In order to find out how things really are, one must understand the filters which one perceives the world.

Essay by takblokJunior High, 8th grade April 2004

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There are several problems that will be encountered when answering this question. Firstly, it is difficult to establish the accuracy of information collected. There are also limitations to how much we can know. During our approach towards knowledge, we are also hindered by the biases and possible uncertainties derived. How do we actually know what the filters are, when we are not even certain about how things really are? Simultaneously, we do not even know whether what we perceive is really what we perceive!

Before I give my views on the question, I would like to define what filters are. Filters are objects that only allow certain things to pass through them. In this context, the filters most probably refer to whatever stops certain information from being analysed by our brain. Our brain, and sense organs are what I perceive to be examples of filters that are located in our body.

Firstly, why is our brain a filter? In order to answer this question, I would like you to search your memory bank, and recall whether you have experienced the following situations. Have you ever been in the situation in which you suddenly see a cut on your hand but felt no pain? Did the cut begin to hurt after you noticed it? Alternatively, has your mother ever told you to get the salt from the kitchen, and you were unable to find it, but when your mother went to get it personally, she plucked it out from right under your nose? The reason these events occur is likely to be because our brain is a filter itself. Initially, you felt no pain from the cut because the pain had been filtered away by your brain. At the same time, you were probably busy with something else when your mother...