Identity and Reality

I once took a course in college called the philosophy of science.  It was taught by a Welsh professor who smoked excessively and frequently paced back and forth in front of the class, often pondering the meaningless arguments of perceptions versus reality (by his own admission).

It is an interesting argument to present: what reality we live in can be logically deconstructed into categories of what things really are and what things are defined to be.

I occasionally tell my students that colors and pain are simply perceptions through association.  They're creations of the mind that have no physical existence.  To declare something to be a certain color only means that you've labeled it that way since you've been raised to label items of similar appearance since kindergarten.  Honestly, who declared that all things that reflect light at these wavelengths shall be named different colors?  Who came up with these names for colors?  You have to wonder if this definition of color holds true universally or if it's purely a biologically tied definition.  I would think it is more the latter, since one thing you learn about perceptions of reality, they are relative to the acute senses of the individual.

Pain, in a similar context, doesn't exist as a physical sensation, but as a neurological one.  It is a consequence of our cognitive resilience to our physical and emotional interactions with everything in our lives.  Pain is a consequence of our psychological ties to the physical world, the emotional world, and the social world.  Sometimes, when you think of pain as simply a neurological manifestation of our life experiences, you can make it vanish as if it never existed in the first place.

What I always thought was fascinating was that we, as humans, have to acknowledge every sensation we encounter.  What I mean by this is that there is no culture on this planet that ignores color.  The fact that humans have this capacity to detect variations of reflected wavelengths of light makes it worth labeling.  The fact that we have these emotions and feelings makes it worth labeling and identifying for future reference.  We are built to sense and perceive our environment to systematically and categorically interact with these sensations and perceptions in our immediate future.

There is also this notion that who and what we are can be defined in various ways. One form of identity categorically identifies everything that physically makes you what you are.  The other form of identity cannot be defined, even with the infinite variations of language.  This basis of this undefined form of identity is that even under the most controlled circumstances, it is impossible to replicate the exact same conditions to create the exact same identity.  This is why identical twins are of such interest for psychological study.  To compare how identities diverge, simply because an entity occupies an autonomous vessel, is a testament to the irreplicable nature of identity.

I don't often write philosophical entries.  But I was feeling a little philosophical - brought back some crazy memories...  Ok, I need a beer.