Epistemological Questions: Perceived vs. Effective Environments
Perceived: Everything that an animal is aware of in its environment.
Effective: Everything that actually influences that animal and everything the animal affects.
These two terms help us understand many things about our world and our view of the world. It gives us insight into what is real and what is imaginary. It showcases what we may think is really happening and what is actually happening in any given situation. A discussion on these two terms and how they interrelate with one another is important in regards to understanding why people act as they do, how they may be misinformed, how that may lead to false conclusions, and what consequences arise out of action.
Most of us perceive what we hope is reality. We see the sky and the ground, other people around us, night and day and we see how these things affect us. This is the perceived world. Sometimes we see things that are not there. Just turn on any sporting match and you will see a clear example of what this means. The referees may see a foul, a ball, a strike, or a touchdown, but what they see might in fact be the opposite. Perception isn't always truth.
The effective world on the other hand is truth. It is everything that is real; it is what truly affects us and what we truly affect in turn. Obviously we do not perceive everything that affects us or, in turn, what we affect. Of course we are able to perceive some of the effective world, but our perception is limited and in some cases flawed.
We as humans have an interesting position in all of this, as we can not only make up our own perceptions into a very complex view of things, but we can also perceive of a future that is vastly different than that of the present world, this ability gives us the power to change our world.
Given that we may be prone to a false perceptions (i.e. One race being superior to another, one culture being dominant, one person being smarter or better looking) we run the risk of making mistakes. The affects of those mistakes usually are beyond our perception and can affect our world in devastating ways.
By perceiving different things, how we view others, ourselves, our culture, our purpose, we can do great damage to the effective world. Some of the consequences of our actions are beyond our perception.
Effective: Everything that actually influences that animal and everything the animal affects.
These two terms help us understand many things about our world and our view of the world. It gives us insight into what is real and what is imaginary. It showcases what we may think is really happening and what is actually happening in any given situation. A discussion on these two terms and how they interrelate with one another is important in regards to understanding why people act as they do, how they may be misinformed, how that may lead to false conclusions, and what consequences arise out of action.
Most of us perceive what we hope is reality. We see the sky and the ground, other people around us, night and day and we see how these things affect us. This is the perceived world. Sometimes we see things that are not there. Just turn on any sporting match and you will see a clear example of what this means. The referees may see a foul, a ball, a strike, or a touchdown, but what they see might in fact be the opposite. Perception isn't always truth.
The effective world on the other hand is truth. It is everything that is real; it is what truly affects us and what we truly affect in turn. Obviously we do not perceive everything that affects us or, in turn, what we affect. Of course we are able to perceive some of the effective world, but our perception is limited and in some cases flawed.
We as humans have an interesting position in all of this, as we can not only make up our own perceptions into a very complex view of things, but we can also perceive of a future that is vastly different than that of the present world, this ability gives us the power to change our world.
Given that we may be prone to a false perceptions (i.e. One race being superior to another, one culture being dominant, one person being smarter or better looking) we run the risk of making mistakes. The affects of those mistakes usually are beyond our perception and can affect our world in devastating ways.
By perceiving different things, how we view others, ourselves, our culture, our purpose, we can do great damage to the effective world. Some of the consequences of our actions are beyond our perception.
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