• Question: How do you know everyone else see's the world the same way that you see it?

    Asked by zoeann to Josh, Alexander, Serena, Simone, Stuart on 16 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Josh Makepeace

      Josh Makepeace answered on 16 Jun 2013:

      Getting into the philosophy, there! I like it 🙂

      Since we can’t ever get inside another person’s head, I don’t think we can know for sure whether we see the world the same way as anyone else. But I suppose that since we’re able to communicate with each other about the world then we must have a fairly similar experience. Also, we can look at biology and see that our senses are mostly set up the same way, so it seems likely that we experience the world in the same way.

      What do you think?

      Interestingly, there are some people who do experience things a little differently. They experience something called “synaesthesia”, which is where two (or more) of their senses are blended together. So, for example, they might see particular numbers as being a certain colour, or have words that make them taste something. There are lots of other examples, it’s fascinating!

      Great question 🙂

    • Photo: Serena Corr

      Serena Corr answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      This is a really interesting question. I read a book years ago called Sophie’s World, which made me ask the same thing. I imagine everyone sees the world in their own way, but like Josh says it’s difficult to say whether this is the same for everyone. I guess – broadly – it is. I think what makes the difference is how we react to the world around us.

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