Does perception define reality?

Question

I'm working on a research paper for my introduction to philosophy class, and I'm looking for sources to DEFEND this argument. Can someone provide me with some scholarly sources for this topic please? (feel fee to give me your opinions on this topic too, but please defend those opinions with sources, either for or against) thanks!

Answer 1

First, make sure you distinguish between perception and sensation. Perception is 'knowing as'. That is, it is knowing a set of sensations as, say, a tree, or a bowling ball, or whatever.

Second, make sure you distinguish between perception and opinion. Seeing an alley with dumpsters and people as 'hell on earth' is perception in the sense meaning 'opinion'. The sense of the word perception you are asking about is simply seeing those things as an alley with dumpsters and people - no opinion about the moral status of those things.

Now, the question of whether perception defines reality has three main sorts of answer:

1. Realism. This is the position that the objects of perception exist independently of the mind the perceives them. Representative Realism holds that perception is a representation of those mind-independent things. John Locke is the man here. A present day Realist is John Searle.

2. Idealism. This is the position that the objects of perception have no existence except in being perceived. That is, the objects do exist, but only as perceptions, not as things 'outside' the mind. George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, and G.W.F. Hegel are the big names here.

3. Phenomenalism. This was an attempt to bypass the problems involved with perception and build 'reality' out of sensations - the term used was 'sense-data'. The name here is John Stuart Mill.

Your instructor shouldn't require direct quotes from these authors, not in intro. phil. - so secondary sources (what others have written about them) should do. But you'd better check to make sure.

Answer 2

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861700799/reality.html
Reality
Definition:
5. philosophy totality of real things: the totality of real things in the world, independent of people's knowledge or perception of them.

Perceptions:

A bag lady lives in an alley behind a tall building. There are no windows for the first several floors and the walls are plain and dirty. The dumpsters reek but they are not as foul as the criminals that meet there. Sometimes they will stop their car, drag a man from the trunk who begs for his life. They will shoot the man and toss him in the dumpster. Others come selling or buying drugs. Occasionally a nice employee will come out of the building with leftover food for the bag lady. With the exception of the nice employee, this bag lady's perception of this place is, it's hell on earth.

A vacationer's favorite place is a beautiful hotel which faces the ocean. It is gracefully ornate, with beautiful fountains and landscaping our front. The interior is opulent. The service is the best he has found anywhere. The perception of this vacationer is, this place is heaven on earth.

These are 2 perceptions of the same address. They are both real. But the reality is more than just their 2 perceptions.

A perception is one POINT OF VIEW. To know the REALITY of one person/place/thing we must take into account the totality of what exists in it and about it.

Answer 3

The way I would go about researching this paper is to look into psychology books, such as those on autism or other conditions which radically change a person's perception of the world, and thereby the reality they inhabit. Therefore, whatever the person perceives to be real becomes real to them. That's one way of supporting the "perception is reality" argument.

Answer 4

Oh, I minored in this miserable subject in college. Hated it.
But in a nutshell:
Perception is not an absolute. If it were then everyone in the world would see eye to eye. Example: The reality for a Communist person is the Marxist-Leninist doctrine. That's how that person perceives his/her reality for the world. While in America (for example) we perceive Democracy as a better reality and alternative.

Your question doesn't demand any sophisticated or complicated answer. Hope you're also taking up either intro to logic or logic 101. Good luck on it.

Answer 5

i recomend a physics aproach. if perception is a point of view for reality, then what is really real? is it then the sum of all perceptions?if reality is what exists outside all human perception than none can see it or feel it. with quantum physics, relativity theory, all the mind blowing super string theories and so on, what can we possibly say is actualy real?i tend to agree that perception defines reality

Answer 6

Perception and observation define objective reality. What else is there besides our senses. If something manifests itself to us, then it must be real. Beyond that, its just fanciful thinking. That's not to say there are things unknown to us in our limited capacity, but for now we can only go by what's in front of us....sorry.

Answer 7

If perception defined reality, then no one could say, "I didn't see him coming" as a legitimate excuse for why they got in a traffic accident.

Perception defines belief (in the example above, the driver didn't belief anyone was coming), but not reality (hence why there's a big dent in their car).

Answer 8

Perception and reality are often times at opposing ends of the spectrum.
However ones perspective often times is their reality.

Answer 9

Try researching the holographic model, or theories based on the same premise. That we do create our realities based on our perceptions and beliefs.

Answer 10

Not always and definitely not always in the physical realm. I think it's safe to say physical reality is a poor indicator.