Persuasive Essay On Appearance Vs Reality

The so-called appearance versus reality distinction has been a philosophical and scientific problem that has been debated since ancient Greece. The pursuit of discerning between the way things are and the way they appear to be is one driven by the human desire to understand. Appearances can mask reality and skew one’s perception of reality. A group of early Greek philosophers and teachers, known as the Sophists, proposed that reality did not exist, and if it did, it was beyond human comprehension. They believed in relativism and sought to solve practical issues advocating against the abstract question of reality. In contrast, the aim of modern science has been, by employing the scientific method, to establish reality beyond any doubt. As a result, the public commonly accepts scientific findings and theories as undisputable truths. However, the certainty of modern science is misleading and continues to leave the question of reality open for …show more content…
Even at a young age we begin to decipher the subtle differences between what is real and what is not. Often we turn to science to offer us reliable information to inform our opinions. As we gain more knowledge about the world that surrounds us we solidify our understanding of the ‘appearance/reality’ distinction. There are things we accept as real, and those that appear to us as real but can be refuted by evidence. For example, our society has created the presumption that physical appearance can be used to judge a person’s health or fitness. We associate overweight people with being unhealthy and unfit. However, there is a wide-range of athletes who are considered overweight that perform at a fitness level far above the average man or woman. Physical appearance can be a misleading factor in determining one’s fitness or health as shown by modern