3. To see, 'what is the case', what is required? Please define each term.
To see "what is the case" requires context, inference, concepts, experience, and interpretation. Context, in this case, can be defined as how one is able to know their environment and to understand their surroundings. Inference is the knowledge that one is able to infer in any given situation. Concepts are previous ideas or pieces of knowledge that exist from your own knowledge and experience, or from the knowledge and experience of others. Experience is an event in the past in which you learned something. Finally, interpretation is how you were able to make sense of the knowledge that you previously gained.
4. What did Nietzsche mean by 'the fallacy of the immaculate perception'? How does psychologist, Joseph Jastrow prove this point? When have we done this in class?
Nietzche came to the conclusion that there is no "innocent eye". He later called this "the fallacy of the immaculate perception". Basically, he determined that it is impossible to see and interpret anything without referring to past experiences and the knowledge gained from those experiences. Joseph Jastrow went on to prove this point by using a well-known drawing that, when looked at, appeared at first to be a duck, but then when examined more closely, appeared to be a rabbit. You would not be able to discern
the duck or the rabbit from this drawing, if you had not had past experience with looking at a either a duck or a rabbit. Therefore, Jastrow proves Nietzche's point. It is absolutely necessary to use past experiences and past knowledge to see and to interpret an object or drawing. We did this in class when we did the perception test. We were show a series of stairs, and asked to discern which point was the highest.
7. What does Abel mean when he says, "to perceive is to solve a problem"?
When Able says, "to perceive is to solve a problem" he actually means that as you perceive something, you are solving a problem. Our brains and eyes determine how objects look from different distances or from different angles/ different points of view. They also determine how objects look under different light, which therefore shows us which to which we attribute a constant size, shape and color. Therefore, to perceive is to solve a problem.
8. What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things 'naturally look'?
Social conditioning determines how things naturally look. Every society and country has a different idea of how things look; such as how all Chinese people look. To us, living in a western society, they all look alike, but, in an Eastern society, they can clearly determine the that every person looks different. In addition, they might even think that we all look alike.
9. What is significant about the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of 'convention' influence perspective drawing?
The story or Durer's rhinoceros illustrates the importance of tradition in determining representation even when the artist is looking directly at a model. The influence of convention influences perspective drawing because convention may be so strong that it completely changes a person's perspective, which will then alter the person's drawing.
11. What does Abel mean when he writes, "believing is seeing"? How may this point be seen in the study of the natural versus the social sciences?
The influence of belief, or hypothesis, on perception is so striking that one might also say, not that seeing is believing, but that believing is seeing. Basically, he means to say that just because you see something you doesn't mean that you believe it, but by believing in something, you are able to see everything.
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