Where Am I Daniel Dennett Analysis
What does this demonstrate about our brains and the information that they give us about the world?
This phenomenon that occurs while flying in an airplane is an example of our perceptions not being reality. People often go by the notion that 'seeing is believing', however this airplane phenomenon is a counterexample that proves that this does not always hold true. Our eyes are one of the channels of input to our brains, and although vision is an incredibly amazing and complex physiological process, it does come with limitations as to how accurately it delivers information to our brain. The mind-body connection works extremely well, but does not operate flawlessly. In “Where am I?”, by Daniel Dennett, a literal mind-body disconnect gave us …show more content…
Many beliefs are formed by what we see, so after one experiences an optical illusion, they may begin to question their beliefs. For example, there was the dress controversy that happened about a year ago. Was the dress white and gold or black and blue? So many people strongly believed in one color scheme over the other that it became a major debate. For the millions of people who found out that they incorrectly perceived the dress to be white and gold, they had a strong belief of theirs questioned, but it was out of their control, because they saw the dress as being white and gold. A similar issue happened with Dennett in “Where am I?”. Dennett believed that his thoughts were occurring in his brain, yet his perception of “here” was in his body. Like the airplane floor and ceiling appearing too tilt, no matter how hard Dennett tried, he could not will himself to perceive “here” as being within Yorik. Even though he was able to later confirm his belief, there was a definite period confusion and even a questioning of the validity of his belief. If Hamlet had never been disconnected from Yorik, perhaps Dennett's belief would have changed, and that would further question whether we really control our beliefs, or are our beliefs formed based on what we perceive in the world around us. To some degree, we are incapable of controlling everything that we
This phenomenon that occurs while flying in an airplane is an example of our perceptions not being reality. People often go by the notion that 'seeing is believing', however this airplane phenomenon is a counterexample that proves that this does not always hold true. Our eyes are one of the channels of input to our brains, and although vision is an incredibly amazing and complex physiological process, it does come with limitations as to how accurately it delivers information to our brain. The mind-body connection works extremely well, but does not operate flawlessly. In “Where am I?”, by Daniel Dennett, a literal mind-body disconnect gave us …show more content…
Many beliefs are formed by what we see, so after one experiences an optical illusion, they may begin to question their beliefs. For example, there was the dress controversy that happened about a year ago. Was the dress white and gold or black and blue? So many people strongly believed in one color scheme over the other that it became a major debate. For the millions of people who found out that they incorrectly perceived the dress to be white and gold, they had a strong belief of theirs questioned, but it was out of their control, because they saw the dress as being white and gold. A similar issue happened with Dennett in “Where am I?”. Dennett believed that his thoughts were occurring in his brain, yet his perception of “here” was in his body. Like the airplane floor and ceiling appearing too tilt, no matter how hard Dennett tried, he could not will himself to perceive “here” as being within Yorik. Even though he was able to later confirm his belief, there was a definite period confusion and even a questioning of the validity of his belief. If Hamlet had never been disconnected from Yorik, perhaps Dennett's belief would have changed, and that would further question whether we really control our beliefs, or are our beliefs formed based on what we perceive in the world around us. To some degree, we are incapable of controlling everything that we