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Is perception reality?
#1
Is perception reality?
"perception is reality"
My dad and I got into a debate about this popular statement. He says it's true, however I disagree completely.

One of his arguments was this: If everyone thinks Paris Hilton is a slut, then the reality is she has to live with the reputation.

My argument is that the quote is incorrect on a factual level. Perceptions can be wrong and unrealistic.

People perceive God to be real and answer their prayers. That doesn't mean he IS real.
Drunk people perceive some individuals to be more attractive than they really are in reality.


People believe what they want to believe at times.
I think the correct version of this quote would be something like:
"Your perception is your reality"

What do you feel about the quote "Perception is reality"?
Is it true or false?
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful with out having to believe there are fairies at the bottom of it to?" -Douglas Adams.Heart
Pastafarian
I Evolved!
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#2
RE: Is perception reality?
I think it can be cut down more than that. Reality is in essence the set of all things that are real. We know for a fact we cannot perceive certain things under certain conditions (i.e. being drunk, feverish, just general hallucinations) so we cannot base our view of reality on these.

A better quote would be "The combination of everyone's perceptions often constitutes a good basis for reality".

Of course this doesn't work all the time, because the majority of people believe in God, and as we all know this is ridiculous. There is a difference I think between what is visually perceptive and what is perceptive in one's mind alone.
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#3
RE: Is perception reality?
I think perception and reality are separate things, although they often coincide.

If there was no one, or no life at all, human or otherwise, here to perceive the universe, it would still exist, it would still be real. It would still be reality, that's how I see it anyway.

And on the other hand, indeed, people can perceive things that aren't actually there, that aren't real in 'reality'. But then on the other hand, there is still ONE sense they are real and still part of reality when they're deluded perceptions - they're still real in the brain of the deluded perceiver.

Even delusions are real in reality if you are talking about the fact they are real in the person's brain but that's it. It's all in their head and since the delusion in their head is part of reality, it is real in THAT sense - but it doesn't have to remotely correspond to reality outside their head - it can of course, just be a delusion. As with God(s).

EvF

EDIT: I forgot to say, good thread btw. I've thought about this myself before - surprised I didn't create a thread on it myself.
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#4
RE: Is perception reality?
Quote:In the case of visual perception, some people can actually see the percept shift in their mind's eye. Others, who are not picture thinkers, may not necessarily perceive the 'shape-shifting' as their world changes. The 'esemplastic' nature has been shown by experiment: an ambiguous image has multiple interpretations on the perceptual level. The question, "Is the glass half empty or half full?" serves to demonstrate the way an object can be perceived in different ways.

Just as one object can give rise to multiple percepts, so an object may fail to give rise to any percept at all: if the percept has no grounding in a person's experience, the person may literally not perceive it.

The processes of perception routinely alter what humans see. When people view something with a preconceived idea about it, they tend to take those preconceived ideas and see them whether or not they are there. This problem stems from the fact that humans are unable to understand new information, without the inherent bias of their previous knowledge. A person’s knowledge creates his or her reality as much as the truth, because the human mind can only contemplate that to which it has been exposed. When objects are viewed without understanding, the mind will try to reach for something that it already recognizes, in order to process what it is viewing. That which most closely relates to the unfamiliar from our past experiences, makes up what we see when we look at things that we don’t comprehend.

This confusing ambiguity of perception is exploited in human technologies such as camouflage, and also in biological mimicry, for example by Peacock butterflies, whose wings bear eye markings that birds respond to as though they were the eyes of a dangerous predator. Perceptual ambiguity is not restricted to vision. For example, recent touch perception research Robles-De-La-Torre & Hayward 2001 found that kinesthesia based haptic perception strongly relies on the forces experienced during touch

Cognitive theories of perception assume there is a poverty of stimulus. This (with reference to perception) is the claim that sensation are, by themselves, unable to provide a unique description of the world. Sensations require 'enriching', which is the role of the mental model. A different type of theory is the perceptual ecology approach of James J. Gibson. Gibson rejected the assumption of a poverty of stimulus by rejecting the notion that perception is based in sensations. Instead, he investigated what information is actually presented to the perceptual systems. He and the psychologists who work within this paradigm detailed how the world could be specified to a mobile, exploring organism via the lawful projection of information about the world into energy arrays. Specification is a 1:1 mapping of some aspect of the world into a perceptual array; given such a mapping, no enrichment is required and perception is direct perception.

The brain, with which one perceives the world, is made up of neurons “buzzing” at 50 cycles a second, while the world as it exists in reality is made up of electro-magnetic radiation oscillating at 500 trillion cycles a second. This means that the human brain cannot nearly keep up with the ‘realness of reality.’ To compensate, the brain takes a preconceived idea about the object, then uses those preconceived ideas to see whether or not they are there. The problem with attaining an accurate perception of reality stems from the fact that humans are unable to understand new information, without the inherent bias of their previous knowledge. The extent of a person's knowledge creates his or her reality as much as the truth, because the human mind can only contemplate that to which it has been exposed. When objects are viewed without understanding, the mind will try to reach for something that it already recognizes, in order to process what it is viewing. That which most closely relates to the unfamiliar from a person's past experiences makes up what he or she sees when he or she looks at things that he or she does not comprehend.

-from Wikipedia.

What I personally think is that it's hard to say what is reality eactly. But it's easier to say what's not based on logic, evidence or lack of evidence. Gods are for an instant not a reality since there are no proof of their exictence. No visusal, physical or theoretical evidence.

So the answer to the question "is perception reality?" is no. I rather say knowledge shape you perception in a way to see what's real and most importenly whats not, since that's easier to tell. But perception cannot be reality, it can be only tempoarily and that shifts a long with what we learn. Knowledge is the key to understand what is real and not. Yesterday was Pluto a planet today is it a dwarfplanet but the later one is the reality today.
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#5
RE: Is perception reality?
I think that perception and reality are two different topics altogether simply because people influence perception but they cant influence reality.To state that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a perfect example of perception.There are many things that can influence ones perceptions such as his or her senses acuity,color blindness,preconcieved notions etc.
There is nothing people will not maintain when they are slaves to superstition

http://chatpilot-godisamyth.blogspot.com/

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#6
RE: Is perception reality?
Very well put CP, and I agree.
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#7
RE: Is perception reality?
(April 29, 2009 at 12:30 pm)chatpilot Wrote: There are many things that can influence ones perceptions such as his or her senses acuity,color blindness,preconcieved notions etc.

I'm colorblined! Big Grin Then I have a diffrent perception then a normal color seeing? Intresting never thought of that.

Anyhow agree with you oterwise.
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#8
RE: Is perception reality?
(April 29, 2009 at 5:48 am)Tiberius Wrote: A better quote would be "The combination of everyone's perceptions often constitutes a good basis for reality".

Good way to put it, but again, like you said it's not always true because of the number of people that perceive God(s)

CP, great point. I should tell that to my dad and see what he comes up with Cool Shades
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful with out having to believe there are fairies at the bottom of it to?" -Douglas Adams.Heart
Pastafarian
I Evolved!
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#9
RE: Is perception reality?
I am color blind too giff and yes we percieve colors differently than everyone else.For instance I have trouble seeing different shades of red,green,and pink.I see bright red as orange and bright green as yellow so as far as colors go giff we do percieve things differently.
There is nothing people will not maintain when they are slaves to superstition

http://chatpilot-godisamyth.blogspot.com/

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#10
RE: Is perception reality?
I think your perception is a reality of sorts. Not physical reality, or reality necessarily based on evidence, but 'real' in the sense that you believe it. So yeah - a personal perception.

Your Dad's point is good. It's what drives people away from community. People's perceptions get rooted to the extent that people targeted aren't free to be themselves. The reality, if unchecked, leads to people splitting up. Hmm.

Perceptions can be wrong, and have to be checked. I think it's overly cynical to state perception = reality, without clarification.
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