Influence Of External Sensation On The Perception Of The World

To begin with, we must agree that the when evaluating our perceptions of the world we find that they fall into three categories. External sensations that influence the senses, perceptions of the mind and thoughts constructed through the power of memory and imagination. Moreover, combinations of these ideas harmonise with each other to form our ideas of specific objects. For example, a lemon drizzle cake is described through the various sensations it imprints on us, such as its sweet taste and it citrus infused scent. As our senses perceive these impressions, we associate them to the idea of a lemon drizzle cake. As we know that we have sensations and can reconstruct them through memory and imagination then there must be something within us which can facilitate this to occur, which I refer to as our mind. Consequently, the existence of ideas is entirely dependent on some form of mind perceiving it, without any mind perceiving or remembering the taste of lemon drizzle cake, then the cake does not exist. …show more content…
This theory has an innate contradiction as objects can only be described by our perceptions of them. If I asked you to describe to me a lemon drizzle cake, you would describe only your perceptions of it, such as its shape, size, taste, texture and nothing else. If you had not even perceived a lemon drizzle cake before you would not be able to describe it to me until you had perceived it. Therefore, the cakes entire existence is dependent on something perceiving it, and cannot be anything other than an