Discussion
I have no where else to discuss this.
Is it nonsensical to say that "perception doesn't necessarily reflect reality"?
Pos. 1: "to perceive" means to apprehend the information before oneself. That is, "perception" is by definition the grasping of reality. "Perception" does not mean "qualitative, value-based, sentiment-based, personalised opinion", but it is commonly misused in that way...
Response: I think your definition of perception is arbitrarily strict, as your definition itself is a newer use, a metaphorical use, of an older definition. Why stop the clocks in the 20th century instead of the 19th century? 'To perceive', at one time, meant to collect or gather something physically, which was then expanded to mean 'to collect with the senses', and then expanded again to mean to understand or comprehend. Considering that the definitions of 'understand' extend from 'to grasp meaning' to 'to explain or interpret in one of a number of ways,' it would follow that 'perceive' has a similar spectrum of meaning.
I think that it's reasonable, even logical, that the list of definitions for 'perceive' expand, as it has, to include the meanings 'to interpret' or 'to form an opinion', because for a concept to reflect reality it has to be validated, but not all concepts can be validated. Prior to validation, a perception looks more like an opinion, intermediate judgment, or belief. When information is easily validated, either by reference or experimental proof, it's possible for perception to reflect what is real or true. But when humans investigate something that has yet to be proven, their perception technically is always in a state of 'unreality' as they continue to gather and check the authenticity of their evidence.
The way that you would use the word 'perceive'--to take in information that reflects reality--would still lead to something one would call a perception (as a 'perception' is simply the result of the perceiving process) but still not reflect reality. For instance, a person can look at a whale and correctly perceive that it has fins, a tale, and swims in the ocean and develop the perception--the concept--the generalization from particulars--that the whale is a fish. Because we know more than just those things about whales, one can invalidate that perception and identify it as a mis-perception. But, if the only information we had about whales consisted of those three things, then there is no way to validate or invalidate the perception. The perception would persist, until further research, but not reflect reality. Hence, elsewhere, I wrote that I understand that perception does not necessarily reflect reality--one may not have complete or accurate information, even though one has understood what is available.
The unproven perceptions people have appear similar to interpretations, so the word "perceive" is naturally used in new ways to include new the definition. In this case, the new use is both logical and gains wider acceptance, as opposed to the word 'irregardless' which is illogical and still gains acceptance.
Is it nonsensical to say that "perception doesn't necessarily reflect reality"?
Pos. 1: "to perceive" means to apprehend the information before oneself. That is, "perception" is by definition the grasping of reality. "Perception" does not mean "qualitative, value-based, sentiment-based, personalised opinion", but it is commonly misused in that way...
Response: I think your definition of perception is arbitrarily strict, as your definition itself is a newer use, a metaphorical use, of an older definition. Why stop the clocks in the 20th century instead of the 19th century? 'To perceive', at one time, meant to collect or gather something physically, which was then expanded to mean 'to collect with the senses', and then expanded again to mean to understand or comprehend. Considering that the definitions of 'understand' extend from 'to grasp meaning' to 'to explain or interpret in one of a number of ways,' it would follow that 'perceive' has a similar spectrum of meaning.
I think that it's reasonable, even logical, that the list of definitions for 'perceive' expand, as it has, to include the meanings 'to interpret' or 'to form an opinion', because for a concept to reflect reality it has to be validated, but not all concepts can be validated. Prior to validation, a perception looks more like an opinion, intermediate judgment, or belief. When information is easily validated, either by reference or experimental proof, it's possible for perception to reflect what is real or true. But when humans investigate something that has yet to be proven, their perception technically is always in a state of 'unreality' as they continue to gather and check the authenticity of their evidence.
The way that you would use the word 'perceive'--to take in information that reflects reality--would still lead to something one would call a perception (as a 'perception' is simply the result of the perceiving process) but still not reflect reality. For instance, a person can look at a whale and correctly perceive that it has fins, a tale, and swims in the ocean and develop the perception--the concept--the generalization from particulars--that the whale is a fish. Because we know more than just those things about whales, one can invalidate that perception and identify it as a mis-perception. But, if the only information we had about whales consisted of those three things, then there is no way to validate or invalidate the perception. The perception would persist, until further research, but not reflect reality. Hence, elsewhere, I wrote that I understand that perception does not necessarily reflect reality--one may not have complete or accurate information, even though one has understood what is available.
The unproven perceptions people have appear similar to interpretations, so the word "perceive" is naturally used in new ways to include new the definition. In this case, the new use is both logical and gains wider acceptance, as opposed to the word 'irregardless' which is illogical and still gains acceptance.
Edited by 35secToNuvolari on Wednesday 16th June 15:54
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