Is it the eyes or the mind that see?

Question

Lets assume eyes work the way science says. Surely your conditioning, knowledge and capacity for critical thinking reveals different aspects of simmilar input from person to person.

Answer 1

Oh yes. The eyes are "winsows". The brain interpets the input and "sees".

Answer 2

The question you have asked centers on the word "see."

The eyes are the organs through which visual stimuli enter the brain. In the physical sense, people who are blind--or whose eyes are closed--do not "see" anything. Thus, the physical (scientific) description would say that sight is a function of the eyes.

However, we do talk about seeing with the "mind's eye," or we hear someone say (in response to something obvious), "'I see,' said that blind man." There seems to be an aspect of "seeing" that is done in the mind. Yet this is very different than the physical act of receiving and transferring stimuli. The "seeing" that the mind does involves understanding, making connections between what is being experienced and prior experiences.

So you are correct in saying that there are "different aspects" that different people will "see" in an event. The prior experiences that we have, the knowledge we have acquired, our thinking skills, and all of those things serve as "filters" through which the stimuli we receive must pass.

That's why we can enjoy a good magic show so much--it offers visual input that forces us to rethink our filters.

Answer 3

Very interesting question. I personally think that it is your mind that sees rather than your eyes. Conditioning, I believe, plays a crucial part in this. Each person has different views on aspects of the world, they are brought up differently, and not to mention are 'wired' differently. For example two people can be brought up in exactly the same way but turn out to be very different people. Therefore it is your input into different aspects of your surroundings that shapes how you 'see' something. How can we measure that the color green looks the same to everyone else? Surely we must use our own conditions and knowledge in order to measure what green looks like for each of us. We may all have a general idea of what the color green is, but for each of us describing it, its going to be different.

Sorry if this is confusing, but I couldn't think of any other way to describe it =)

Answer 4

We each interpret differently - If somebody who had been blind since birth was suddenly given their sight, they would have to learn to interpret the input from the eyes. Look at a photograph - you 'see' the image, but it is just a random set of colours in a particular arrangement, if you had never seen the item before could you recognize it as anything at all? Now show two different people a Mandelbrot image - each will see something different as their minds interpret the image differently.
The eyes see in the pure biological sense, but the mind alone interprets and identifies.

Answer 5

That's a good question. Logically speaking and trying to use more than 10% of my brain and speaking critically i would have to say it is the mind that see. I say this because the eyes can merely look but to see has to display some sort of understanding and the only thing that understands is the mind.

Answer 6

I was really awaiting to 'see' this question, and was on the 'look-out' not to miss 'viewing' the question!! Thanks for asking....
Also, a parallel question, where do you "hear" ?
Well the answer is the same. The clue first.. (the clue would help really 'seeing/perceiving/looking-at/observing/beholding' the answer)... When you fall asleep, (mind you, some people CAN sleep with their EYES OPEN), how do you fail to hear(& perhaps see)?
Now the answer... It is the energy in us (call it by any fanciful name like 'life', 'soul', spirit . .. anything), that actually enables us to use the organs to allow information to reach within us, where, as you rightly said, science will tell you which nerves etc will translate the message and compare it with your 'cognitive' faculties, compare / contrast etc with memory bank, and deliver it to the mind for its "judgement"(also called thoughts!).
And shall I further raise a quarrel? A loose theory then(as I would like to call it!)......... What you ACTUALLY call as green MAY be my RED (as I see it) but we are comfortable, because all are TAUGHT to 'call' it so since we were toddlers !

Answer 7

The eyes are windows but the mind is light.
The dreaming is also seeing so if we can see while being half dead then emagine people like Dr.Stephen Hawkins what they can see or not.
However if our orninery eyes can have a 3d(materialistic) vision then obviously our extra-ordinery mind can also have a 4D(super natural) visions.

Answer 8

The eyes are the reflection of soul. There are people who see facts that are evident to their eyes, but their minds are not capable to accept them. At the same time, there are others who don't see (psyhicaly) things, but understand them better than anyone else.

What's the point if we have eyes, but cannot see God? And all the love He has for us? Or if we were blind, but see beyond knowledge....

Once I've heard a blind man who was asked how did he managed to get married and if he chose his wife or his wife chose him?
And I was very impressed by his answer. He said that blindness helped him discover his wife as she really was and could not have been deceived by her psyhical aspect.
He said that when you are blind you learn to 'see' the others for who they really are, to read into they souls, not on their faces (masks).

So, the mind is the one who let you see things, and if you DON'T want to 'see' them, than the eyes won't help you much.

Answer 9

I personally think it's the mind, and it's only using the eyes as a tool. Eyes in themselves do not discriminate and cannot be biased. They intake, the mind processes. I wish I could switch my mind off for an instant and see really, I mean really, objectively.

Answer 10

it depends on what you mean by see. do you mean th phycial act of seeing, that is done through the eyes. Or by seeing do you really mean percieving, that has very little to do with the eyes. For ex. i can percieve things by hearing or touch. So it would seem the most universal/primary tool in perceiving is the mind which does so through 5 vehicles called the senses.

Answer 11

"See" is a relative term. The eye only captures images and sends them to the occipital lobe of the brain. The occipital lobe interprets these images and makes sub cognitive "decisions" as to what the brain should recognize as "real". This sub cognitive process is different for each individual, but inevitably leads to the same cognition of three dimensional space.