PERCEPTION (Purpose in)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2511 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
… or, in M. MERLEAU-PONTY's terms “perceptive intentionality” (1945).
In G. BATESON's words: “I, the conscious I, see an unconsciously edited version of a small percentage of what affects my retina. I am guided in my perception by purpose.
- “I see who is attending, who is not, or at least I get a myth about this subject… It is relevant to my purpose that you hear me…” (1973, p.408).
Perception must by necessity be selective. Otherwise we would be submerged by it and unable to act anymore. Such a purposeful organization of perception is the result of the progressive organization of our neural networks, through imprinting, training, or learning.
There is however a price to pay: selectivity blocks us slowly in routine grooves and much of reality becomes invisible, or again, subtly edited. As expressed in a untranslatable German pun by H.von FOERSTER: “…was man wahr-nimmt, nimmt man fuer wahr” (1992, p.51).