Post by Deleted on May 4, 2011 8:21:54 GMT -5
This is one of the most important but also difficult processes of the human mind. Many experiments have been carried out, particularly in the last three hundred years, to determine how we interpret the world around us and, an even more complex task, data that is often, even in principle, imperceptible.
The act of perception itself is by no means a simple matter. To begin with the act of seeing presents a number of paradoxical problems. The image of the object we see (at this moment I am concerned with visual perception only) is "upside down" and our eye, or more accurately our brain, "reverses" the "stimulus" so that we "see" the "object" the "right way up."
The effects of alcohol and drugs upon ALL our perceptual mechanisms are well known. In the same way hypnosis can affect how our body reacts to stimuli. A hypnotist can hand a subject a glass of water, tell them that it contains alcohol and the subject almost immediately becomes drunk.
Perhaps some of the most controversial aspects of interpretation surround claims to mystical experience. I propose to consider briefly the strange events that took place in 1917 at Fatima in Portugal.
Essentially, three girls became convinced that they were having visions of the Virgin Mary. They claimed she had spoken to them and among other things had predicted a particular event would take place at a certain time on a certain day.
When the time came, thousands of people came to witness what became known as "the miracle of Fatima." As well as devout Christians hoping for a sign to buttress their fath, hundreds of atheists, agnostics and sceptics also turned up.
Unlike many "paranormal" events, there is unanimous agreement by the eye-witnesses on WHAT was observed that day. Atheists and sceptics AGREED with the Christians about the PHENOMENON they saw.
In front of a crowd of thousands, including hundreds of non-believers and anti-religious people, the Sun in the sky appeared to dip and turn.
Everyone agreed on that fact, and Christians eagerly proclaimed a new miracle. The atheists and agnostics did not agree, nor change their opinions in any way. However, they DID freely admit that they saw what SEEMED to be the Sun maneouvring in the sky above and also admitted
that they could NOT explain what they had seen.
What are the possible INTERPRETATIONS of the observed phenomenon, on which ALL eyewitnesses agree? The most obvious one is to assume that the Sun DID move. There are of course two fundamental objections to that theory. The first is that "a priori" assumption that the laws of planetary motion appear to hold good throughout the universe and that it is therefore impossible for the Sun to move. The second is that data from astronomical observatories record NO movement by the Sun, on that day or any other.
A popular modern interpretation is that a UFO sighting took place. The advocates of this hypothesis either claim that the Virgin Mary was an extraterrestrial whom the girls INTERPRETED as being Jesus' mother or else regard the RELIGIOUS dimension of the sighting as a product of the girls' beliefs but claim that they "saw' what was actually an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Apart from the fact that the true nature of genuine UFO phenomen remains hotly disputed, what exactly was the POINT of such a maneouvre? And why is this the ONLY example where THOUSANDS of people not only witnessed it but agreed exactly on WHAT they saw?
Another theory is of course mass hallucination. It is difficult to see how hundreds of people who were not only non-believers but positively HOSTILE to ANY religious belief could have witnessed the SAME phenomenon as those who were ardent Christians.
Some kind of unusual atmospheric effect, possibly a plasma, has also been suggested. There is no doubt that anomalous aerial phenomena DO occur but NEVER before an audience of thousands, nor with the same agreement on WHAT was observed.
I will write more on other aspects of the process of interpretation in subsequent posts. In the meantime I would ask all of us to ponder on how much of our "knowledge" of the world relies upon interpretation and theory rather than facts for its support.
The act of perception itself is by no means a simple matter. To begin with the act of seeing presents a number of paradoxical problems. The image of the object we see (at this moment I am concerned with visual perception only) is "upside down" and our eye, or more accurately our brain, "reverses" the "stimulus" so that we "see" the "object" the "right way up."
The effects of alcohol and drugs upon ALL our perceptual mechanisms are well known. In the same way hypnosis can affect how our body reacts to stimuli. A hypnotist can hand a subject a glass of water, tell them that it contains alcohol and the subject almost immediately becomes drunk.
Perhaps some of the most controversial aspects of interpretation surround claims to mystical experience. I propose to consider briefly the strange events that took place in 1917 at Fatima in Portugal.
Essentially, three girls became convinced that they were having visions of the Virgin Mary. They claimed she had spoken to them and among other things had predicted a particular event would take place at a certain time on a certain day.
When the time came, thousands of people came to witness what became known as "the miracle of Fatima." As well as devout Christians hoping for a sign to buttress their fath, hundreds of atheists, agnostics and sceptics also turned up.
Unlike many "paranormal" events, there is unanimous agreement by the eye-witnesses on WHAT was observed that day. Atheists and sceptics AGREED with the Christians about the PHENOMENON they saw.
In front of a crowd of thousands, including hundreds of non-believers and anti-religious people, the Sun in the sky appeared to dip and turn.
Everyone agreed on that fact, and Christians eagerly proclaimed a new miracle. The atheists and agnostics did not agree, nor change their opinions in any way. However, they DID freely admit that they saw what SEEMED to be the Sun maneouvring in the sky above and also admitted
that they could NOT explain what they had seen.
What are the possible INTERPRETATIONS of the observed phenomenon, on which ALL eyewitnesses agree? The most obvious one is to assume that the Sun DID move. There are of course two fundamental objections to that theory. The first is that "a priori" assumption that the laws of planetary motion appear to hold good throughout the universe and that it is therefore impossible for the Sun to move. The second is that data from astronomical observatories record NO movement by the Sun, on that day or any other.
A popular modern interpretation is that a UFO sighting took place. The advocates of this hypothesis either claim that the Virgin Mary was an extraterrestrial whom the girls INTERPRETED as being Jesus' mother or else regard the RELIGIOUS dimension of the sighting as a product of the girls' beliefs but claim that they "saw' what was actually an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Apart from the fact that the true nature of genuine UFO phenomen remains hotly disputed, what exactly was the POINT of such a maneouvre? And why is this the ONLY example where THOUSANDS of people not only witnessed it but agreed exactly on WHAT they saw?
Another theory is of course mass hallucination. It is difficult to see how hundreds of people who were not only non-believers but positively HOSTILE to ANY religious belief could have witnessed the SAME phenomenon as those who were ardent Christians.
Some kind of unusual atmospheric effect, possibly a plasma, has also been suggested. There is no doubt that anomalous aerial phenomena DO occur but NEVER before an audience of thousands, nor with the same agreement on WHAT was observed.
I will write more on other aspects of the process of interpretation in subsequent posts. In the meantime I would ask all of us to ponder on how much of our "knowledge" of the world relies upon interpretation and theory rather than facts for its support.