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2 The Visual World
However, its mathematical description is a fundamentally different thing from
the Gestalt image in the mind. It is the Gestalt image that has shape—the list
of measurements has neither shape nor an appearance.
Every shape has an aspect, that is, a way that it appears for us. Philosophers
refer to such things as qualia—the way our experience of things feels inwardly.
Vision consists of what is made to appear to us by our brain. If an object
appears to our eyes as round, or flat, or angular, then its physical structure is
such that it is round or flat or angular: This is analogous to the vibrations in the
air when a tree falls in the forest. The appearance of the object as round or flat
or angular is like the musical note as it sounds to you. Its physical characteristics
are like the waves of sound in the airmass.
In a broader perspective, the style of our experience of visual reality is the
product of a billion years of evolution of vision. This is true because the way
red looks to me, or the way round looks to me, are presumably the same as they
look to you, and almost certainly to all creatures. Nature has settled on these
sensations as a way of coordinating our mental reality with the parallel reality
outside, thereby making it possible for us to interact with the world. These
sensations are the ultimate universal language, crossing all species barriers.
There’s another thing about sensations as a biological language: The meanings with which sensations are invested are like the meanings of words in our
language: There is no reason why in English a stone is called stone or why hot
is called hot: These are conventional sounds chosen for no special reason to
convey meanings. The same is true for sensations. They feel different to us, and
each sensation conveys a specific meaning. Pain feels a certain way, an object
may feel hard, or sharp or hot. But the association between the meaning of
a sensation and the way it feels is a biological convention, probably universal
among all living creatures
There Is No Innocent Eye
As the sensory information originating at the eyes progresses through the
brain—where it undergoes stage after stage of analysis and processing—it progressively loses its topographic organization as well as its physical attributes
such as size, angles and geometric relations. The physical attributes of the
visual array are re-coded into a brain language of sensation, and integrated
with abstract qualities of the scene which have immediate relevance to the
observer—qualities such as subjective shape, pattern of motion, meaning and
identity.
2 The Visual World
However, its mathematical description is a fundamentally different thing from
the Gestalt image in the mind. It is the Gestalt image that has shape—the list
of measurements has neither shape nor an appearance.
Every shape has an aspect, that is, a way that it appears for us. Philosophers
refer to such things as qualia—the way our experience of things feels inwardly.
Vision consists of what is made to appear to us by our brain. If an object
appears to our eyes as round, or flat, or angular, then its physical structure is
such that it is round or flat or angular: This is analogous to the vibrations in the
air when a tree falls in the forest. The appearance of the object as round or flat
or angular is like the musical note as it sounds to you. Its physical characteristics
are like the waves of sound in the airmass.
In a broader perspective, the style of our experience of visual reality is the
product of a billion years of evolution of vision. This is true because the way
red looks to me, or the way round looks to me, are presumably the same as they
look to you, and almost certainly to all creatures. Nature has settled on these
sensations as a way of coordinating our mental reality with the parallel reality
outside, thereby making it possible for us to interact with the world. These
sensations are the ultimate universal language, crossing all species barriers.
There’s another thing about sensations as a biological language: The meanings with which sensations are invested are like the meanings of words in our
language: There is no reason why in English a stone is called stone or why hot
is called hot: These are conventional sounds chosen for no special reason to
convey meanings. The same is true for sensations. They feel different to us, and
each sensation conveys a specific meaning. Pain feels a certain way, an object
may feel hard, or sharp or hot. But the association between the meaning of
a sensation and the way it feels is a biological convention, probably universal
among all living creatures
There Is No Innocent Eye
As the sensory information originating at the eyes progresses through the
brain—where it undergoes stage after stage of analysis and processing—it progressively loses its topographic organization as well as its physical attributes
such as size, angles and geometric relations. The physical attributes of the
visual array are re-coded into a brain language of sensation, and integrated
with abstract qualities of the scene which have immediate relevance to the
observer—qualities such as subjective shape, pattern of motion, meaning and
identity.