Sensoryism: A New Philosophy

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[size=200]First chapter of Sensoryism by J. Pierson[/size]

Sensoryism is a philosophy that I created between 2007 and 2013. What is written here is sensoryism.

Do not believe anything I say without thinking about it first. You have the right to pick and choose.

Statements are sentences and phrases. Every statement in this book is meant to be interpreted literally. Every word has a mental image associated with it. To understand is to visualize. To understand a word, statement or idea is to visualize that word, statement or idea. For the sake of simplicity I say that everything that we observe is real. I will repeat some statements more than once so everyone can understand what I am saying. Philosophers should only use words that most people know the definition of. Philosophers should not invent new words.

Reality is everything that exists. There is only one reality because reality is everything that exists. Reality is not a collection of statements written on paper or on a computer screen. Reality is everything that we see with our eyes open when we are awake. It is impossible to know everything about reality in a verbal way because words cannot fully describe reality. Humanity will never be able to understand everything that exists.

The longer someone has held certain beliefs the harder it is for them to get rid of those beliefs. The longer someone has held certain beliefs the more entrenched those beliefs are in their brain. It is important for someone to discard any belief that they are unsure of before that belief becomes so entrenched, so hardwired, in their brain that it becomes impossible to get rid of that belief. This is why it is important for people to separate themselves from their beliefs. A person must realize that they are not their beliefs. What a person believes has a major effect on their life. What a person believes will usually determine the course of their life. What a person believes will determine the choices they make in life. What a person believes will determine what they choose to do with their time, what type of career they choose, who they choose to marry and who they choose to be friends with. People who believe in Mormonism choose to go to Mormon churches, choose to be friends with other Mormons, choose to marry other Mormons, choose to spend much of their time trying to convert other people to Mormonism and sometimes they choose a career that revolves around their Mormon beliefs such as choosing a career as a Mormon pastor, preacher or missionary. People who believe that war is good are likely to die in a war or get injured in a war. Someone who believes that the 9/11 conspiracy theory is true is likely to spend much of their time trying to get other people to believe that the 9/11 conspiracy theory is true. If for many years a person has believed in a religion, a philosophy, an idea, a plan of action, a prediction of the future or something else that turns out to be false, wrong or incorrect then that person has wasted many years of their life believing in something that is false.

The core beliefs of sensoryism are the following:
When I say eyes open I mean eyes open only when you are awake.

  1. Every thing that you see right now with your eyes open exists.
  2. Any thing that you do not see right now with your eyes open might not exist. I say this because it is possible that a house you saw yesterday burned down to the ground overnight, therefore, that house does not exist right now.
  3. Any person that you do not see right now with your eyes open might not exist. I say this because it is possible that someone you saw yesterday has died overnight.
  4. Any place that you do not see right now with your eyes open might not exist. I say this because it is possible that a place you saw yesterday does not exist anymore.
  5. Any event that you do not see happening right now with your eyes open might not be happening. I say this because it is possible that an event you saw happening yesterday is no longer happening.
  6. If the farthest thing away from you that you can see right now with your eyes open is 70 feet away from you then any person, place or thing that is more than 70 feet away from you might not exist.
  7. Any thing that you have never seen before with your eyes open might not exist.
  8. Any person that you have never seen before with your eyes open might not exist.
  9. Any place that you have never seen before with your eyes open might not exist.
  10. Any event that you saw happen with your eyes open really happened.
  11. Any event that you did not see happen with your eyes open might not have happened.
  12. Any past event that occurred before you were born might not have happened.
  13. Any past event that occurred after you were born that you do not remember might not have happened.
  14. Any past event that occurred after you were born that you remember and that you saw happen with your eyes open really happened.

These core beliefs are based on the fact that the five senses are the only proven way that we have of knowing anything about reality. These core beliefs are what sensoryism is based on.

The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The eyes are the body part that is associated with the sense of sight. The ears are the body part that is associated with the sense of hearing. The nose is the body part that is associated with the sense of smell. The tongue is the body part that is associated with the sense of taste. The skin is the body part that is associated with the sense of touch.

Trusting your senses is not faith because the five senses are the brains only proven way of getting any information about reality. The five senses are connected to the brain by the nerves. The five senses send information about reality to the brain through the nerves then the brain organizes this information and presents it to the mind.

INFORMATION ABOUT REALITY–>FIVE SENSES–>NERVES–>BRAIN–>MIND

For observation with the five senses to occur a person must be awake and their eyes must be open. Any question a person has that they cannot answer by observation with their own five senses might not have an answer.

Reality is the here and now. The here and now is everything that you see right now with your eyes open and nothing else. The here and now is the present. The past and the future are not part of the here and now. Only the present is the here and now. Any person, place, thing or event that you do not see right now is not part of the here and now. The here and now might be all that exists. It is possible that nothing else exists besides the here and now. There might be some things that exist besides the here and now but we cannot know if those things exist. Sensoryism says all that we can ever know exists is the here and now.

Hearing about a person, place, thing or event from someone else does not prove that person, place or thing really exists or prove that event really happened. Only observation with the five senses can prove such things. Seeing, hearing about or reading about a person, place, thing or event on some type of media like television, the news, photographs, movies, videos, audio recordings, books, magazines, newspapers, files, papers, government documents, official documents, maps, drawings, art, a radio, a phone, the internet, a website or a computer does not prove that person, place or thing really exists or prove that event really happened. Photographs, videos and audio recordings can be altered to give a fake image, fake video or fake recording that cannot be distinguished from the real thing. Television, the news, photographs, movies, videos, audio recordings, books, magazines, newspapers, files, papers, government documents, official documents, maps, drawings, art, a radio, a phone, the internet, a website or a computer could always contain false information.

There are five ways that people believe we can get information about reality. These five ways are reason, intuition, faith, ESP and the five senses. Reason and intuition are thought processes that search for answers to questions by analyzing information received by the five senses. Reason and intuition occur inside the brain. Reason and intuition are logical thought processes. Reason is conscious thinking and intuition is unconscious thinking. Reason is a verbal, visual thought process that we are consciously aware of. Intuition is an unconscious thought process. Intuition occurs outside of our conscious awareness and does not enter our conscious awareness until shortly after the conclusion of the thought process is reached. The results of intuition do not enter our conscious awareness until they are finalized. Intuition is a verbal, visual thought process that we are not consciously aware of. Intuition can happen faster than reason. Intuition can come to people when they are dreaming while asleep.

Predictions of the future that come true are sometimes called precognition. It is possible that precognition is an accurate prediction of the future that turned out to be correct by coincidence. Precognition could be a type of intuition. Precognition could be a prediction that is made unconsciously by the brain during a logical thought process that entered conscious awareness before the predicted event occurred. The brain does many things unconsciously such as the regulation of breathing, heart rate, digestion and muscle movements so it is possible that precognition and other types of intuition are done unconsciously by the brain.

ESP is extra-sensory perception. ESP is also called psychic powers or psychic abilities. Channeling, mediumship, telepathy, clairvoyance, mind reading and remote viewing are types of ESP. Many people believe that ESP does not exist. ESP might not exist. Some people call intuition ESP. Intuition is not called ESP in this book because ESP is a more controversial, disputed, less well defined term than intuition.

Many people believe that reason and intuition are less reliable than the five senses. Many people believe that faith is not a way that we can get any information about reality. Many people believe that faith is not a way that we can know something, prove something or observe something. Everyone believes that the five senses are a way that we can get information about reality. Based on the judgment of everyone it is correct to say that the five senses are the only proven way that we can get any information about reality. Most scientists say that the five senses are the only proven way that we can get any information about reality. I believe that the five senses are the only proven way that we can get any information about reality. The five senses might be the only way that we can know something, observe something or prove something. Reason, intuition, faith and ESP might not be ways that we can know something, observe something or prove something.

When we are listening to someone else talk we cannot use reason, intuition, faith or ESP to know what they are saying to us. We can only use the sense of hearing to know what they are saying to us. When we go grocery shopping we cannot use reason, intuition, faith or ESP to find the food items that we want in the grocery store. When we are in the grocery store we can only use the sense of sight to find the food items that we want. Imagine going to a grocery store and wrapping a piece of cloth around your head so that you are blindfolded and cannot see anything and then trying to find the food that you want by using reason, intuition, faith or ESP. We cannot use reason to shop for groceries. We cannot think or reason our way around the grocery store blindfolded to find what we want. We cannot use intuition to shop for groceries. We cannot intuition our way around the grocery store blindfolded to find what we want. We cannot use faith to shop for groceries. We cannot faith our way around the grocery store blindfolded to find what we want. We cannot use ESP to shop for groceries. We cannot receive psychic messages that guide us through the grocery store blindfolded to find what we want. We can only use the sense of sight to shop for groceries. If we cannot even use faith to do a simple task like grocery shopping then we cannot use faith to determine what religious beliefs are correct. Some people say that we can use faith to shop for a religion but if we cannot use faith to shop for groceries then we cannot use faith to shop for a religion. If we cannot use reason, intuition, faith or ESP to do a simple task like grocery shopping then we cannot use reason, intuition, faith or ESP to determine which religion is correct or determine what religious beliefs are correct. This proves that reason, intuition, faith and ESP are less reliable than the five senses.

Some philosophers say that we cannot trust our senses because of medical problems that distort sensory perception like hallucinations, eye disorders and ear disorders. If one of the five senses is not functioning properly then we can still use the other four senses to get information about reality. Most medical problems that distort sensory perception can be corrected to provide people with enough information about reality to live a normal life. Glasses can be used to correct eye disorders like nearsightedness so nearsighted people can drive a car without getting into an accident. Hearing aids can be used to correct ear disorders like hearing loss so people with hearing loss can talk to other people. Hallucinations are holograms produced by the brain that cannot leave the brain. Hallucinations occur inside the brain so they don’t count as information about reality sent from the five senses to the brain. Hallucinations are rare. Most people do not experience hallucinations. Most people, including most people with medical problems that distort sensory perception, get enough information about reality from their five senses to live a normal life and get everything done during the day that they need to get done, therefore, it is correct to say that the five senses are the most reliable way that we have of getting information about reality.

All the information that we get about reality from the five senses when we are awake and our eyes are open is absolute truth, universal truth, literal truth, absolute certainty. Everything that we see with our eyes open when we are awake is exactly the way it appears to be. If a material object that I see with my eyes open when I am awake appears to be a red cube that is two feet long on each side then that material object really is a red cube that is two feet long on each side.

Sensoryism is a combination of science and religion. Sensoryism is a combination of the different religions. One goal of sensoryism is to unify science and religion. One goal of sensoryism is to unify the different religions. There is much conflict today between science and religion. There is much conflict today between the different religions. Sensoryism is an attempt to end such conflict.

Sensoryism is a philosophy. Sensoryism is not a science. Sensoryism is not a religion.

NOTE: To read more about sensoryism Google search “sensoryism” and see what comes up.

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I have to love a man who at least attempts to be precise (unlike so many). J Pearson seems to be one of those.

But having said that, I have to wonder how well J Pearson handles precise logical critique.

When I first saw the title, “Sensory-ism”, red flags immediately went up. The immediate implication is that the term is going to refer to the very many philosophies concerning “perspectivism”, “subjectivism”, “relativity”, “experientialism”, and others all relating to perception deciding upon what constitutes truth. And I once heard it said;

But then if not philosophers, then who? :-"

Okay, no more need be said…

And there it is.
Really?
If I “see it”, then it is real?
It isn’t possible that I might see something that wasn’t either what I thought it was or perhaps wasn’t actually there at all? Perception is infallible?

Another problem already…

What determines what “might exist”?
To the seriously ignorant, anything might exist. As one learns of specific kinds of things, other kinds of things become impossible to exist. Once a type of thing is determined as impossible to exist, then why “might it exist” merely because I am not currently looking at it?

You seem to be supporting the (unfortunately) political concern of getting people to disbelieve anything but what they are presented… on TV for example. “The Matrix syndrome” = “what we program you to see is the only reality”.

Logic dictates what is possible to exist, not perception.

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What about optical illusions? Some things require reasoning and analysis to separate what is from what appears to be.

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The formula of the thesis is defined as reality=illusion. It leaves no room for argument.

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Except to argue against that definition. :sunglasses:

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!!!

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Some friends and I are looking into a forest and I see a deer. Another friend denies it’s a deer, and says it’s a large dog. The others don’t see anything. What does sensoryism tell us?

Does it tell us that the house existed yesterday? Is memory as infallible as sense data?

Anything we have or haven’t seen before might not exist. So the past is of very dubious value to sensoryism?

What’s the square root of 25? How does mathematics require observation to obtain answers?

Here’s the problem: cats have a sense of hearing. They don’t know what we’re saying to them. I have a sense of hearing, and I don’t know what people are saying to me unless they use one of three or four languages, or have a very, very simple message. “Take the car to the garage” isn’t going to work if you ask me in Japanese or Tagalog.

You don’t just get raw sense data. You see a rabbit, a deer, a cat, a car. Not patches of light that you later sort into images; by the time you see things, your brain has almost always already deciphered the signals from your retina. The areas of the brain that hear words are different from the areas that hear sounds.

If I’m looking for the cornflakes, I look for the aisle with the sign that says “Cereals” and use logic and reasoning to take me the rest of the way. If I’m looking for sweets, my intuition tells me they’ll be found by the tills.

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What if you can’t see anything?

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“Sensory-less-ism” maybe? :confused:

Or is that what we merely refer to as “Logic”. :sunglasses:

and btw Maia, “long time no see”. :mrgreen:

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Yes, long time no see too. Just had a bad summer, that’s all.

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Well sorry to hear, but maybe that will help soften the “sense” of the tone around this place. :sunglasses:

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I can’t see how.

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“See”?

If the rest of your life gets really, really, really bad, then the tone around here might seem tolerable.
Can you “see” that?

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Yes, very droll.

Jokes about blindness are fine. What is intolerable is if they are not funny.

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Sounds like empiricism. Nothing fancy about that.

Stuff is there. You see stuff.

Yep.

On a more serious note, I’ve never seen or heard an empiricist explain how people have a sense of time, anticipation, or imagination. They’re always stuck between past and present. They’re never between present and future.

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Good point. Empiricism states that knowledge consists only of things derived from the senses: taken literally it seems to ignore cognition and emotion (the “stuff” or medium of sense of time, anticipation, and imagination). Regardless, the most radical interpretation of Empiricism is that existence or reality only appears in the form of a person and that which the person experiences.

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Which is proof of the reductive reasoning which empiricists fall prey to, without realising, and that ultimately there cannot be an objectivvely desribed reality.  Wittgenstein is pitted against functionalism, such as Leibnitz and Deleuze.  

 It's not a question of which view is right or wrong, because of the three tenets of completeness,(comprehensiveness) relevance and ( coherence)            may eventually synthesize on some level.

Albeit, at this level, periodicity may occur?(Which at low frequencies may not be sensible)
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obe:

This is true. For objective reality is reality beyond or in the absence of persons, and existence–to us–appears only in the form of “us” and that which is experienced by a person. Thus that which is in the absence of persons cannot be known with certainty to exist by a person: a person can have only quasi-religious faith the objective exists, despite any reasonableness (which is merely a mental attribute occurring with the mind of a person and is not experienced to exist in the absence of the person) to its existence.

Controversially: that which is experienced to exist consists of nothing but the substance of someone’s experience of it.

And comprehensiveness, relevance, and coherence are conscious or experiential things, occurring only (or empirically) to a person.

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Graffiti: I am at a disadvantage in that I work purely with my smart phone. Well maybe not so smart. (I've been meaning to get a computer for a long time, never got around to it)


 I agree for the most part, but disagree for the least:
 The conscious argument works insofar as you are not willing to acknowledge the third part of the triad listed above.  Comprehensiveness, as totality is incomplete, because in any system there is at least one proposition which cannot be verified.  

That one, even if the rest are numerically superior, is enough to disqualify an absolute conclusion of the verifiability  of empirical data 

 The conclusion may  be drawn then, of other forms of sources for a general statement, vis from other than purely conscious ones.  Intuitionism for instance is one of them where we are somewhat conscious of our intuitive faculties, but not purely conscious of them.