perception and evidence: forum for week of 10 Oct

Both Mo and Shmo make valid points. I think that how we perceive is related to our general ideas and experiences, which have caused us to learn about our environment over time. We take in the raw sense data and combine it with our background beliefs to interpret what we are experiencing and create a perception (often subconsciously). Because of this, Mo would say that perception is not an ideal source of evidence. However, as Shmo states, we can avoid this by heightened attention to our perceptions and how they relate to our prejudices. For example if we are extremely careful with our perceptions, over time we can increase our ability to gain unbiased evidence. A scientist is generally better han the average person at observing things such as experimental data in an unbiased way because he has learned to over time. However it is extremely difficult to be attentive and careful enough to get proper perception all the time. Therefore perception still may not be the best source of evidence because it is labour intensive to do correctly. It may not be the best source, but I still think it can be used as a source of evidence.