journal 2

2/23/2013

3 Comments

 
“By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in
solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are private and,
except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable.”
• What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process? Given the partially
subjective nature of sense perception, how can different knowers ever agree on
what is perceived? Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds
live, in some sense, in different worlds?
3 Comments
B V
2/24/2013 06:02:36 am

Language and culture play a crucial role in the perceptual process. Often a concrete language may convey specific connotations through words. Those might get lost in translation into another language. Also, they way we see things is highly influenced by our culture, just to mention one, europeans are adverse to arms and is ver rare for us to have guns in a normal house. Instead Americans are use to having guns at home and many claim is would be uncomfortable for them not to have them handy enough. Tis is more of an objective example. If we go more to sensitive examples, lets talk about art. In abstract art, were figures are not clearly defined, depending on someones background and visual skills one might interpret an art piece in a utterly different way than someone else depending on their different cultures. For example red might be very imposing for chinese people because is the color of their flag, whereas for a greek person it might not mean so much. It is very difficult to agree on what is perceived because we will never be totally sure if the other person is perceiving the exact same thing. Here is the thing with colors, how do I know that blue is also blue for you? you could see it red but call it blue so we think is the same but it really isn't. I do think people with different cultures understand the world in a different way, and they perceive it in a different way. I totally believe so based on my experience in America. Here my opinion and vision of reality confronts much more with that of my surrounders.

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alyson
2/24/2013 06:30:29 am

What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process?
As time goes by, our languages are being shaped around the way our culture develops and cultures are various. This is why culturally influenced jokes cannot be translated. Even if you happen to find words, the context of the words won’t be understood. I was once watching a trial in Norway and I talked with the translator for the accused afterwards. We discussed a little and she told me that she could understand what he meant, but it couldn’t be reflected into the translation. I thought it was unfair for him. The judges’ perception of him would ultimately not be accurate. We find meaning through experience, which are mostly influenced by our culture. Therefore I think we see the world through the lenses of culture and language, which is important to be aware of.

Given the partially subjective nature of sense perception, how can different knowers ever agree on what is perceived?
We may talk about the same feeling or object, but still have a distinct perception of it. As said before, it is hard to translate, but the difficulty may not decrease too much even though people speak the same language. But even though we may never be able to fully understand other people’s perception, if we take the time to explain, we may come to an agreement on some parts of it and therefore have a larger comprehension.

Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live, in some sense, in different worlds?
To a certain extent, in “some sense” we do. The way people perceive the world is in some way the “world” they live in. For example, people from a certain country may all live in their perception of the world. Therefore they have their own world, their own reality. But if a person travels, that reality will change. The world we all live in is the same and in that sense, we do not live in different worlds, even though we have different cultural or linguistic backgrounds.

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Caifeng Li
2/24/2013 09:10:34 am

The world has different because of different culture also different language, as we know, the world had separate to different parts, also because of the poor technology, people in different area of world can not communicate each other, so there are many different culture developing at the same time in the world. But every culture has their own thought to see the thing, and also the different evaluable view. As the world developing, the technology makes the different culture meet together, so the conflict can’t avoid, the miscommunication, misunderstanding are absolutely exist. As the time pass though, those different thought would still become the same comment, because of the assimilation, people will define which view is right, to prove their thought, also accept the new knowledge or experience that they found, finally be come the new knowledge or new thought. That how the world knowledge build up. Therefore people are always keep improve themselves because of the different knowledge’s confliction and also the exploration of the world.

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