Senses vs Area of Knowledge

When I was young, I am a mere knower about science and always interpret things by using senses. The saying, seeing is believing made me believe things happen but they are often deceptive. Senses represent the immediate reaction while science involves in depth studies about natural occurrences. Now, I start to think rationally by using basic scientific method in most of my observation, using information given to make generalization, and try to come up with my own theory before I explain and predict what will happen. When I was seven years old, I described air as substances which can help human to stay alive in this world. I, my family, my friends and everyone are using air to breathe, and we can die without it. However, science had proved it wrong when experiments show air is contains a mixture of gases and we only using oxygen for breathing. This theory have much influence me when I conducted a simple experiment about the necessity of the oxygen for the human being. I was eleven years old on that time and I put a rat in the upturned beaker containing air. Then, I put another rat in another upturned beaker containing the air which had removed oxygen gas by using burning process. The result shows the rat in the beaker with oxygen live longer compare to another one. This situation shows that we cannot make quick interpretation when using senses but we need to reconcile and using suitable area of knowledge to make new theory which can satisfy the public. Let me attempt to explain further, by going through specific examples from certain Areas of Knowledge such as Science and Arts.



“People don't use their eyes. They never see a bird, they see a sparrow.
They never see a tree, they see a birch. They see concepts.”
Joyce Cary

Scientist views the phenomenon happen as a concept and they use their senses to make an observation, however, often they do not fully trusted their sight because they know senses are always deceptive. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, people only see what they are prepared to see . So, if they believe something, they will try their best to prove it. It goes like the proving the existence of dark matter. It uses Kuhn’s Revolutionary Scientific Method in this case when a few experiments were already done but failed to prove it. Nonetheless, National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) claim that they are successful in proving it through their experiment . The experiment is done using Einstein famous prediction that light must be pulled by gravity of heavy body and a separated galaxies mass is calculated from the observed and also from the calculation based on Einstein prediction and there is a mass missing that physicist from NASA claims to be that of dark matter. Our senses will tell us that the existence of dark matter is unreliable due to limitation of our senses. So, further experiments were done to clarify this phenomenon, using senses as one of tools to explain the phenomenon even though it can not fully explain it. In this case, dark matter theory is an explanation on the observed effect of formation of galaxies and stars. After the big bang, the heat caused by the explosion is predicted to cause every matter to be separated because of the kinetic energy (science law state that molecules will gain more kinetic energy and moves faster and farer from each other when heat is supplied). On the contrary, what happen was, the molecules come closer to form galaxies and stars and this action needs lots of gravity to attract all of the objects to pack closer together. From the general accepted principle that every mass exert gravity, then inductively a deduction is made by stating that every gravity must be caused by a body that have mass. And from the computation made based on the amount of gravity needed to form galaxies and stars, the universe has very high mass. But what is observed from astronomy is that the mass of our universe is far lesser than the value calculated . So a body that cannot be seen and referred to as ‘dark matter’ must be what causes the mass missing. Through this example, we can see that senses and science cannot be separated in the process of making generalization or theory. Both should be used together to explain and describe the phenomenon that happen.

Another example would be the shape of the earth. About 4500-500 Before Common Era, The Babylonians & Mesopotamians generally believed in the "theory that the earth was a flat circular disk surrounded by a primordial sea” . This theory is also supported by the observation made when people in the middle of the sea saw the sea and the sky in the same plane. They believed what they are seeing so they declare the earth is flat. As time goes by, Pythagoras introduced the concept of 'antipodes' meaning feet pointed in a direction that was opposite, by being the first to claim that people could live on the opposite side of the world. "The earth, which is also spherical and inhabited all over, that there are antipodes..." Pythagoras only uses the concepts of science to prove the shape of the earth. However, the new generation has proposed the new theory to reconcile the conflicts between Babylonians, Mesopotamians and Pythagoras because both theories can be argued. Plato and Aristotle tried to falsify the previous theory by using the concepts of symmetry, equilibrium and cyclic repetition while the observation, regarding the first arguments favouring a round-earth model , the ship which is sailing in the sea disappears from sight as if the ship sinks slowly. They argued that if the previous theory that says the earth is flat then the moving shape will eventually “fall of the edge” but this is not what really happen This new theory had been confirmed by the high technology in science when the pictures taken of the earth shows the earth shape is actually spherical. In this case, senses and science should be coupled together to prove the truth and solved the conflict between contradicting theory.

Let us inspect the relation between senses and Arts. Arts can be defined as a division of the philosophy which investigates the nature of art and it use imaginations to voice out the belief or emotion, particularly in dance, painting, music and sculpture. Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy which deals with the nature of art and of artistic judgment. The arguments arise when we tried to interpret beautiful paintings and whether they contain aesthetics value? Senses usually described beauty to be objective by only interpreting the external appearance of the paintings. Nonetheless, certain people that can recognize the aesthetics value in arts say that beauty is something subjective because it depends on the attitude of the observers. Paintings that have aesthetics value are usually those that are creative symbolization of something, which can not be perceived by immediate reaction. Some people who made the judgment by using only their senses may say that the high aesthetics paintings are just a piece of paper that does not carry any meaning because they did not understand what the artist was trying to convey to the viewers. Only certain people will know the value of the paintings if they have the sense of art and they can understand the symbolization of the portrait and this group of people will be willing to spend a lot of money on these aesthetic paintings or other artistic materials during an auction. Conflict between a group of people who are using their senses and people who can identify aesthetical value to interpret arts can be reconcile by letting the first group of people study carefully about the sketch, listens to the music or reads the poem. Will the practice gives them sympathetic, a vision, and a recognition which they did not have earlier? If the answer is yes, so that is the new knowledge for them. In arts, you are acknowledged as an artist because you design something rare and original. Hence, a person who only uses the senses to interpret artistic material needs to study in depth to know the actual value of that material. As a conclusion, if we are using our senses in correlation with the art, we can understand and feel the aesthetics value in artistic material because we are using our senses in the process of delivering the aesthetic experience.

As a conclusion, senses and area of knowledge should be used together in explaining the theory or phenomenon so that people can get the clear view about the situations. Senses are ways of knowing that should be used as a tool by the scientist and artist to prove the miracles things in science and aesthetic value in arts. Senses are complimentary to the science or arts in explaining and predicting the phenomenon and theory. In the end, sense and science or arts can not be separated as they need each other in supporting their ideas. It is like oil and vinegar; it cannot be one when mixed but they are useful to be used together.



by Abdullah Syahmi Ariffin
12/6/2008