Goodman Article

"For the man-in-the-street, most versions from science, art and perception depart in some ways from the familiar serviceable world he has jerry-built from fragments of scientific and artistic tradition and from his own struggle for survival. This world, indeed, is the one most often taken as real; for reality in a world, like realism in a picture, is largely a matter of habit."

This section of Goodman's article summarizes, in a way, a thought I've had throughout this course. This may seem a bit basic and perhaps obvious, but in debating the definition of truth and knowledge, I cannot seem to get past the point that each individual is hampered by his or her own reality and knowledge. The human mind is limited simply by what it knows. Whether true or not, an individual's beliefs are formed based upon the knowledge the individual has at that certain point in time. While this is not a concrete or infallible funtion, it seems to be a limitation with which we all must contend. Goodman seems to assert, in this small passage, that the average person's reality is not defined by the philosophers or even simply another passerby; instead, the average person defines his own reality. Whether it is true or not seems almost irrelevant because he believes it is. For example, if you were to tell a new mother that her physical stress levels have not risen since the birth of her child, yet she believes herself to be more stressed than she was previously, it will be inconsequential. It won't necessarily change the way she feels, nor her outlook on the world.

So it seems with more intangible beliefs. Morality, ethics, and feelings are impossible to prove but can become an individual's reality (or at least play a crucial role). Thus, habit and and individual's ability to process thought and knowledge create his or her world.