posts tagged ‘perception’
Saccade
16 March 2011 • out of context
tags: brain, perception, quotes, senses, sight
“A saccade (pronounced /səˈkɑːd/, sə-KAHD) is a fast movement of an eye, head or other part of an animal’s body or device. It can also be a fast shift in frequency of an emitted signal or other quick change. Saccades are quick, simultaneous movements of both eyes in the same direction. Initiated by eye fields in the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain, saccades serve as a mechanism for fixation, rapid eye movement and the fast phase of optokinetic nystagmus.”
Heterotopia
7 March 2011 • out of context
tags: brain, meaning, perception, quotes, space
Heterotopia is a concept in human geography elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions. These are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there, that are simultaneously physical and mental, such as the space of a phone call or the moment when you see yourself in the mirror.
Epokhē
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: language, meaning, perception, quotes, truth
“Epoché (ἐποχή, epokhē “suspension”) is an ancient Greek term which, in its philosophical usage, describes the theoretical moment where all judgments about the existence of the external world, and consequently all action in the world, are suspended.”
Copy Principle
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: copy, imagination, perception, quotes, thinking
“Although we permute and combine ideas in the imagination to form complex ideas of things we haven’t experienced, Hume is adamant that our creative powers extend no farther than “the materials afforded us by the senses and experience.” Complex ideas are composed of simple ideas, which are fainter copies of the simple impressions from which they are ultimately derived, to which they correspond and exactly resemble. Hume offers this “general proposition” as his “first principle…in the science of human nature” (T, 7). Usually called the “Copy Principle,” Hume’s distinctive brand of empiricism is often identified with his commitment to it.”
Antinomy
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: language, meaning, perception, quotes, senses, thinking, truth, uncertainty
“Antinomy (Greek αντι-, against, plus νομος, law) literally means the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws. (…) The term acquired a special significance in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who used it to describe the equally rational but contradictory results of applying to the universe of pure thought the categories or criteria of reason proper to the universe of sensible perception or experience (phenomena).”
Aporia
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: language, meaning, perception, quotes, truth, uncertainty
“In philosophy, an aporia is a philosophical puzzle or a seemingly insoluble impasse in an inquiry, often arising as a result of equally plausible yet inconsistent premises. It can also denote the state of being perplexed, or at a loss, at such a puzzle or impasse.”
Fuzzy logic
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: mathematics, meaning, perception, quotes, truth, uncertainty
“Fuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic derived from fuzzy set theory to deal with reasoning that is fluid or approximate rather than fixed and exact. In contrast with “crisp logic”, where binary sets have two-valued logic, fuzzy logic variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree between 0 and 1. In simple words we can say fuzzy logic is a super set of conventional (boolean) logic that has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth–the truth values between completely true and completely false.”
On me faict haïr les choses vray-semblables quand on me les plante pour infaillibles
5 March 2011 • out of context
tags: books, language, perception, quotes, truth
“On me faict haïr les choses vray-semblables quand on me les plante pour infaillibles. J’aime ces mots qui amollissent et moderent la temerité de nos propositions: «A l’avanture», «Aucunement», «Quelque», «On dict», «Je pense» et semblables. Et si j’eusse eu à dresser des enfans, je leur eusse tant mis en la bouche cette façon de respondre, enquêteuse, non resolutive: «Qu’est-ce à dire?», «Je ne l’entens pas», «Il pourroit être», «Est-il vray?»… qu’ils eussent plutôt gardé la forme d’apprentis à soixante ans, que de representer les docteurs à dix ans, comme ils font”.
Michel de Montaigne, Essais, livre 3, Des boiteux
El que dice ‘hermoso’, está creando ‘feo’
30 January 2011 • out of context
tags: language, perception, quotes
“El que dice ‘hermoso’, está creando ‘feo’. El que dice ‘bien’, está creando ‘mal’. Resistir determina no resistir. Alto determina bajo. Ruidoso determina silencioso. Determinado determina indeterminado. Ahora determina otrora. Así pues, el sabio actúa sin acción, dice sin hablar. Lleva en sí todas las cosas en busca de la unidad. Él produce, pero no posee. Perfecciona la vida, pero no reclama reconocimiento. Y porque nada reclama, nunca sufre pérdida”.
Lao Tse
Tao Te Ching