Sensory Data in the first person

1. Provide at least three (3) reasons for believing in the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information.  When writing about “sensory information,” please avoid discussing biology, anatomy, physics, and chemistry. Please do not explain the antaomy of sensory organs and the biological functions of receiving so-called “sense data” and the brain processes. Instead, discuss first-person subjective “experiences” of specific phenomena, such as sound, sight, feeling, and smell. For example, what is it like to hear a car crash in the street? What about that situation is meaningful? You believe in the accuracy of the car crash sound based on experience of situations involving street traffic and accidents.
2. Identify and describe at least three (3) factors contributing to the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory data.Again, when discussing factors contributing to accuracy or inaccuracy, ignore discussing objects themselves and any physical descriptions of objects in the world that you might experience. Rather, discuss factors concerning your awareness, comprehension, and bodily comportment when using things — we do not care about the physical make-up of a hammer. We care about understanding what a hammer is used for. Factors might include situations in which you recognize tools for their intended use. For example, suppose you’re strolling through a mall parking lot during winter and see a snow removal truck. You experience a truck with a certain apparatus on the front shaped like a half circle and you recognize this as intended to push snow to the sides and allow parking. What is a factor in that experience? It is probably that you have found yourself before, living in a snowy part of the country, surrounded by roads and highways and parking lots and seen snow removal trucks with similar compartments.
3. Use at least two (2) quality resources in this assignment. Your textbook may count as one (1) source. At least one (1) of your sources must be obtained from the collection of databases accessible from the Learning Resources Center Web page. Generally, good sources are The New Yorker, The Economist, The Atlantic Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times. Avoid all other .coms unless a reputable news agency. Give preference to .edu, .gov, and .org domains.

 

Writing Tips:

 

1. Write in the active voice (Defendant killed the victim. NOT: The victim was killed by the defendant)

2. Limit sentences to about 10 words.

3. Do not start a sentence with “It.”

4. Do not use any adverbs or words ending in -ly.

5. Do not use semicolons.

6. Do not use the word “you.”

7. Follow these word suggestions:

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/wordsuggestions/simplewords.cfm