Descartes View of Perception, Essay Example

Perception, according to Descartes, is a concept determined by the emergence of self-realization. Nevertheless, it could be understood that he also points out how the different senses of the body could be used to determine a more valid perception of matters. For instance, utilizing the wax as an illustration, no one can know what form the wax would take as it is released in water. However, because of experience and background knowledge of the individual regarding the matter, a person could perceive what might happen next. Depending on the form of the water, the flow of the liquid surrounding the wax as the base for such formation, the assumption of what shape the wax would take into account is necessary.

Hence, taking from such an illustration, it is true that there is no way that humans may know what will happen next. However, given the chance to explore possibilities because of the experiences that one has undergone through time, given the knowledge of how matters work and how situations could develop accordingly, humans are given the chance to assume what is to happen next. It is rather interesting that the way the brain stores data as memories and stored knowledge affects the overall concept of perceiving matters even before they happen.

Most of the time, such assumptions are wrong or at some point not relatively connected to the realities, nevertheless, they are considered valid and supportive enough of what is considered essentially factual. The overall consideration over matters that are possible for development remain strongly dependent on human perception. The capacity of humans to imagine and assume of what is going to happen next has opened the doors to massive innovation and progress. Defying the laws of conflict, humans have become accustomed to assuming how things will turn out once they are put together. Practically, people have become more dependent on such process of thinking especially that they know they have the capacity to make things happen. Such determination comes from long time observation of how the human civilization transforms into modernity from one particular aspect of growth towards another.

True, while people may not be able to perceive matters accordingly in an exact manner, the factual background on how humans have embraced the modern concept of living and operations of development proves that such desire to know what is going to happen next has lead individuals and communities into incurring particular heights towards social growth. Through time, it is expected that the same pattern of development shall be treaded upon by human civilizations from one generation to another.

What notably affects the thinking of humans today is how they know about the past. A person who has been through so much would have the same capacity of facing the different issues of ‘knowing what is to happen next’ in his life. The behavior of humans towards particular situations teaches them so much on how they are likely to react the next time it happens. Basing from such reaction, they are also given the chance to see through what might happen next based on the experience they have gone through alongside the emergence of such issues. The thinking capacity of an individual gives him a better vision of what is to come up next, based on how he has seen matters to develop according to his decisions in the past.

Works Cited

Descartes’ View of Perception. http://jdcard.com/descar.htm. (Retrieved on September 22, 2014).