. Like Tertullian, I have to be content with what appears to be my world. However, I enter an endless quandary when I perceive something that is unrecognisable to my beliefs, or something that coincides with what I want to see. Hence, I begin to allow my beliefs command my vision and what I see is no longer actuality but alternatively what I & # 8217 ; d experience comfy in detecting. Ralph Waldo Emerson exclaimed the really thought when he said, & # 8220 ; People see what they are merely prepared to see. & # 8221 ; I portion the belief with Emerson that it is important to cognize and try to non believe. Ironically, Emerson besides stated & # 8220 ; I hate citations. State me what you know. & # 8221 ; So I shall.

Fortunately, I have been blessed with a walking, life, illustration of conditioning ( other than myself ) ; my one and a half-year-old small brother, Zachary. Recently, he became violently ill with a signifier of the grippe. Unfortunate for him, he regurgitated most nutrients due to their mutual exclusiveness with the virus in his tummy. Zack loved nutrients such as yoghurt and eggs, but when he was fed them when it was non known he was ill and his tummy disposed of them orally, a bad intension was so associated with those nutrient merchandises and Zack will no longer eat them. He has the belief that they will do him puke and views the nutrient as & # 8220 ; bad. & # 8221 ; As sad as it may look, that is mundane conditioning that we are exposed to. With the matter-of-fact procedure of & # 8220 ; Sing conditions what we believe [ and ] believing conditions what we see & # 8221 ; coded into my encephalon, I strive to cognize and non believe in order to diminish my perceptive uncertainness. I will ever endeavor for cognition and non belief as I live by the words of Socrates as quoted by Plato in his Apology ; & # 8220 ; The unexamined life is non deserving living. & # 8221 ;