To what extent does perception define beauty?
To answer this question I would first like to define a few terms, including the term "define", and pose the following question: To what extent does perception shape reality?
In this case, "perception" is not only limited to Sense Perception, but to all four of the Ways of Knowing: Sense Perception, Emotion, Reason, and Language.
Reality is subjective. What we perceive to be "our reality" is not necessarily "someone else's reality". For example, Elizabeth Sulser's reality, a woman from Zurich suffering of Synesthesia (which is "the rare neurological condition that joins senses") allowing her to see and taste sounds, is much different than the reality of most of the people on Earth. "I always see the colors. I cannot go anywhere without colors" she says, and this as become her reality, which is not the same as ours.
Now, the answer to "to what extent", which refers to "how much", is also subjective and depends in our environment. For example, in the Twilight Zone the young lady with the bandages who we perceive as Beautiful, is perceived as grotesque and an abomination in the environment in which the story takes place, to the extent, that she wants to end her life. The short movie defines this by stating that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", however, we have still need to understand why this is the case.
Going back to the initial question posed, we can define the term "define" as to "give meaning". Personally, as a non-empericist, I believe knowledge is both Innate and Constructive: we are born with our own knowledge and perception which is waiting to be developed and shaped (take in account this is still only my Perception of my Reality). This is why first impressions are very important as they perhaps represent the first time we are exposed to some kind of new knowledge. For example, when we first read the PowerPoint description of Adolf Hitler, we perceive him as a relatively good man (compared to the other description on the same PowerPoint). Only once we find out the description is the one of Hitler, our perception changes drastically.
Without subjectivity, our surroundings, and depending on the situation or moment in time, as we always look for a justification of what we know, and what we perceive as beautiful; perception alone does not define beauty, but beauty defines perception.
To answer this question I would first like to define a few terms, including the term "define", and pose the following question: To what extent does perception shape reality?
In this case, "perception" is not only limited to Sense Perception, but to all four of the Ways of Knowing: Sense Perception, Emotion, Reason, and Language.
Reality is subjective. What we perceive to be "our reality" is not necessarily "someone else's reality". For example, Elizabeth Sulser's reality, a woman from Zurich suffering of Synesthesia (which is "the rare neurological condition that joins senses") allowing her to see and taste sounds, is much different than the reality of most of the people on Earth. "I always see the colors. I cannot go anywhere without colors" she says, and this as become her reality, which is not the same as ours.
Now, the answer to "to what extent", which refers to "how much", is also subjective and depends in our environment. For example, in the Twilight Zone the young lady with the bandages who we perceive as Beautiful, is perceived as grotesque and an abomination in the environment in which the story takes place, to the extent, that she wants to end her life. The short movie defines this by stating that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", however, we have still need to understand why this is the case.
Going back to the initial question posed, we can define the term "define" as to "give meaning". Personally, as a non-empericist, I believe knowledge is both Innate and Constructive: we are born with our own knowledge and perception which is waiting to be developed and shaped (take in account this is still only my Perception of my Reality). This is why first impressions are very important as they perhaps represent the first time we are exposed to some kind of new knowledge. For example, when we first read the PowerPoint description of Adolf Hitler, we perceive him as a relatively good man (compared to the other description on the same PowerPoint). Only once we find out the description is the one of Hitler, our perception changes drastically.
Without subjectivity, our surroundings, and depending on the situation or moment in time, as we always look for a justification of what we know, and what we perceive as beautiful; perception alone does not define beauty, but beauty defines perception.
This is all really good especially how you analyze perception. However, you did not define what beauty is, so when you do maybe you can relate to that to how much our perception affects your decision making of beauty. Oh and you stated this: "beauty defines perception" can you further explain why? :)
ReplyDeleteI would define Beauty as attractive Reality. To relate Attractive Reality to "how much our perception affects your decision making" and decision making process, perhaps what we can do is simply argue again that perception doesn't affect how we perceive beauty at all without other more important factors (such as subjectivity, our surroundings, and timing -the situation or moment in time). Finally, "beauty defines perception" (and not the other way around), because I believe attractive reality gives meaning or entirely determines and describes a person's perspective or point of view. Makes sense? :)
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