journal 2

2/23/2013

“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?

12 Comments

Yulia Shamayskaya

2/23/2013 09:07:44 am

Every human being is different regardless of their cultural bacgkround or the language they speak. In order to be able to express feelings and emotions that a person experiences, he uses language. This language is given to him by the country he is from, by the culture he was raised by. The culture of the place a person is from has a major impact on the way he feels, thinks and the way he expresses his thoughts. Though every human being perceives the world differently, through language he is able share his experiences with others. It is the easiest for him to be able to share with the people from his own country, as they are from the same environment and have similar traditions. However, this doesn’t unable him from communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds, as though these people have experienced much in a different way, yet what they experienced is the same. Because what do people in general perceive from the world? Love, Hatred, family, education. It sometimes may seem that the people from other cultural backgrounds are from a different world due to misunderstanding, disputes and inability to understand each other, because how others interpret gestures and words, express appreciation or love may be different. However, what people perceive, value and adore are the same. So how can we love in different worlds, if we all value the same?

Jørgen Nygaard Mellem

2/23/2013 09:24:50 pm

I think culture and language has very much to say in the perceptual process. The reason for why I think this is because the way you look at the world is built up by what you think is right and wrong. For example, a person used to living in bad conditions will look at what people living in good conditions perceive as ok as, as wonderful. A person not used to have a roof over his head will think that a one-room cottage without any furniture is great, while a person used to live in a furnished house would be sad about living in the same cottage.

As a result of my examples, I would say that what you are used to define how you look at the world, and therefore culture is a really important part of the perceptual process.

However, I do not think that language plays an equally great role in the perceptual process, as language does not define what you think. Language defines what perceptions you are able to share with others. In addition, I think good knowledge of language helps you to understand what you actually perceive.

In relevance to communicate perceptions, I do not think it is possible to clearly make another individual able to understand what you perceive, no matter how good your lingual skills are. The reason for this is that people observe different things in different ways, and you will never know if what I see when I look at the sky is what you see when you look at

Wilhelm Nustad

2/24/2013 04:38:41 am

When one person perceives the world, one look at the world from the standpoint, which we all is accustomed to. For example a person who lives in a western country such as Norway or Sweden might look at the lack of hot water as the end of the universe. Whilst a person who for example lives in Mali or some other poor country might look at hot water and say “what is this”, because in their mind even water is a luxury. And seeing how most households in Mali do not possess a shower or a bathtub the whole concept of hot water is very derivative.

Different knowers can come to the same conclusion by making some sort of intellectual compromise or do an experiment to see if one of the conclusions might be perceived as intellectually hogwash. It is very difficult for a “knower” to alter his perceptions because if you believe something to be true and you have been doctrinated to believe that this is the only true aspect to the theory. You are very unlikely to be able to believe in an alternative truth.

You might not live on different worlds if you have different social backgrounds, but the way you think and perceive of the world is different. This is because a person who lives on Switzerland has a very different view on war or civil war then a person who lived in let say Congo, because war is the only reality most Congolese are accustomed to.

Ly Dong Nhi, To (Nyee)

2/24/2013 06:49:27 am

Language and culture had a very important role in the perceptual process. For the emotional perception, language and cultural play a very important role for sensory perception, it makes this process occurs in people with a new quality. Language impact to your felling of the material, the phenomenon process happen faster feeling, and image of that thing is giving clearer, more accurate. For example, in the summer, you hear someone say, “It is too hot”, you think it is hotter than it is really is. If someone says “too sweet”, you will feel that fruit sweet. Language and cultural makes human perception takes place rapid easier, comprehensive and clearer. Perceptual task expression language as mentally language or words helps perceptual process separate from the context object and built full picture of completeness object of perception. In gustatory sense, different people can have a same taste, they still feel salt, sweet, sour. However, each people may not feel the same like I can’t eat spicy but my friend can so when we eat the same thing, she feels it is not spicy but this food really is. People live in different cultural or linguistic background can live in different world. For some people live in American can think different way from the view of Asian. However every country connect to each other by language. A lot of American understand the Asian cultural and contrast. That why we all live in the same world.

Jisu Kim

2/24/2013 07:11:55 am

For me, the role of culture and language in perceptual process is just assistance for understanding. Usually the people that have same culture or same language can agree on what is perceived easily. For example, when Korean eats hot soup, he or she says it’s cool. It doesn’t mean they really feel it cool, they just say it cool. So if you are Korean that has same culture and language, it helps you to understand their sense perception. However, it doesn’t mean the people that have different culture or different language cannot agree on what is perceived. The role of culture and language in perceptual process is just help to agree on what is perceived easily. These days the world globalized. The people all over the world can share their culture and thoughts. The globalization helps people to get same sense perception by sharing the cultures and thoughts. We have lots of ‘World stars’ and lots of people love them even though each of them has different culture or language. For example, the Korean singer ‘Psy’, even though he is a Korean singer and his song’s lyrics are all Korean, lots of people around the world like his song, Gangnam style. When I came back to America after the vacation, I was really surprised that lots of American and my foreigner friends in this school like psy’s Gangnam Style. I realize that the people can get same sense perception even though they have different culture or language at that time. So, I think the people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live can get same sense perception.

Tuva Borsheim

2/24/2013 07:40:16 am

How we communicate are highly effected by our culture and the use of our language. The communication can even be misunderstood between a child and its parents. If their child is in a completely different society than they were, the communication can change a lot.
But there's a way bigger difference between different nations, especially if there's religion involved.

Subjects also appears differently from every person. Some people can look at an apple and think "food", for another person the apple may appear as "healthy", and for another one it may appear as "the forbidden fruit". We all look differently at subjects, and I'm pretty sure that the world through my brothers eyes is a completely differently world from mine, even though we're close.
If you ask a guy who beliefs in a religion, and you ask a guy who beliefs in human, what their meaning of life were, you'd probably get two completely different answers. The same if you take to people from the opposite side of the world.
We all have a thought about life, the meaning of it, how we look at it. And it will appear differently from every human.

Mohit Vijay Dhanwani

2/24/2013 09:44:49 am

There are some things that, not that you can’t tell anyone, is that you are not able to in a sense that you yourself don’t know how to express how you are feeling at some moments because the other person might interpret it in a different way what you are feeling.
Culture and language do play a role in the perception process because those are what you experience. So, different knowers have different experiences and perceptions. In addition to that, different knowers will probably disagree. Other people are conscious of the different experiences between one and another, so maybe they will agree because they feel they have no other choice. The people that are more logical to me, are the people that don’t agree or disagree because they haven’t experienced what other people have, so they feel that they can’t give their opinion about it, which is correct to me.
For example, I can’t agree or disagree when a person tells me that you have fun when you drink alcohol because I’ve never drunk and I do not know the feeling that you have when you do.

Lau, Yat On

2/24/2013 09:47:53 am

Language and culture are very important for understanding, People of the same culture and the same language, it is easy to agree with the same thing in easily way. Whatever, I don’t really think language take a big part of how the people in the perceptual process, such us as language, language does not define what you think, language just let you easy to let other people know what you are thinking? Good knowledge of language helps you to understand what you actually perceive. No matter how good your lingual skills are, you had your own idea for the things, you will never know what I think when I look at the thing. So, I think the people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live can get same sense perception.

Sanaa Sergelen

2/25/2013 11:38:32 am

A person learns most of his knowledge from society. His perception of everything surrounding him is set by the society he has grown up with. Different cultures have different experience and attitude to things. That is why people from different countries perceive things differently. For example in Russia rain is something regular and might be annoying people who live there, but in Africa rain can be considered as a miracle and people would pray to God. But it is not only about culture. The same can happen even in one culture, but with people with different backgrounds. Let’s take us an example New York. In Big Apple city we can meet millions different people with different styles and backgrounds: punks, aristocrats, students, hip-hopers, scientist, tourists and etc. There is a huge variety of perception of the world. But how do they perceive the world, so they could co- operate with each other, because most likely different perception causes arguments? Even if people have they can still compare their senses and discuss them. The more people believe in a statement, the more credible it seems to be for other people. If 10 million people think that the Earth revolves around the sun, 1 person just have to agree with that.

Geraldine Hernandez

3/5/2013 12:26:09 am

This quote speaks of the truth. The nature for all is solitude. Our spirits extends beyond us and its up to our body and decision of how much we will let it breath. Our bodies will experience and our spirit live.

The moment we can enjoy and feel satisfaction with our spirit in solitude is when we have lived for us. Not for others.
This quote i do not see as a strong link with culture or linguistic backgrounds. I see it as an inspiring quote to remind us that we are living for us, in solitude, to satisfy ourselves. After all, communication will go as far as you let it go.

sabina capon

3/5/2013 03:31:56 am

Every person perceives the world in a different way. Each one of us comes from different places and has a different culture. Beliefs and values are different for every person and the same happens with senses. Human bodies are not perfect. People can have one leg longer than the other or an eye that sees the world with lighter colors than his other eye. So we could say that the perception of the world is different for everyone if we get into details. But in the surface layers of the perception of life everyone has the same one. For example, if a person from Russia and a person from South Africa see a mountain, they may see it in detail from different perspectives because their cultural background is different but what's in from of them is still a mountain for both. So people may see the small details of life in different ways but in general they are living in the same world.

Xiao Yap

3/6/2013 05:34:22 am

If life were as simple as struggle, vanity pain or, solitude; there would be no problems in the world. After some experiences we could solve everything, just by writing up, describing and done. Solitude viewed as an absolute is a contradiction of life. Nobody is alone, and at the same time our minds create solitude to fill it with something. For example: Distance between lovers is filled with love .

Culture and Language are fundamental in the perceptual process because what I learnt from a young age does and will change the way I sense the world.

Cultures affect our perceptual senses because it addresses the way of perceiving through our cultural backgrounds. Especially in EFIA, sharing with people from all over the world makes us realize how different cultures can be.

Language also affects our perceptual process, since we have a diversity of them, we will also have different meanings even though it is same and it will affect our perceptual process.

If I could not understand the different cultural senses or languages I would live in a totally different world because not being able to communicate through my perception limits my perceptual senses.

journal 2

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