A Rational Cosmology: Perceptual Similarity Among Healthy Individuals

Essay LXXX

This is Essay LXXX of Mr. Stolyarov's series, "A Rational Cosmology," which seeks to present objective, absolute, rationally grounded views of terms such as universe, matter, volume, space, time, motion, sound, light, forces, fields, and even the higher-order concepts of life, consciousness, and volition. See the index of all the essays in "A Rational Cosmology" here.

Here, I will demonstrate that human perception of physical phenomena is, for all healthy, non-handicapped persons, fundamentally the same and provides accurate knowledge about the natures of said phenomena.

My contention is as follows: Let us presume that you and I are entirely healthy individuals, with no sensory impairments. If I observe a red ball (or any other entity) from a given angle, and then you observe the red ball from the same angle, in the same environment, we will both see the same red ball in the same way. There will be no difference between my perception and yours. To demonstrate this, only the physicalist model of consciousness will suffice.

The physicalist model acknowledges that there are physical mechanisms which are necessary for consciousness to function. The eyes function as receptors of light of a certain "frequency," which then transmit a signal of the light's reception through the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain.

For all healthy organisms in the human species, even though they will vary somewhat in their genetic makeup, the functionality of all their organs will be the same, and so will be the mechanisms by which these organs will function. For two healthy human beings, the eyes may be of different colors, shapes, and sizes, but their functional structures will all be the same.

Similarly, two healthy individuals may have brains of different sizes, but the innate qualities of their brains would be identical, including those qualities which automatically (i.e., non-volitionally) allow a human being to experience perception of the world around him.