To what extent do our senses give us knowledge of the world as it really is?

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Ioanna Kourkoulou

Ib1

TOK Group 2

To what extent do our senses give us knowledge of the world as it really is?

  At a first thought, anyone would argue that what we experience is actual reality – there are no illusions, or misinterpretations. It is just information that we receive from the world. The question is: What do we make of this information? And how do we know that what we perceive is all there is? Senses, knowledge, perception; all of them are born in our brains. Since every Earth being – not only humans – is unique, as Biology and the DNA imply, can we really trust that our brains work in identical ways, without being dogmatic? So is there only one universal reality?

  The first, most obvious and most significant piece of evidence is our senses. We are all aware of the fact that senses are not the same for, let’s say, humans and animals (although they vary between human beings as well). Some of our senses are not as evolved as those of animals; for instance, our hearing ability is bleak compared to that of bats, which can orient their flying according to sound signals that we could never even hear. Or, consider our smell – we use our smell to barely identify some distinct odours, while dogs can track a person by simply smelling the places where he stepped. So, apparently our reality is quite different from the reality that a bat or a dog experiences. In fact, our reality seems to be rather limited in some areas, which answers to a question posed above: what we perceive is not all there is.

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  It seems that our senses can be also misguided by what our brain wants to see or is inclined to recognise. One outstanding example is our prejudices. Imagine that you see a very tall and massive man, wearing a leather jacket, having an unshaven face and riding a Harley-Davidson; you immediately picture him as violent and dangerous. But this may not reflect the truth. Past experiences can also affect our perception. For example, if you eat something that you enjoy, but then causes you illness you are highly unlikely to eat it again. Your senses, that might tell you that ...

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