The red-tinted glasses in the chapter ‘Kant’ can be seen as a metaphor for how reason and sensory perception can both be altered and influenced like “when you pour water into a glass pitcher.”
Though glasses usually help us to see and so improve our understanding, here the red tint causes our perception to become “pink” and “crimson.” The glasses are red because it absorbs all the blue and green colour lights but reflects the red, leaving us with an obscure, limited sense of vision. We can see the glasses as a metaphor of the mind and how at times we choose to only absorb and accept certain things while rejecting, reflecting other ideas, information or people. This is commonly seen in or world as racism, discrimination and narrow mindedness. Depending on where and how we were brought up “the mind leaves its imprint on the way we apprehend the world. Our reason and perceptions are thus moulded fostering our identity, opinions and principles, which may not always be fair or socially responsible. We are all wearing coloured glasses but since we grow into them, we cannot take of these ‘glasses of reason’.
A rationalist believes the basis of all knowledge lay in the mind, while an empiricist believes all knowledge we have, has come from our senses.
When linking to the views of rationalists and empiricists, an empiricist wearing the glasses would not apply reason and perceive the world to have become red. This implies that an empiricist would ignore the social influences in which the person is brought up and would not be aware of bias as reason has not been considered. On the other hand a rationalist may address these problems but by thinking that knowledge comes from the mind, he or she would not actively learn from experience and may ponder about the problem at home. So this is why Kant believed that both rationalists and empiricists went too far in their beliefs, empiricists ignored the red tint while empiricists used opaque glasses. There is a need for balance as both support each other in understanding.
In my life there have been many cases where I have worn tinted glasses. A main example is laughing at racist jokes, many of these are based on stereotypes like ‘Black people steal things’ or ‘Irish people are dumb.’ Though they are meant to be funny, if reason is applied you are laughing at the cost of hurting someone’s feelings. This is why I have learned to bite my lip in these situations.
To conclude, the red-tinted glasses are a metaphor for how many of us are influenced to perceive in different ways because of our upbringing. These differences can lead to a sense of identity but at times be hurtful and bias to others. Being able to take off these glasses would make a global citizen, but also someone without their own culture or personality.
Though glasses usually help us to see and so improve our understanding, here the red tint causes our perception to become “pink” and “crimson.” The glasses are red because it absorbs all the blue and green colour lights but reflects the red, leaving us with an obscure, limited sense of vision. We can see the glasses as a metaphor of the mind and how at times we choose to only absorb and accept certain things while rejecting, reflecting other ideas, information or people. This is commonly seen in or world as racism, discrimination and narrow mindedness. Depending on where and how we were brought up “the mind leaves its imprint on the way we apprehend the world. Our reason and perceptions are thus moulded fostering our identity, opinions and principles, which may not always be fair or socially responsible. We are all wearing coloured glasses but since we grow into them, we cannot take of these ‘glasses of reason’.
A rationalist believes the basis of all knowledge lay in the mind, while an empiricist believes all knowledge we have, has come from our senses.
When linking to the views of rationalists and empiricists, an empiricist wearing the glasses would not apply reason and perceive the world to have become red. This implies that an empiricist would ignore the social influences in which the person is brought up and would not be aware of bias as reason has not been considered. On the other hand a rationalist may address these problems but by thinking that knowledge comes from the mind, he or she would not actively learn from experience and may ponder about the problem at home. So this is why Kant believed that both rationalists and empiricists went too far in their beliefs, empiricists ignored the red tint while empiricists used opaque glasses. There is a need for balance as both support each other in understanding.
In my life there have been many cases where I have worn tinted glasses. A main example is laughing at racist jokes, many of these are based on stereotypes like ‘Black people steal things’ or ‘Irish people are dumb.’ Though they are meant to be funny, if reason is applied you are laughing at the cost of hurting someone’s feelings. This is why I have learned to bite my lip in these situations.
To conclude, the red-tinted glasses are a metaphor for how many of us are influenced to perceive in different ways because of our upbringing. These differences can lead to a sense of identity but at times be hurtful and bias to others. Being able to take off these glasses would make a global citizen, but also someone without their own culture or personality.
4 comments:
I agree with you that balance between rationalism and empiricism is essential for understanding. As we mature, we are closer to finding that balance and it looks like you are on that very path, by realising that racist jokes just aren't worth it! (It's sad how some of the funniest jokes are racist though.)
However, is upbringing the only element that contributes to how one perceives? I think genetic predispositions should be considered as well. You also make changing the way we perceive sound so simple. Is is really that easy?
I agree with Nichole that genes may contribute to perception, for example for those who are mentally ill or has a tumor in the brain which causes aggression. However, I believe that the majority of us are born with clear glasses which then gets coloured by our experiences, environment, etc.
I like the way you mentioned that being able to take off these glasses would make a global citizen, but also someone without their own culture or personality, because this was something that I hadn't discussed in my own post. And after reading this, I realise the importance of balancing between having a personal opinion, and being unbiased.
But one thing I wanted to ask: do you mean that a global citizen doesn't have their own culture or personality? How would you define a "global citizen" in the first place? A person who doesn't have ideas of "racism, discrimination and narrow mindedness"? If this is your answer, then I don't think that I would completely agree with your view that the way to become a global citizen is to take off your glasses. Is it not possible to have your own culture and personality (i.e. still have your glasses on), but still respect other cultures and point of views as well (i.e. be an unbiased “global citizen”)?
Like you said, I believe that it is not possible for us to take off our glasses. But we are able to change the colour of our glasses. Sophie tries on red glasses, and realizes how this can only result in biased opinions because red is quite a concentrated colour, and doesn’t allow the wearer to see any other colours. But if we are able to lighten this colour to pink, for example, (by taking the initiative to learn about and understand different cultures and point of views), I think that we can have our own personal opinions and culture, but still have the ability to see things in a not-so-tainted way. With a lighter-couloured pair of glasses, we can still see the original colour of things - not everything will seem like just one colour, but we will still be able to have our own perspective.
I agree with you that our upbringing does shape our sense of perception. But as we grow older, we learn to accept different interpretations and become more flexible. Would you say that is means we have taken off the red-tinted glasses that we once used to adorn, or have we simply changed the colour?
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