We See and Understand Things Not as They Are but as We Are." Discuss This Claim in Relation to at Least Two Ways of Knowing.
When we are trying to understand something, we sometimes rely on our senses and use reason to seek for the truth. We also use intuition to discover unknown things. As environment and culture may affect people’s way of thinking, people from different backgrounds may interpret things differently. People from the same background can even have different personal experiences, which also affect people’s understanding of the surroundings. No two people have exactly the same idea and we try to understand things based on our own ideas. The “things” we are referring to can be objects, scenes, characters or in other forms. Whatever the things are, they will be meaningless without being given any definitions. When we call an object “dehumidifier”, we unconsciously give it the definition of an equipment that absorbs moisture from the atmosphere and makes the air dry. In fact, “dehumidifier” is just a box with calcium chloride granules in it. People regard it as a useful tool in daily life without noticing its components. In this case, we normally do not understand things by their realities, but by the functions as we know them.
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Henri Bergson’s statement shows that what we see and understand is based on what we are ready to take in. We are ready to take in something because we can make hypotheses from our previous knowledge. That is our empirical knowledge which is obtained through our five senses. We are able to know the external world around us through these senses. For example, we wear more clothes when the weather gets colder because we feel the coldness if we were wearing fewer clothes. Obviously, senses generate experiences and when we are facing something new, we usually try to learn from our past knowledge so as to acquire new knowledge. However, such a way of knowing things makes people fail to understand new information without learning from past experiences. Moreover, in terms of human vision, only light
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Henri Bergson’s statement shows that what we see and understand is based on what we are ready to take in. We are ready to take in something because we can make hypotheses from our previous knowledge. That is our empirical knowledge which is obtained through our five senses. We are able to know the external world around us through these senses. For example, we wear more clothes when the weather gets colder because we feel the coldness if we were wearing fewer clothes. Obviously, senses generate experiences and when we are facing something new, we usually try to learn from our past knowledge so as to acquire new knowledge. However, such a way of knowing things makes people fail to understand new information without learning from past experiences. Moreover, in terms of human vision, only light
Bibliography: 2. Lin Qingxuan: The features of snow. Fujian Education. 2005,2A 3. Macmillan English Dictionary, For Advanced Learners 4. Yu Dan: Yu Dan 's Notes on Zhuangzi. Chinese democracy and legal system publishing house, 2007 Internet resources 5. Mu Zi: Do humans have five senses only?. Elite Reference. April,2005 (Date accessed: 10th January 2009) (Date accessed: 9th February 2009) 7. Zhuangzi: Zhuangzi, Inner Chapters, The Adjustment of Controversies (Date accessed: 9th February 2009)