Man Is the Measure - Sense Perception

7. What does Abel mean when he says to "perceive is to solve a problem?"

When Abel says that to "perceive is to solve a problem," he means that our eyes and brains coordinate how objects look at different distances, from different directions, and under different light, and show us an object to which we attribute to a constant size, shape, and color. Gestalt psychologists stress how we tend to perceive well-defined patterns and wholes which are not really there, by integrating heterogeneous cues and filling in contours. One example is that my brain automatically told me to write 'friend' rather than 'fiend' when asked to copy down exactly what the test said on one of the sense perception test questions. My brain auto-corrected the spelling. Additionally, while in Italy this summer with my family and my cousins, we were walking along the  beach, and a young girl yelled "Ciao" (Italian for hello). As I knew that "Ciao" meant hello in Italian, my brain automatically told me to yell "Hi" back at the girl because that is what I perceived. I did yell back "Hi," but my entire family told me afterwards that the girl had indeed greeted me in Italian.

8. What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things "naturally look?" 

The term "realism" in art is used to describe the conventions familiar to us as Americans, but "flat" Japanese paintings and the Bayeux tapestries are both equally realistic because they describe the conventions that are similar to the Japanese and the French respectively. Each culture takes for granted its own "distortions" and "abstractions." Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon shows the nose and profile and the eye in front view; twentieth-century Europeans found this a revolutionary distortion, but ancient Egyptians considered this to be the "natural" way of painting. 

9. What is the significance of the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of convention demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph? 

The story of Durer's rhinoceros story is significant because it illustrates the overwhelming weight of tradition in determining representation, even when an actual model is before the artist's eyes. When James Bruce who was familiar with Durer's woodcut of a rhinoceros traveled to Africa, he drew a picture of a wild rhinoceros, and it was strongly influenced by Bruce's ideas of what a rhinoceros should look like based off of Durer's woodcut. No zoologist can identify what Bruce actually saw because Durer's woodcut had such a tremendous effect on the artist. 

The influence of convention was demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph. An ethnographer gave a native a photograph which was clearly a house, a person, a familiar landscape in his own culture. However, the natives were not able to identify the picture. Instead, natives had the picture held at all possible angles and even inspected its blank back. 

11. What does Abel mean when he writes believing is seeing? How might this point be seen in the study of the natural and the social sciences?

Abel mentions that the belief on perception is so striking that one might say that believing is seeing. There is abundant experimental evidence that what people report about their own afterimage depends on what they are told to expect. Experiments have also shown that the unconscious bias of researchers in the social sciences affects their findings. 

At first astronomer James Challis set out reluctantly to verify that there existed a planet unbeknowst to them. He tried to prove this theory because he could see the planet (now known as Neptune). The witches of Salem and Loudun believed that they had seen, heard, and touched the devil, and some even gave details of sexual intercourse. These hallucinations caused them to believe that they were truly in contact with the devil. Additionally, hundreds of citizens today swear that they have seen flying saucers. As they believe that aliens exist, they also believe that they have seen aliens' flying saucers. 

Truth & Deception

Describe a specific example from any area of knowledge (AOK) where you feel that deception may be necessary to knowing. The example may or may not relate to your direct personal experience but make your views as a knower clear; it may be the case that person(s) involved in the example you relate have a different perspective on truth and deception than you do.

I believe that deception may be necessary to knowing while learning about ethics, one of the six areas of knowledge. Last year, I had an experience with someone who claimed to be a friend. A series of deceptions by this individual led to my discovery that she was not indeed a true friend.

While we were friends, we talked and texted often. We also socialized outside of school. My empirical understanding of the truth was that she was a good friend. She began to tell me that I was annoying and that I talked about myself too much. She told me that other people also found me annoying. She eventually told me to never talk to her again through texts and phone calls. However, on several occasions, she would call me and ask for one of my other friend's numbers.

In hindsight, I believe that she lied primarily for self-serving reasons. These reasons were probably for personal advantage. She wanted to make herself to appear "more desirable than [she] really believed [herself] to be..." to her peers. My perception now is that she wanted to gain attention and believed that drama would give her the attention that she craved. A study by DePaulo and her colleagues describes that serious lies are often told to cover personal facts. DePaulo also found that many of these lies were distressing for the liars to tell and saddening, infuriating, and humiliating for the targets to discover.

In a short time, my trust was eroded, and the relationship was destroyed. Deception was necessary to learn of her true character. It also was necessary for me to develop greater knowledge of what a true friend will do. It gave understanding that the people I surround myself with should hold themselves to the same ethical standards. I understand that she may have a different persepective on truth and deception than I. The deception was important because it made me understand that if this one person's serious lies could hurt me so much, I could also hurt others if I told them lies of this same nature.