Jon Southall Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 How do you know that what was, was? What was cannot be perceived, and so it is theoretical. Of course there is evidence supporting it, but again this evidence is based against a standard of evidence that rests on theoretical knowledge. I state this to explore the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrictlyLogical Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 (edited) Little of what you perceive is not what was. The light that hits your eyes let's you see things as they were when the light bounced off of them. The sound that hits your ears let's you hear things as they were when they produced the sound. Can you divorce the validity of the senses into two types due to the undeniable role played by time? I think not. You still directly perceive existents across time and space (sorry they are there), and you, I, or any Objectivist knows, any call or wish for sense perception absent the means of perception is fallacious. Part of the means involves the realities of time and space. Edited October 7, 2014 by StrictlyLogical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Southall Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 (edited) All of what exists, exists. The starlight you see exists now, it is a fact which is perceivable. Its origin, as you say, was a long time ago; though you must admit this is a claim according to our theory of light, for which we find much evidence in support of but nonetheless is still an inductive theory. You mention sound and light taking time but time reduces down to motion, so what you are left with is a transformative present. Time is a context needed to make sense of change, just like any other measure. Our perceptions are motion sensors. So when we see or hear what we see or hear is immediate. Our theories allow us to construct a meaning for what we immediately perceive. Such as this music I am hearing is travelling from those speakers across the room. That is theoretical but also verifiable (I could hit the mute button to prove it). I think that we perceive motion caused by immediate objective reality only - however the form of reality we are conscious of depends on much more. An adult sees a new heat source and knows it will burn to the touch. This information is not perceivable from looking at the heat source. A young child would touch it and accidentally burn their fingers. The adult has learned something about the nature of reality and reasons inductively to avoid getting burnt. The mind acts like augmented reality glasses. Edited October 8, 2014 by Jon Southall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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