The Epistemology of Perception

Can you even imagine that most of the knowledge you possess is gained by perception? Empirical knowledge that individuals possess is grounded by perception. All ideas, thoughts, views and information running in your mind begin with perception. Have you ever thought what would happen if you were unable to perceive any perceptions? This however is not possible but still most individuals lacking perception from either of the senses will have fairly poor experiences in perception and knowledge. Most importantly perceptions have a lot to deal with our knowledge and it is discussed under epistemology of perception.

What is Epistemology?

• Epistemology is formed by the two Greek words ‘episteme’ and ‘logos’ which collectively gives the meaning of theory of knowledge. 

• Epistemology is the study of nature, origin and limits of human knowledge. In brief, it is a branch of philosophy which questions about knowledge and understanding. 

In my opinion perception is the source of knowledge. We do acquire knowledge from any experiences and practices we come across in life unless we are aware about them.

Figure 1 An outline of epistemology

Epistemology in learning

Perception is used in almost all process where knowledge is being acquired and one such common process is learning. According to Plato, learning is a lifelong process from womb to tomb. During the process of learning we do gather knowledge . But how do we gather knowledge? It is evident that during the process of learning perception plays a vital role. An individual essentially uses either of the respective senses to see, hear, smell, touch or taste and these perceptions enable students to acquire information and knowledge related to particular lessons from the outside world. It is the teacher who ensures that students use their maximum possible senses in perception during the process of knowledge acquisition. Students then use this  perceived information to  build up new knowledge correlating with their existing knowledge.

What is Perception?

• In broad terms perception is organization, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to understand the presented information. 

 We use the five senses for perception. Perceptions are of various kinds namely visual perception ,  auditory perception , olfactory perception , gustatory perception and haptic perception.

Epistemology of perception is about how individuals deal with the information or knowledge gained through various perceptions.

There are at least four elements in perception. 

1. Perceiver
2. Object
3. Sensory experience and 
4. Relation between the object and the subject. 

For example :   Ann sees a pink flower.  🌸

Here , Ann is the perceiver, pink flower is the object and the sensory experience is visual experience. 

There are three modes of perception ;

1. Simple perceiving
2. Perceiving to be (objectual proposition) and 
3. Perceiving that (propositional perception). 

As visual perception is the most common we can rephrase these modes as seeing (simple seeing), seeing to be and seeing that. For the above example , in simple seeing  Ann just sees a flower, in the second case she sees it to be pink in colour and in the third case the she sees that the flower is pink.

Do all individuals perceive things in the same way ? Figure 2 would help you in understanding it. 

Figure 2 

Figure 2  clearly shows that individuals can perceive the same  object in different ways and this would be the same for you and me. It must be known that the way I perceive things would differ from another. It is mainly because one's existing concepts and knowledge would not be as same as mine. Thus, different perceptual beliefs are formed. We start collecting beliefs since we started experiencing perceptions and their repetitive use have made them grounded in our mind. Perceptual beliefs for example I see apples red, I feel rose leaves have spiky edges, I see a book is rectangular in shape ,are based on my perceptual experiences what I have perceived as perceptible features in those objects such as colour, shape and nature of the edges. In my point of view these beliefs are justified by prima facie for me and I would continue in believing these beliefs until they are opposed by contrary beliefs. So it is agreeable that simple perceiving does not always form one true belief but forms many number of true beliefs. Furthermore, simple perceiving will not always form true beliefs. For instance ,if you are hallucinating or  illusioning your beliefs will not be true. Easiest way to understand this is a  mirage which is an optical illusion . In addition , not all simple perceiving would form beliefs .Formation of beliefs from simple perceiving depends on your awareness ,interest and consciousness towards the perception. You too might have experienced this. If you are not so concerned of what you perceive then you need not form any beliefs. It deals with your mind .Perception in mind is divided in to two classes namely thoughts or ideas and impressions based on the force and vivacity. The perceptual beliefs are due to thoughts and impressions that are perceived in mind. These beliefs , thoughts and impressions, reasoning have connections with your prior experiences and knowledge.

John Locke stated that we are born with innate ideas and that the knowledge is instead determined only by experiences derived from sense perception. Therefore ,it is evident that perceptions play a vital role in the process of knowledge acquisition. Finally, epistemology of perception can be considered as an area  beyond one's wildest dreams.