Natural science refers to “any of the sciences that deal with matter, energy, and their interrelations and transformations or with objectively measurable phenomena”. (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) Thus, natural science disciplines are astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics and earth science. Chemistry, physics and earth science are not that important to sense perception as the other disciplines. Astronomy is the science of celestial objects and phenomena that started outside the Earth’s atmosphere. In the seventh century around 1609 Galileo Galilei invented the telescope. This allowed us to see the sky in more depth. By using one of the five senses, see we can learn about what lies in outer space. Biology is the science of phenomena associated with living organisms. Human senses differ from animals senses. Take for instance a peacock butterfly. Birds view there wings markings as the eyes of a predator. Humans view them as being beautiful. Pain and touch senses are related when talking about the biology disciple of natural sciences. This is to do with the receptors and nerve endings. Nerve endings detect pressure changes of the body when touching an object and when the pressure receptors are overworking, we start to feel pain.
“Human science (also, moral science and human sciences as typical in the UK) is a term applied to the investigation of human life and human activities via a , , and that acknowledges the validity of both derived by impartial observation of sensory experience (objective phenomena) and data derived by means of impartial observation of psychological experience (subjective phenomena).” (Wikipedia) I think human science relates mostly to balance, touch, hearing and vision senses. If you spin fast around a few times in a chair, you feel dizzy. Dizziness affects vision. When you are dizzy, you feel that what you are looking at is spinning around you. Because of this, you rely on your touch sense to become aware of your surroundings. When you stand up you may think that you are about to fall over because your stance is slightly bent and your walking is staggered. This is because the balance sense is off for the reason that the balance mechanism in your ear is not functioning properly. Why does this happen? The labyrinth organ in our ears works together with our vision and balance so that we sustain the same body position. When this organ is not working properly, it throws off the balance of the whole body. This is also, why people experience dizziness when they have an ear infection. (NIDCD)
“History is the study of the , with special attention to the written record of the activities of human beings over time.” (Wikipedia) History is completely independent on sense perceptions since it is dealing with the past. Historians study sources and artefacts from ancient times and since they were not there when the sources and artefacts were first created, their perception of them may be different than the ones who created them. For instance, most people have played the game Chinese whispers also known as Telephone. This game consists of one player whispering a phrase to the next player who passing it to the next then to the next. Consequently what the first player said is bound to be different to what the last person heard. The game is a prime example of how information can be corrupted when someone perceives it as something else. This is the same with history. Let‘s say someone was in World War I and wrote about the events that were taking place. Another person heard about the events that were happening and wrote it down. The two sources may be similar in some ways but completely different as well. This is because what was perceived by sight is different from what was perceived by hearing what another person said.
“Art is the process or product of deliberately and arranging elements in a way that appeals to the or .” (Wikipedia) Art is not closely related to sense perception but they are correlated to a certain extent. Art relates mostly to the vision sense. For instance, due people look at a painting in an art gallery. One person may think that the painting is the most beautiful thing they have ever seen; whilst the other person may think, it is the most repulsive thing they have ever seen. This is because the perception of the beauty of art is very subjective. There is a belief that art is a communicator by sight and not by hearing such as illustration arts. An artist can paint or draw a picture of a battle scene, communicating to people the gruesome and horrific situations. The viewer of the painting can learn the same information through this painting or drawing as they would if they heard from someone.
Ethics are “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) Therefore people’s opinions about right and wrong are different due to cultural differences and beliefs. One of the main controversies in the world is animal rights and the idea that animals should not be killed. I live in Bermuda and we do not kill possums so that we can make fur coats so if I was to go abroad and witness it firsthand I would be disgusted. However, if I saw people killing animals often than it wouldn’t disgust me because I am so used to seeing it.
In conclusion, the role of sense perception within the areas of knowledge disciplines varies enormously. In my opinion I think that sense perception is more important to history, arts, natural science and human science because those four are mostly based on perceptions.
Works Cited
Kemerling, Garth. 7 August 2002. 2 January 2009 <http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/p2.htm>.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Ethics. 5 January 2009 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethics>.
—. natural science. 4 January 2009 <<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural science>>.
NIDCD. Balance Disorders. 2000. 5 January 2009 <http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/balance/balance_disorders.htm>.
Wikipedia. Art. 30 December 2008. 5 January 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art>.
—. History. 5 January 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History>.
—. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense#Kinesthetic_sense. 2 January 2009. 5 January 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense#Kinesthetic_sense>.
—. Human Science. 5 January 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sciences>.