In his essay “Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision” David Lewis demonstrates through a vignette called “The Censor” why a suitable pattern of counterfactual dependence is required to for a subject to experience ‘genuine sight’. A subject’s experience of a scene has counterfactual dependence if, and only if, the subject is capable of distinguishing the scene from possible alternative scenes. If the scene were different, the subject would have a different experience. Thus, the subject’s particular experience is dependant on the particular scene being for the eyes. If the subject would be unable to distinguish the scene from possible alternative scenes, then according to Lewis, even if all other requirements for genuine sight are fulfilled (such as a standard casual process, rich …show more content…
content, etc.) that subject cannot be said to genuinely see. Lewis demonstrates this through a vignette he calls “The Censor”. In The Censor, the subject experiences a scene as they would in any normal case of vision; through a standard casual process, with biological eyes, etc.
The only distinction between this case and standard sight is that in this case there is a Censor who is prepared to intervene if the scene were any different. Thus, the subject would have the same experience of the scene even it were different due to the intervention of the Censor. Lewis claims that because the subject would be unable to distinguish the current scene from possible alternatives, he cannot be said to genuinely see the scene. In this essay I will argue that the Censor is misleading because it lacks sufficient context and details for the reader to properly gauge their intuitions of the case. I will use the model of the Censor to construct a new vignette I call, “The School of Athens”. In The School of Athens, I will attempt to demonstrate how our intuitions of the Censor model can be very different depending on the context in which it is presented. Lastly, I will provide three reasons the counterfactual dependence requirement it too demanding for mere sight and thus, the Censor is in fact a case of genuine
sight. In this vignette I use the same constraints as Lewis’ censor case, I merely add context and details. The vignette goes as follows: a man who has lost his sight is offered a chance to be a participant in a clinical trial of a new implantable chip. The chip, when implanted in a blind person, causes the permanent experience of a single visual representation while the standard visual system remains inoperative. The subject will remain blind, but rather than having no visual experience at all (pure darkness or nothingness), the subject will experience one continuous image. The subject is also allowed to choose this image. The man agrees to be a participant and chooses to experience he and his wife’s favourite painting, “The School of Athens”. The chip is implanted and functions as expected. However, unbeknownst to the designers, it has one specific defect: if the sense data from the eyes matches the given visual representation, the chip will short circuit, causing a surge of electricity to pass down the optic nerve in such a way that will shock the standard visual system back into operation. This means that if the man were to have the scene in front of his eyes match his visual representation, his standard visual system will come online and he will see the scene as he normally would. One day, the man and his wife decide to visit the Vatican. They eventually arrive at The School of Athens display and sure enough, the man’s chip short circuits. Consequently the man and his wife both look upon the painting and experience it in the exact same way. They both use the same visual system with nearly identical content. In this case does it not seem as if the man and his wife both genuinely see the painting? Lewis would argue that only the wife genuinely sees the painting because only her experience satisfies the requirement of a proper counterfactual dependence. This is because if the scene were any different, she would have a different visual experience. The man, however, lacks proper counterfactual dependence because if the scene were any different he would have the same visual experience. Thus, the man is unable to distinguish the current scene from hypothetical alternative scenes, and Lewis believes this is sufficient to claim the man does not genuinely see. In fact, Lewis would go as far as to claim that the man not only fails to see the painting, but his experience is actually that of a veridical hallucination. But if we compare the man to his wife this seems absurd! Their experiences are nearly identical
The themes of blindness and of fate are present in both Niccol’s “The Truman Show” and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in order to show how despite vast differences in time, the themes of acts remain similar. Both “The Truman Show” and Oedipus the King offer blindness
In the article censorship: a personal view by Judy bulme she discusses and touches on censorship in literature in children and young adolescence books. Now in article there are a lot of possible exigencies listed threw out the article one of the main exigencies is that Judy bulme has personal experience with censorship as a little girl, with that personal account she has familiarity that compels and gives her credibility to write this article. With exigencie their also comes a purpose bulme’s purpose in the article is trying to convince parents that you should not coddle a young teen or an adolescent from literature that may not be suitable for them, but let their mind wonder and explain it after they read it. Also she communicates that censorship on books are not right because it’s unconstitutional violating the first amendment freedom of press. The audience she speaks to in article is the group of parents that are like middle age and older that have one track minds, and have to young teens and adolescent ages between 12-9 years old that are hesitant to let their children to read edgy books, teens who were her age and, have or experience the same thing she went thought as a kid, teachers and facility that believe in her cause that have lost their job over edgy books that were not age appropriate to their students. The context that you have to consider in the time of Judy bulme article is there is are a lot of issues going on the America culture that censorship of government felt need be. For inesxctie like the cold war was going on and nobody knew if another war was going to break out at any time. So any material that seemed edgy or conserverial it was going to be censored or restricted by the censors to the minors. Then th...
Without perception, in our illusions and hallucinations, we lose “our sense of beings,” (Capra). Lost in “isolation,” (Capra) perhaps lost within our own illusion, our abstractions, we lose the ability to judge, to dichotomize, reality from illusions, right from wrong.
Within Oliver Sacks, “To See and Not See”, the reader is introduced to Virgil, a blind man who gains the ability to see, but then decides to go back to being blind. Within this story Sacks considers Virgil fortunate due to him being able to go back to the life he once lived. This is contrasted by Dr. P, in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat”, Sacks states that his condition is “tragic” (Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat (13) due to the fact that his life will be forever altered by his condition. This thought process can be contributed to the ideas that: it is difficult to link physical objects and conceptualized meanings without prior experience, the cultures surrounding both individuals are different, and how they will carry on with their lives.
Censorship, defined as the act of destroying, suppressing or withholding information otherwise intended for the public, is detrimental to the community in a number of ways and has no place in a democratic society. Firstly it is detrimental to the progression of social ethics, morals and ideals and limits diversity in society while prolonging ignorance. Secondly it is a breach of freedom of expression, free speech and the free press. It will be demonstrated in this essay that censorship does happen in Australia, that it is not beneficial to society, and that it should be replaced with a system of management where members of the public will always have a choice as to whether or not they can view material intended for the public.
... sight: A case of hemineglect. In J. A. Ogden, Fractured Minds (pp. 113-136). New York: Oxford University Press.
In the play “Oedipus Rex by Sophocles” the themes of sight and blindness are produced to develop in the readers mind that it is not the eyesight, but insight that holds the key to truth and without It no amount of knowledge can help uncover the truth. Insight can be described as the ability to see what is going to happen. Characters like Oedipus and Teiresias hold a significant role in the play and other characters like Iocaste are also important in the play.
The idea of freedom can be seen throughout Collection 2 in our textbook. Freedom can be seen in the short story “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela when it talks about the freedom of speech. Addition to that, an article “A People’s History Of The 1963 March On Washington” by Charles Euchner shows freedom in its article when it talks about the segregation occurring to colored men. Lastly, freedom is shown in the graphic novel “Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return” by Marjane Satrapi as it shows high restriction.
A person’s perception is influenced by his or her character. Because of this subjectivity, there is often a disconnect between how things are perceived and reality. People often see what they want to see or hear what they want to hear. Blindness is literally defined as the inability to see, but it is also defined as “lacking perception, awareness, or discernment” (New Oxford American Dictionary). In King Lear, Shakespeare illustrates that figurative sight often is more important than the physical ability. Through Shakespeare’s deliberate language and complex characters, he demonstrates that a lack of perception can lead to impulsive decisions that eventually render a tragic demise.
In “The Anatomy of Judgmen”t, M. L. J. Abercrombie discusses how information is gained through our perception. Abercrombie claims that interpretation is a very complicated task that people have been learning to exercise since birth. Each person has a different way of interpreting the objects or situations they see, because people often relate their own past experiences. She also explains two important concepts: schemata and context. She defines schemata as a way our mind functions by understanding new things perceived through sight, by relating it to an individual’s past experiences. Past experiences help interpret what is seen further, if the object fits one’s expectation or their schemata, and not something different from their past experiences. Her fundamental insight is that seeing is more complex than just passively registering what is seen, and consists of a form judgment for...
When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions.
Many times people are blind to the truth that is right in front of them. The solution to their problems may have been blatantly obvious, however, they could not actually “see” their answer by their blindness to the truth. There have been instances where being blind is not actually a handicap, but more of a tool to see things to a deeper meaning. Although the blind may not have physical sight, they have another kind of vision. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, Tiresias, the blind prophet, addresses the truth of the prophecy to Oedipus and Jocasta. Oedipus has been blind to the truth of the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother his whole life. Once Oedipus discovers the truth, he loses his physical vision by blinding himself. Within these cases, the central theme of blindness can be expressed by Oedipus’s ignorance to see the higher vision- the truth
Censorship is detrimental to society. People can’t learn from their mistakes if we hide them. People can’t decide the best option if we say there are no options. People can’t understand each other if they don’t know what anyone is thinking. People can’t mature when they are “protected” from mean words. People can’t be themselves when they are being censored.
Since the foundation of the United States after a harsh split from Britain, almost 200 years later, an issue that could claim the founding grounds for the country is now being challenged by educators, high-ranking officials, and other countries. Though it is being challenged, many libertarians, democrats, and free-speech thinkers hold the claim that censorship violates our so-called unalienable rights, as it has been proven throughout many court cases. Censorship in the United States is detrimental because it has drastically and negatively altered many significant events.
Censorship affects our society in many different ways, it affects the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read, and many other aspects of our everyday lives. Even though many might argue that censorship doesn't really have a place in a society that emphases freedom of speech and the freedom to express oneself, but censorship is an essential and needed part of our growing society, it's needed in the television industry, the Internet, and the music industry. Censorship helps to make our world a better place because it creates a better environment for us to live in.