Perception: A Universal Debate

Prompt: Perception

Perception is defined as the “ability to grasp mentally, become aware of through the senses.” Perception is basically the way people interpret various situations, ideas, information, etc. However, two men by the names of Gorgias and Socrates had differing opinions on the idea of perception.

Gorgias thought of perception as “nothing exists, if anything does exist it is unknowable, and if anything can be known it is incommunicable.” He argued that this was accurate because everyone’s senses vary. In other words, if everyone in this world’s senses are different, then their view of perception is different, and vice versa. Hence, the idea or situation that is being perceived will never be proven because of the many different views.

Socrates on the other hand, had a much different opinion on the idea of perception. Socrates argued “that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human agent ever knowingly does evil: we all invariably do what we believe to be best.”
To him, perception was influenced by what a certain person believed to be correct. Therefore, your morals and beliefs influence your idea of perception, which then in turn determines your vulnerability to a certain situation or idea. He also believed that if a person acted immorally, it was due to their own unwise decisions, and not a factor of how they were raised in society.

In actuality, both of these men made major points that I believe could be valid. However, I think that perception is interpreted by your own personal beliefs, because no one can tell you what to think about something, or can they? This can only happen if you don’t have a mind of your own, in which everyone does, or I would hope does. The way I perceive something might not be the way that another person perceives something, and that’s what makes each individual in this world unique.

I didn’t agree with Gorgias when he argued that since people’s senses vary then there will never be an answer to the idea or situation being perceived. People do tend to have different perceptions of things. However, if another person explains why they perceived whatever it is as they do, then sometimes the other person tends to agree with their ideas also. Therefore, it’s not that a common ground can’t be reached because ultimately it can, it would just take a longer time to arrive at it.

I did agree with Socrates for the most part, when he argued that people’s perceptions come from their beliefs. I also feel that how you look at things is an extension of what you believe to be correct or true. Also, the way you react to something does actually come from your upbringing because whatever you are taught is what you’re going to stick by even if it’s not really correct.