Final+Essay


 * Amel - See some teacher comments at close of essay:

“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**

Every individual sees things differently; they may perceive things according to their previous experiences (personal or impersonal), and they could react to their initial perception differently depending on their beliefs. People beliefs may be based on their cultural upbringings, location or education, and they may also be other factors. This quote can be referred to as the relationship between the external world and the human mind. One may not understand something as it truly is in the world, but how they themselves believe it to be.

To perceive is to find cognizance or consciousness of an actuality and complexion of an existence through the senses. If all our senses are different, how can we perceive, or understand them identically?

One example of this would be fresh cookies straight out the oven sitting on the kitchen table, but the kitchen is a mess. Two men walk in, one without the sense to smell. The man with all 5 senses would be able to smell the cookies, and so will be attracted to the kitchen, whereas the man who cannot smell will only see the mess in the kitchen, and would be warded off out of the kitchen. Both men entered the same room, however perceived them differently. The man with no smell sense did not sense the room as it is (with the cookies emitting their smell), but how he believed it to be. This difference in perception is due to the physical inability to smell the cookies. However this is not the only factor that can affect understanding.

Depending on ones cultural upbringing, their views and beliefs on certain subjects would vary. For example, a traditional Islamic family would be raised believing that dogs are defective, and that they should not be close to one. However, in many western societies, dogs are often referred to as ‘mans best friend’, and are often loved as though they are the members of the family. If one person from each society (one western, and the other a Muslim) were placed in the same society were they were close to a dog (they may be walking past it), the Muslim man would most likely move away from the dog and try to be as far away as possible, whereas the western man would not (unless he had a personal fear), and may even approach the dog to stroke. The dog did not do anything special; it was just sitting there “being”. It was just a dog, however, both men reacted based on their prior knowledge and upbringing. They did not see the dog as just a dog, but as they believed it to be (mans best friend vs. a defective ‘thing’).

Past experiences can also affect how one interprets the external world. Taking the example from above of the dogs: two western men from the same society, one was attacked by a dog when her was younger. This could possibly affect the way he sees all dogs, no matter how well he knows they are trained. His one experience with that dog evoked fear in him that can possibly last through out his life, thus creating a belief of dogs (that they are violent etc) and giving them a master status.

A major factor that effects perception and interpretation is emotion. No matter what cultural upbringing one was raised in or where they are from, //everyone’s// emotions are different, and so their understanding of certain things would inevitably be different. For example, taking the two possibly strongest emotions of love and fear, two women are acquainted with a certain man, one is in love with him, the other is afraid of him (due to no previous experience, just pure emotion), the woman that loves him would approach him and/or be attracted to him whenever he walks into the room. The other would be repelled, and would want to stay as far away as possible. Their reactions to the same man are completely different due to their emotions alone, and emotions are not easily changed, so although neither knows the man very well, their general and overall belief of him would be strongly fixed in them.

Although mast emotions will result in a long-term belief (as those listed above would), some emotions last only momentarily, then can easily change. For example surprise, a friend jumps out from behind you unexpectedly, and you, for a split second, feel fear due to the extent of the surprise. But once you realize it was your friend, that fear changes, maybe to a humourous feeling, or even anger. The point is, that moment your friend jumped out, you instinctively felt fear, when there was in fact nothing to be fearful of.

A belief is a form of acceptance. It forms us humans and defines us for what we are as individuals. Beliefs tend to be strong, so in order for them to break, it in turn needs something strong to be rid of it. Beliefs shape us, and are often the basis of our actions and thought. Humans like to know. We do not like to know of an existence of something without knowing its meaning, background, or simply what it is, so, based on our beliefs, we as a species define things and are so sure that it is correct. An example of this is of the ancient Greeks, whenever there was a storm in the sea, they did not know what the storm was, or why it occurred and bought them such misery (broken ships, death etc), so they believed that it was Neptune, and he was angry. This gave them an answer, which relieved them from the strong curiousity that overwhelmed them, and that bought them this uncertainty.

....................... Amel


 * __ “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 __**

SUMMARY: Individuals see things differently depending on their previous experiences and on their beliefs. In general people may not understand something as it truly is in the world, but will have an understanding of what they themselves believe it to be.

Areas of relative strength: · Clear effort to introduce the topic and frame the question as both complex and interesting. · Good use of the question format in defining perception. You leave no room for misunderstanding here. If our senses are different then we by definition perceive differently. · Cookies and kitchen example – extremely original and thought provoking. You leave some interesting questions unasked here, including possible responses to the kitchen by other humans (tall, short, blind, hard of hearing, those in a wheel chair, etc….) · Interesting use of the dog analogy as well. You have a very straight forward, simplified way

Areas of relative growth: · Most important: finish strong. We have an inspired essay going here and then it seems to pause mid way to a conclusion. · Watch your use of tense and subject / verb continuity. For example, be wary of discussing ‘belief’ and then two sentences later morph into ‘beliefs’ when you are still using the pronoun ‘it’. · Consider the second and third layers of your initial arguments and present them. For example, when you discuss the emotion of surprise as part instinct and part learned remember to pause and explain the various layers of thinking present. Are there human activities where instincts are used consciously rather than simply masked or compensated for? · With practice next year, your writing skills will improve measurably. It will be important · to ask questions early and often regarding the writing process and your hunt for evidence to back up your arguments.

Mr. T