Conceptions of the Universe: How Our Conceptions of Reality Arise from the Limitations of Our Perceptual Apparatus - Softcover

King, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907962263 ISBN 13: 9781907962264

Publisher: 123 Books, 2011

Synopsis

We ordinarily take the universe to be as it appears to us to be. So, when one observes a red rose in one's garden, one ordinarily assumes that the part of the universe that is one's garden contains a red rose. However, when one takes oneself outside of one's ordinary state of interaction with the universe; when one starts to reflect and rationalise about the nature of one's relationship with the universe; then, things become more complicated than the state of affairs belied by our 'ordinary' assumptions. In this book John King outlines why the world that appears to one is perceiver-dependent, why identical sets of perceptions can lead to very different conceptions of the nature of the universe, why one's perceptual apparatus is inevitably constrained, and why this inevitable constraint leads to some conceptions of the universe being favoured over others.

About this title

From the Publisher

The conclusion of the book is that our conceptions of the universe are constrained ('channelled') in such a way as to make it easy for us to assume that we are very different from the non-human universe. However, this realisation can enable us to embrace the idea that humans are actually very similar to the non-human universe. Here is an excerpt from the conclusion: "We have seen that we ordinarily take the universe to be as it appears to us to be...However, we have seen that one's perceptions can be conceptualised in many different ways (as in the Primal World View versus the Modern World View). Furthermore, we have seen that one's perceptions are inevitably constrained, which means that the conceptualisations that one makes of one's perceptions are not accurate conceptualisations of the universe - they are merely conceptualisations of one's constrained perceptions. This means that there are many diverse views as to how similar one is to the rest of the universe. Those who do not acknowledge the existence of the inevitable constraints are more likely to believe that they are dissimilar to the rest of the universe. Whilst, those who realise that the inevitable constraints exist have a good reason to believe that the universe is quite similar to them."

Edition details

• Publisher: 123 Books
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1907962263
• ISBN 13: 9781907962264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 100