Sense and Sensibility

Descartes begins by holding a piece of wax and using his sense to analyze its smell, color, shape and sound it makes when he hits it on his knuckle, and says “Its color shape and size are manifest” (Cress 1993,21). What he means, is that he can use his sense like sight, taste, touch smell, and hearing and know that what he has in his hand is on deed wax. Just like when a person holds a piece of bread and can use their sense to feel the texture and softness of it, and how it smells, tastes…

How can our sensory channels influence other sensory channels? Our senses and how we perceive certain stimuli is an important factor when we try to make sense of the world around us. The Stimulus around us sends information to different parts of our brain in order for us to feel, sense, taste or hear the things that we do. Even more interesting though is how our sensory channels can influence another sensory channel unconsciously. For instance, like in a movie theater when you are watching the…

Questions 1. What problem does the visual system face when perceiving depth? Hint: think about proximal and distal stimuli. (5 pt.) When our visual system perceives depth it uses distal stimulus and proximal stimulus. This is problematic because the distal stimulus and/ or environmental stimuli are three dimensional but the proximal stimuli hitting your retina are two-dimensional Therefore, in order to perceive depth your brain needs to interpret the two-dimensional stimuli as three dimensional…

that this may not be completely true. This is due to the blind’s enhanced auditory skills. A prime example of the blind’s enhanced hearing is similar to echolocation. Many people who experience blindness at an early age may develop a heightened sense of hearing. In ancient times the blind were looked down upon by others and were often considered their own class. Blindness was considered to be a punishment for social or religious transgressions or it was a result…

way of thinking, but I do not necessarily agree to it. Descartes’s thought development followed a series of points I disagreed with – senses may not be reliable, there are two classifications of reality, and a perfect entity has to exist being as the idea is already in the mind. When Descartes was theorizing on how the mind influences the body, he declared human senses cannot be trusted seeing as they can…

live without one of the five senses that others often take for granted. These five senses would include: the sense of touch, hearing, taste, eyesight, and smell. Occasionally, people lose certain senses as they begin to grow older, or have possibly endured a traumatic experience at some period within their life. Many elderly people live without the sense of sight or hearing. Those who have experienced severe burns or frostbite, or nerve damage, can possibly lose their sense of touch. Other…

ways. These emotions can act as a type of barrier to understanding and comprehending reality. In the book The Apology of Socrates, Meletus of the prosecution is blinded and sees reality in a distorted sense due to his large pride and hatred against Socrates. Meletus is the “representative”, in a sense, for the poets who Socrates insulted by insinuating that the poets were not wise. Meletus is rather indignant with Socrates and also is puffed up in his own self-importance. Socrates questions…

1. Acknowledge Describe your experience Chapter 3 from Tools for Mindful Living clarified the steps of the MAC Mindfulness Model – acknowledgment, attention, acceptance, and action. This chapter not only provided meticulous descriptions of the four steps of the MAC Mindfulness Model, but is also stood as a prodigious learning experience. I go through my life making innate habits, without realizing the steps I acquired to perform those actions, thoughts, or judgments. I remained able to take in…

from our senses such as the sensation of touch. According to Hume, ideas are just “faint copies” of impressions that are “less forcible and lively”. An example of this is that we can love someone which is an impression and we can think about the concept of love which would be an idea. The concept will always feel fainter and weaker yet he directly…

A research group from the Department of Psychology of the University of New Mexico, Roster et al., have recently found that clutter is beneficial to individuals since it helps develop a sense of self (Roster et al. 7). Psychologist writer for LifeHacker, Mikael Cho, offers details of another research that has found that certain people need a certain degree of mess to get things done (Cho). Stress columnist writer for Lifestyle Magazine…