The perfect example of how our sense experiences betray people is the illusion they get when they immerse a spoon in a half-filled transparent glass of water. At the looking through the glass, one notices that the spoon is slightly bent yet in reality, the spoon is straight. This is not the only illusion that our senses perceive to be true. Two railway lines that are parallel to each other appear to meet each other at a distance if one stands between them and looks afar. These and a few other cases are proof that anything empirical that is captured by the brain through people’s senses may not be real. Some may be real but some may not. While theoretical science tries to explain the reality of the empirical nature of things, it is empirical science that is mandated to find out what is real in the empirical world (Manning, 2015).
The definition of empirical reality is that which is not illusory. On the other hand, the theoretical reality is defined as that which exists independently and is perceived differently. The argument comes in as to whether the two definitions are the same or not. From my point of view, the two are dissimilar and the different steps result from the illusion point. Some argue that because the illusions do not reflect reality, they are merely our own misapprehensions or reality and not reality itself (Ousselin, 2012). However, in perception, one cannot distinguish between non-illusions and illusions. This means that illusions can be images drawn from reality too. The point drawn from this analysis is that illusions and non-illusions all result from the same thing which is the sense data that is sent to our brains by sensory organs. Although the argument from illusion has not been refuted satisfactorily, it is still largely disregarded due to its inaccurate conclusion (Schwitzgebel, 2011) .
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References
Manning, G. (2015). Descartes’s metaphysical biology. HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science , 5 (2), 209-239.
Ousselin, E. (2012). The Matter of Mind: Reason and Experience in the Age of Descartes. French Studies , 66 (4), 553-554. doi: 10.1093/fs/kns222
Schwitzgebel, E. (2011). Perplexities of consciousness . MIT press.
