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egleichman's picture

Person Perception

I guess this comment is sort of a continuation of my introduction, but it seems to fit well with some of the material at hand, especially the claim by Emily Dickenson that everything is an idea, a creation, a construction of the brain, and therefore the brain is bigger than all else.  

Isn't this true not only for things and ideas, but also for the people we know, or think we know, and are close to? What could we possibly claim to know about a person, even (and perhaps especially) one we are close to, besides the representation they are obligated to provide for us? Perhaps human behavior, then, serves as a means of hiding, enhancing, altering, and showing off what we find to be true about ourselves. In that way, isn't everything we see in the people around us a function of the brain? Don't we have selective knowledge that we use to filter the behavior of others and shape our perception so that we see what we want to see in ourselves and in the people we're close to? And isn't that limiting in its own way?  

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