Prompt 4

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Kant you See?

            People's perspectives are molded from birth by all the events experienced while growing up.  For example, someone raised in Chicago would be used to seeing twenty story buildings while someone raised in Evansville, Indiana might look at these same buildings with amazement.   A man named Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who was very interested in the human mind, dedicated some of his work to the perspective field and eventually came up with a "red-tinted glasses" experiment that was discussed within Sophie's World.

            In the "Kant" chapter, Alberto attempts to better explain the idea of perspective by using a "red-tinted glasses" experiment. The experiment began with Sophie putting on a pair of glasses with red lenses.  After putting the glasses on, she noted that nothing was different but all of the colors that she was used to seeing were gone and instead replaced with different shades of red.  Metaphorically, the color of the tint is supposed to represent a person's way of seeing things based on their upbringing.

            There have been many times when varying perspectives have been prevalent throughout my life.  For example I believed, against my parents' perspectives, that I should be able to drive when hazardous weather conditions were present.  Until reading about Kant's experiment, I was stubborn and would not listen to any explanation as of why driving in hazardous conditions was bad for a beginning driver.  After reading about this experiment though, I thought about why my parents wouldn't want me driving and I then understood as of why my mom and dad didn't want me to drive.

            Everybody sees the world differently through their own tinted lenses colored by their own life experiences.  This is why two people can sometimes agree on one thing but have a different overall opinion. Other times, though, people will never be able to agree because they can't or refuse to see things from another's perspective.  I, in my previously stated example, was not able to see my parents reasoning for restricting me from driving in hazardous conditions but I eventually looked at the situation from their side and saw why they were saying that.  In conclusion, people will always have different opinions because everyone sees things differently.