Sense Perception: Appearance and

Reality10/7

AgendaO Look at three factors for

distinguishing appearance from reality.O Confirmation, Coherence,

Independent TestimonyO Reflect on your own senses –

shortcomings and strengths.O End Goal: Personal connection to

the material – Do you trust knowledge gained from your senses?

Quote 1O “Your appearance, attitude, and

confidence define you as a person.” –Lorii Myers

O Agree? Disagree?O What should define you as a person?O Can you fake/misinterpret appearance?

Attitude? Confidence?O How do your senses show you appearance,

attitude, and confidence?

Appearance v. Reality

O Eye-witness testimonyO Trust Senses to some extent?OHow do we distinguish

appearance from reality?OConfirmationOCoherenceOIndependent Testimony

Confirmation by Another Sense

O Another sense can confirm what you are thinking.

O If it looks like an apple, and tastes like an apple…then it is reasonable to assume it is an apple

O SCIENCE: O Pencil half immersed in beaker of

water, appears bent to the eyeO Touch: Proves it is not bent

Question 1O Do human beings have a dominant

sense? Is the confirmation from a certain sense more valuable than another one?

CoherenceO Does what you

see/hear/taste/smell/touch fit in with your experiences of/in the world?

O The idea of coherence is that what you are experiencing makes sense and it believable.

O Drunk man sees a pig flying…the next morning he probably wont believe it.

Independent TestimonyO Did several other people witness it

to?O Eye-Witness Testimony – can more

than one person back up your claim?O If many other people confirm what

you experienced, then chances are you are correct

O UNLESS you are involved in some crazy conspiracy theory!

Summarize

O Senses are liable to errorOWe can correct our

mistakes/confirm our observations using confirmation, coherence, and independent testimony.

OKnowledge can be risky – less than certain.

Question 2O Look back to your answer

yesterday… How do you know if you can trust what a witness is saying?

O Now, if you were a juror, what specific things would you need in order to believe eye-witness testimony? What would you change in your answer? What would you add to your answer?

Ultimate Reality10/8

AgendaO Discuss quotes pertaining to appearance

and realityO Look at different theories of reality

O Common Sense RealismO Scientific RealismO Phenomenalism

O END GOAL: Gain enough information to start evaluating your senses. Which of your senses is most reliable? Which theory do you believe in?

Quote 1O “Believe nothing, no matter where

you read it, who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agree with your own reason and your own common sense.” – Buddha

O Is this quote always true? When is it? When is it not?

O Whose word do you always trust? Anyone?

Perception vs. Reality

OPain, taste, color?O Is it all subjective?

OTree falls in the forest?O Does it really make a sound?

OTables in this classroom?O Are they still there at night?

Theories O Different theories between the

relationship between perception and reality:

O 1- Common-Sense RealismO2- Scientific RealismO3 - Phenomenalism

Common-Sense Realism

OThe way we perceive the world mirrors the way the world is.

Question 1

OBased on your notes, what are some arguments for and against common-sense realism?

OUse your own words and examples.

Scientific Realism

OThe world exists as an independent reality, but it is very different from the way we perceive it.

Scientific Realism

OSir Arthur Eddington and the table.

O Common Sense: A table is a certain color, is permanent, substantial, and useful

O Scientific: “My scientific table is mostly emptiness. Sparsely scattered in that emptiness are numerous electric charges rushing about with great speed.”

Scientific Realism

O Scientific Picture of Reality: comfortable and sensuous picture of our world is replaced with this colorless, soundless, odorless realm of atoms

Phenomenalism

OExplands on empiricism (all knowledge must be based on experience)

OMatter is the permanent possibility of sensation

O“To be is to be perceived.” –George Berkeley

PhenomenalismOWe cannot know what the world is like

independent of what we experienceO But it DOES exist

OBeyond our experience of reality, nothing can be said.

OWe can only know the world from our perspective and we have no right to make assumptions and claims about what we haven’t experienced- humility

Summary

OCommon-sense RealismOWhat you see is what is

thereOScientific Realism

OAtoms in the voidOPhenomenalism

OTo be is to be perceived

Question 2

O IF you believed in phenomenalism, what difference, if any, would it make to your practical life?

Question 3

OHow does the idea that we cannot know anything about what is the universe is like independent of our experience make you feel?

Quote 2O “If you can find something everyone

agrees on, it’s wrong.” – Morris K. Udall

O How can you apply this quote to society?

O What are the implications of this quote? Think about the material from yesterday and today…