Appearance and Reality
"Appearance and Reality" from The Problems of Philosophy [1912]
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
In daily life, we assume as certain many things which, on a closer scrutiny, are found to be so full of apparent contradictions that only a great amount of thought enables us to know what it is that we really may believe. In the search for certainty, it is natural to begin with our present experiences, and in some sense, no doubt, knowledge is to be derived from them. But any statement as to what it is that our immediate experiences make us know is very likely to be wrong. It seems to me that I am now sitting in a chair, at a table of a certain shape, on which I see sheets of paper with writing or print. By turning my head I see out of the window buildings and clouds and the sun. I believe that the sun is about ninety-three million miles from the earth; that it is a hot globe many times bigger than the earth; that, owing to the earth's rotation, it rises every morning, and will continue to do so for an indefinite time in the future. I believe that, if any other normal person comes into my room, he will see the same chairs and tables and books and papers as I see, and that the table which I see is the same as the table which I feel pressing against my arm. All this seems to be so evident as to be hardly worth stating, except in answer to a man who doubts whether I know anything. Yet all this may be reasonably doubted, and all of it requires much careful discussion before we can be sure that we have stated it in a form that is wholly true.
To make our difficulties plain, let us concentrate attention on the table. To the eye it is oblong, brown and shiny, to the touch it is smooth and cool and hard; when I tap it, it gives out a wooden sound. Any one else who sees and feels and hears the table will agree with this description, so that it might seem as if no difficulty would arise; but as soon as we try to be more precise our troubles begin. Although I believe that the table is 'really' of the same colour all over, the parts that reflect the light look much brighter than the other parts, and some parts look white because of reflected light. I know that, if I move, the parts that reflect the light will be different, so that the apparent distribution of colours on the table will change. It follows that if several people are looking at the table at the same moment, no two of them will see exactly the same distribution of colours, because no two can see it from exactly the same point of view, and any change in the point of view makes some change in the way the light is reflected.
Questions for Discussion
1. What would be the best title for this passage?
A) How the Sun Makes Things Appear Different
B) The Desk is My Office
C) Looking Carefully at Everyday Objects
D) How People See Things Differently
E) Observations of the Sun
2. The way people perceive the desk in the author's office is an example of
A) cause and effect
B) detail
C) compare and contrast
D) inference
E) main idea
3. If the author uses how the table is perceived as an effect, what is the cause?
A) the shape of the table
B) the reflection of the light on the table
C) several people looking at the table
D) our immediate experiences
E) the color of the table
4. What can the reader infer from this passage?
A) The author looks at things differently than other people do.
B) The author believes that the sun makes things look different to different people
C) A change in point of view will change how people look at his table
D) The author feels that the table is just an example of how people see everything differntly according to their point of view
E) The reflection of sunlight on an object will cause people to see it differently