Assignment 2 - 'red-tinted glasses'

The red-tinted glasses metaphor seemed to suggest that the way of interpreting information obtained through our sense perception is adapted to an individual’s existing underlying principle. This is a balance Kant concluded from the beliefs of both Empiricists like Hume, who believe that all knowledge is derived from information from sense perception and experience, and Rationalists like Descartes, who believed that basic grounds for all knowledge lay within the mind. I believe that what is sensed (e.g. seen) maybe the same for people of different upbringing, however, as a result of the different upbringing we may regard the event or object in different ways demonstrated by Sophie when she put on the red-tinted glasses. She saw what she normally would have observed just like everyone else, however because of the red-tinted glasses, everything was a shade of red unlike others without red-tinted glasses. The glasses symbolised the different upbringing and existing rationales that modify how Sophie would have interpreted information obtained from sense perception compared to other individuals.

This can be especially applied when different views must be tolerated or tried to be understood when working cooperatively with others in the real world. Companies and schools consists of students from various cultural backgrounds and different upbringings, however despite difference views; they can reach a collective decision as they tolerate the difference that the ‘red-tinted glasses’ can make to their perceptions. On a smaller scale, working with others in school, interpreting the same passage with another individual (like on a literature exam) may bring out different understandings of the passage and derive different explanations/answers. Another example can be set by this TOK second assignment. Everyone who’s currently doing this task will be reading the same text, but we will all have different opinions and perspectives. Further more, when working in a group, looking at the same thing everyone will be able to provide different views therefore, different perspectives and variations can be given into the group discussion. Also, putting the ‘red-tinted glasses’ as an example of a magnifying glass or telescope, as we put those appliances to look at what we see everyday, our views of that particular something might or will change. Out of my own life experience, when I looked at a picture of Hong Kong view from the peak, I didn’t expect it to be as beautiful when I actually got there, even though I was looking at the same view.

This is how I think the ‘red-tinted glasses’ can change our view of senses and perception, and this is what I think the metaphor is trying to tell us. When looking at the same object that we see everyday in our lives, it can be changed by just a simple pair of glasses such as the ‘red-tinted glasses’ which suggests that everyone can have different perspectives on the same object according to their surroundings.