Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay Example for Free

Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay I have always believed in what I saw, what I heard, and what I experienced. As these elements play a significant role of perceiving the world around me, it is very hard to distrust the reality. However, it was not a long ago that I began to ponder about this issue more profoundly. What do I really perceive? Could I precisely explain our perception without the help of science? As I spend more time thinking about this fascinating issue, I realized that it is necessary to analyze how the nature of perceptual experience relates to reality, and to science. The problems of perception do not only lie on the subject of metaphysics but also on the context of epistemology. Discussing broad philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience is the first step to form my own perspective on perception. Identifying and comparing reasonable interpretations and support of various assertions is therefore a key to successfully solidifying my argument. I would like to begin by introducing my ideas on perceiving the world that I am currently living in. In my opinion, my perception towards the world would depend on how to deal with apparently obvious truths about my experience of the world with the possibility of particular types of perceptual errors. Although I make myself open to the reality, this fact of openness is sometimes frightened by the existence of certain illusions. For this reason, philosophical hypothesis of perception needs to respond to this threat by providing an account of perception that preserves central and significant features of perception. Materialism argues that there exists some order of reality that is independent of the human mind, consciousness, and perception. According to materialism, there is a real material world, which consists of matter and energy and obeys some natural laws independent of human mind. As far as I understand, this epistemological materialism argues that logical experience does not contain a theory about what reality is, but rather about how we should treat reality. This epistemological materialism argues that all statements should be meaningful, and that in order to be meaningful a statement should be testable and verifiable, carving away metaphysics. Testable statements must then refer to scientific properties if observers are to agree. Therefore, statements of mind, reflecting internal feelings, thoughts, and motives are meaningless unless they display some physical change or behavior. Materialism seems to offer a simple and efficient perspective on reality, which indeed appears to be in agreement with our experience and observations. Moreover, materialism also seems to be the only metaphysics most consistent with scientific knowledge. But if the materialism was clearly to be true, the world would be without purpose and my life would be absolutely meaningless. Both being a moral human through free will and taking responsibilities for immoral actions would be delusion. This is certainly not the case for all of us. We, as human beings, strive to give meanings and purposes to our lives. Idealism, on the other hand, argues that there is no order of reality independent of human minds and morality. It gives supreme power to minds over other physical values such as body. Material substances would have no existence independent of mind, or while existing, this reality may exhibit human values and morality. It may also be true that reality’s basic nature could be mind in that our apprehension of reality is more determined by mind than matter. Most idealists believe that there is a fundamental unity to the world which is simply greater than the sum of its parts. However, I think that there is a close connection between the existence of our morality and the universe as our values imply something more to the universe than just matter, laws, and physical substances. I might have become the unique outgrowth through physical processes, and my mind could still qualitatively differ. My mind may be self-actualizing while the rest of nature and reality could be still the realm of matter. The reality therefore would be able to contain mind and matter at the same time. I would also like to underline the importance of the nature of knowledge. We need to acknowledge that our sensory knowledge is in fact imperfect as not everyone has exactly the same perceptions and impressions of external reality. We are truly chained to our bodies and could only appreciate certitudes in the privacy of our minds. Hence, I believe that our knowledge and perceptions of reality could never be perfect. Beyond what we could know, reality may still consist of physical interpretations. Constructionism argues that perceptual experiences consist of representations that are constructed by the mind that express external reality. And perceptual experiences both involve objective from the world and subject material supplied by mind. In other words, my perceptual visions are being constructed and my experience contains the representations of that reality. Basically constructionism is the result of compromise between materialism and idealism. As the major focus of constructionism is to unveil the ways in which individuals behave to form the creation of their perceived reality, it involves looking at the ways the world is being created and shaped into reality. For this reason, I believe that reality could be seen as a continuous and dynamic process while it is reproduced by human beings acting on our interpretations and knowledge. My belief is closely in line with this view of constructionism. I think that everyone tends to interpret and construct a reality based on his or her experiences and interactions with circumstances. Although the world outside our minds is considered to be objective and material, it may still be perceived subjectively by us, depending upon different values and morals each one of us holds. The discussion of the nature of reality and its perception, however, does not end here. It is crucial to look at this issue from a different point of view; epistemology dimension. There exist two extreme arguments for describing the nature of knowledge linked to the perceptual experiences. Positive science, which is based on materialism, explains that the only true knowledge one could learn about the nature of reality is primarily dependent on science which provides objective knowledge. But this view does not fully explain the nature of knowledge. Intuitionism, which is based on idealism, asserts that there are different forms of knowledge that the mind has access to. Therefore, no empirical investigation is actually necessary. We could hardly distinguish above two different ideas about the nature of knowledge as they are closely linked to each other. In my opinion, science is used to prove and validate our intuitionism by showing the actual models and data. They both then provide us with a sense of justification for the nature of knowledge. Realizing that there are different philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience and its relation to reality, and to science is essential to successfully understanding the nature of reality and knowledge. We have discussed interpretations and critique of the fundamental beliefs that explain the relationship between perception and reality. As we know, it is not easy to simply conclude which theory is the most powerful in explaining such a complicated subject. I believe, however, that the constructionism is the most plausible theory that holds valid argument along with the combination of positive science and intuitionism. How we perceive the reality not only depends on the physical world and materials but also on the experience and morals we retain. Scientific data and methods as well as intuitionism and insight do play a significant role in supporting the conceptual space produced by broad philosophical positions. Because perception is a dynamic dispute between the attempts of the world to impose a reality and our efforts to transform this reality into our own perspective, it is important for us to develop our own perspective gradually. Thus, my initial position towards the nature of reality and science may still change and later shape a new theory as we go through more studies and discussions in the course of psychology.

Middle East Paper -- essays research papers

The conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis erupted after the partition made by Great Britain on November 29, 1947. Immediately after the decision to make Israel a separate, independent state, there were massive attacks on both sides. Upon reading the first set of articles, I felt that the Palestine's unnecessarily attacked the Jews and that they deserved the land being given to them. But the first set of articles I read were incredibly biased toward the Jewish perspective and, I think that because of this, I presented a distorted view of the situation. Now that I have read the second packet, I understand that many of the Arabs must have felt helpless about the situation, and even startled by the numerous attacks and massacres by the Israelis. I now believe that the reason that the fighting started was because both sides felt that they had an obligation to uphold their religious beliefs and, also, justification to do what they did. Both the Arabs and the Jews felt that it was their sacred duty to keep or regain their land. The Arabs thought of the partition as an automatic declaration of war against them. Therefore, they thought that they had to counter-attack the Jews in order to keep their land. One of the biggest massacres that the Jews waged on the Arabs was the attack on Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948, when 250 men, women, and children where killed. The first set of articles that we read did not mention anything about the ruthlessness of t...

”No Hindu, No Muslim, No Christian, We are just Indian. “

Respected judges, respected teachers and dear audience. Today we gather here to celebrate one of the National festivals of India, it isRepublic day. It is a great opportunities for me, as you allowed me to share few words on this occasion.On this day, it was January 26, 1950 we declared our country as a Republic country by adopting our own constitution. Actually, thepreparation of our constitution was over earlier than this date but we choose January 26 for this, because this date has its own significance earlier than this day. It was January 26, 1930 on the bank of river Ravi, our freedom fighters pledged to attain â€Å"Sampurna Swaraj† and started new agitations to make India freedom from the British Rule. So, on 1950 on this day we declared our India as a Sovereign, Democratic and Republic.As this festival is related to our nation, it is celebrated all over our country. It celebrated in schools, colleges, government and nongovernment offices and industries. It becomes a pu blic festival as every Indian celebrates it. On the eve of this day, our honourable President gives a message to the nation. In his/her message he/she analyses the achievements of government and gives indications towards the future plans of the government towards the welfare of our country.All over the country people celebrates this festival. In national capital Delhi, there is a grand celebration. People from every corner of the country come here to participate in the grand Republic day celebration. The grand celebration occurs at the India Gate and Rajpath of New Delhi. The entire route is decorated with our national flags. Many foreign delegates also come to witness India's progress on this occasion.At the beginning of the celebration, our Prime Minister salutes the martyrs of soldiers who laid their life lives for our country on Amar Jawan Jyothi, at the India Gate. Then he moves towards the celebration†¦

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy By Crime Reduction Interventions

Assessment Case Introduction Paul is a 52-year-old married, father of two with a history of alcohol abuse and low self esteem manifesting in form of anxiety and depression. He was referred for individual cognitive behavioural therapy by Crime Reduction Interventions ( CRI). Paul had been taking antidepressants and was on and off depression for the last five years. Following his referral, an initial screening assessment was carried out, which indicated that Jack is a suitable candidate for cognitive behavioural therapy, on the grounds that Jack had a distressing problem that could be conceptualized in self-criticism terms and had a low self esteem (Brown, 2006). Face to face sessions with clients and questionnaires determined no†¦show more content†¦He was living with his wife and two teenage children. During assessment he was tearful and talked about his guilt of failing his wife and children. He had no friends or extended family in the town. Paul has a construction company and manage a team of 5 employees who worked for him. He had lost his focus in his business and due to low self-esteem felt hesitant to manage his team or talk to his clients. John was tired of living a life of a coward and hiding under the influence of alcohol and wanted his life back. Paul s History His depression started in 2009 after he lost his job that made him financially insecure and worried. He isolated himself from his family and moved into a separate bedroom and spent all his day cursing himself of making a mistake and worrying about his future. He pushed his wife away as he believed that he is a worthless man and doesn t deserve love of anyone. He stopped going out or taking calls from his friends and also lost his of appetite. He was diagnosed from depression and was given antidepressants by general practitioner in 2010. He was eventually able to start work again in 2011 and started couple of businesses which failed one after another. Finally, he started a small construction company that is Paul s current source of income. In early 2014, he was contacted by a leading TV channel to record and telecast his current construction project. During the recording,