Almost nobody believes anymore that infants are insensate blobs. It seems both mad and evil to deny experience and feeling to a laughing, gurgling creature.
Paul BloomRead
I want to convince you that humans are, to some extent, natural born essentialists. What I mean by this is we don't just respond to things as we see them or feel them or hear them. Rather, our response is conditioned on our beliefs, about what they really are, what they came from, what they're made of, what their hidden nature is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans interpret their experiences based on underlying beliefs about the nature of things.
In this quote, Paul Bloom suggests that human perception is not merely a reflexive response to stimuli; rather, it is deeply influenced by our underlying beliefs and concepts about the essence of the world around us. This essentialist perspective implies that our understanding and interactions with our environment are shaped by our assumptions regarding the true nature of things, which affects how we perceive and engage with them.
Themes
BeliefsPerceptionEssentialismNatureUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy lecture discussing the nature of human perception.
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A sympathetic parent might see the spark of consciousness in a baby's large eyes and eagerly accept the popular claim that babies are wonderful learners, but it is hard to avoid the impression that they begin as ignorant as bread loaves.
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