No destiny attacks us from outside. But, within him, man bears his fate and there comes a moment when he knows himself vulnerable; and then, as in a vertigo, blunder upon blunder lures him.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
What a thing is and what it means are not separate, the former being physical and the latter mental as we are accustomed to believe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that the essence of an object and its significance are interconnected rather than distinct.
James J. Gibson's quote challenges the conventional separation between the physical properties of an object and its mental or symbolic meanings. He suggests that our understanding of what something is cannot be fully separate from its conceptual implications, indicating a deeper psychological and philosophical interplay between the object and our perception of it.
Themes
PerceptionMeaningRealityPhilosophyThought
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of reality.
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