Eddington and Everyday Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Eddington and Everyday Experience - Essay Example Often though it is something that is lacking a foundational source, the idea, 'it is there because it is' often falls into place, especially in a philosophical sense. For example Arthur Eddington's interpretation of the existence of the world is a key interpretation of this type of thinking. In his following statement it is obvious how he utilizes the areas of philosophy to try and make sense out of the universe surrounding him. "The world, which spontaneously appears around me when I open my eyes," is "a strange compound of external nature, mental imagery, and inherited prejudice". Factual knowledge is not as simple or self-evident as it so often seems to be. Thus, the process of learning cannot be taken for granted. Several different theories of the learning process have been established in Western philosophy and the memes of culture. One of these is Skepticism. Skepticism itself questions everything and places doubt where none should exist. The main message it relays to mankind is one of a negative nature, claiming that man will never reach a heightened sense of knowledge about any certain issue in life or the world in particular (Hooker 1996). So, it is found within the realm of skepticism nothing is for certain and the foundational sustenance of the utilization of epistemologies themselves finds doubt in anything and everything. Although skepticism is admonished by those who don't follow the theorization in behind it, it still shows some crude evidence as to why some doubt so much, in even the simplest of things. The reason for these doubts within this the ory is due to the imperfections of the human mind, which can possibly include: faultiness in reasoning and judgment, poor memory, limited accessibility to an object of scrutiny, a lack in the accuracy of the senses, the possibility of mistaking illusions (such as dreams) for reality, and the possibility of misinformation. The issue then, with skepticism is that it finds fault with everything, even those that take simple, common sense notions where the majority of people would find to be, "self evident". Although scientific people are typically described as taking the sceptical view of a new idea that seems "wild", the scientific method is most accurately rooted in the philosophy of Empiricism. To Empiricists, the senses are indeed highly accurate and, moreover, they are our foremost tool for acquiring knowledge about life, the universe, and everything. In stating "which spontaneously appears around me when I open my eyes", Arthur Eddington indicates that our environment is perceived by our senses. There exists an outside world to which we are only connected through our senses and construct a mental image of it. There exists a disparity between what is perceived to be and what reality essentially is. Even in an ordinary view of the world, it is sometimes dubious if we can rely entirely on our sensory data. Some simple examples are illusions, in which we can not trust our senses since they mislead us to draw odd conclusion. Most Empiricists, however, recognize the existence of a prior i truths, which are those of mathematics and logic. In Eddington's claim of "inherited prejudice", the interpretation of it can go in several directions. Prejudice is neither knowledge nor belief, although it is rooted in the latter. The word prejudice comes from the Latin word