Question 1:
Objects must conform to our cognition - I think we
are to understand this as our mind has an impact on the object (therefore also
the world) we experience. In this case our minds would then have an impact on
the world we experience, therefore making our mind active. If our mind is
active then it helps us construct the world. Therefore we are not only passive
observers but rather active in that term that our minds have an impact on the
world that we are experiencing. If
things are objects of experience, then we don’t have any perception of how they
might be in it self, independent of the cognitive conditions of it.
This would also mean that the universe not is a self-subsisting reality but a conform of the human mind. It doesn’t mean that math or physics are false and incorrect, they work but its not true knowledge since our cognition has had an impact on it. One can argue that if our cognition didn’t have an impact on objects, then raw data that our sensory organs take in, though eyes and ears, would not make sense if our minds didn’t have experience since before.
This would also mean that the universe not is a self-subsisting reality but a conform of the human mind. It doesn’t mean that math or physics are false and incorrect, they work but its not true knowledge since our cognition has had an impact on it. One can argue that if our cognition didn’t have an impact on objects, then raw data that our sensory organs take in, though eyes and ears, would not make sense if our minds didn’t have experience since before.
Question 2:
The argument that we do not see and hear with our eyes and ears but through them means, at least to me, that
they are only tools for us to interpret things. For example, we don’t
specifically hear with our ears because the sound wave travels from its origin,
goes through our ear (therefore they
only functions as a tool), the ear (the tool) interpret and translate the wave
to a vibration and then finally send the electrical signal to the brain where
we finally experience the sound.
Hence, it’s first in the receiver’s brain we perceive the sound and therefore hear it. The same goes with the rest of our senses, the eyes only helps us receive the signal of light, is does not see for us, the hand does not feel for us etc. If we have our sensory organs only as a tool to interpret things, does the world appear the same to all of man? And is knowledge the same to all of man? One could ask, what is knowledge? In the dialogue it is said that knowledge is perception and that “man is the measure of all things”. If knowledge is the same as perception then knowledge must be relative to the observer. So we humans gain knowledge through sense perception, and that is just what empiricism is about [1]. The progression of knowledge starts (for a empiricist) at birth and is the accumulation of ideas one gains from touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. Plato’s famous cave allegory is a great example of how the physical world is shaped by our perception, and also the perceptions ability to lie to us, but it is the source of our knowledge. Therefore it is important to test all hypotheses and theories against observers of the world, to find our how they appear to man.
Hence, it’s first in the receiver’s brain we perceive the sound and therefore hear it. The same goes with the rest of our senses, the eyes only helps us receive the signal of light, is does not see for us, the hand does not feel for us etc. If we have our sensory organs only as a tool to interpret things, does the world appear the same to all of man? And is knowledge the same to all of man? One could ask, what is knowledge? In the dialogue it is said that knowledge is perception and that “man is the measure of all things”. If knowledge is the same as perception then knowledge must be relative to the observer. So we humans gain knowledge through sense perception, and that is just what empiricism is about [1]. The progression of knowledge starts (for a empiricist) at birth and is the accumulation of ideas one gains from touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. Plato’s famous cave allegory is a great example of how the physical world is shaped by our perception, and also the perceptions ability to lie to us, but it is the source of our knowledge. Therefore it is important to test all hypotheses and theories against observers of the world, to find our how they appear to man.
[1] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/empiricism
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