Chapter 4: Perception- Key Points and Terms to Remember Flashcards
What are an important source of knowledge about the world and what do they do to reality?
Our five senses are an important source of knowledge about the world; but rather than passively reflect reality, they actively structure it.
What are the two elements are perception and which is the one we are aware of?
Perception consists of two elements, sensation and interpretation, but we are often not consciously aware of the latter element.
What can looking at visual illusions help us do?
Looking at visual illusions can help make us aware of the role that interpretation plays in perception.
What is a characteristic perception and what characteristics influence how we see the environment?
Perception is selective and what we notice in a given environment is influenced by factors such as intensity, contrast, interest, mood, and expectations.
What is the fallibility of perception relevant to?
The fallibility of perception is relevant to issues in the real world such as eye-witness testimony in criminal trials.
How do we distinguish between appearance and reality?
We usually distinguish between appearance and reality by using a second sense to confirm the evidence of the first, or by appealing to coherence or the testimony of other people.
How is the way we experience the world determined?
The way we experience the world is partly determined by the structure of our sense-organs.
If we accept that what are subjective we might conclude that what else is subjective?
If we accept that pain and taste are subjective, we might conclude that color and sound are also subjective.
What are the three main theories about the relationship between perception and reality?
There are three main theories about the relationship between perception and reality: common-sense realism, scientific realism, and phenomenalism.
Despite skeptical doubts, what is the most reasonable hypothesis to account for the regularity of our experience.
Despite skeptical doubts, the existence of the external world is the most reasonable hypothesis to account for the regularity of our experience.
Although perception cannot give us certainty, what can it still provide?
Although perception cannot give us certainty, if the evidence of our senses is consistent with what reason and intuition tell us, it can still provide a good foundation for reliable knowledge.
What is common-sense realism?
the way we perceive the world is the way the world is; “what you see is what is there”
What is empiricism?
one major school of philosophy; all knowledge is ultimately based on perceptual experience
What is figure and ground?
when we look at something, we tend to highlight certain aspects of what we see (figure) and treat other parts of it as background (ground).
What is phenomenalism?
matter is simply the permanent possibility of sensation and it makes no sense to say that the world exists independent of our experiences of it; “to be is to be perceived”
